A bee smoker (usually called simply a smoker or a smokepot) is a device used in beekeeping to calm honey bees. It is designed to generate smoke from the smoldering of various fuels, hence the name.
What is a bee smoker? A bee smoker is the device beekeepers use to puff smoke into their hives. This smoke doesn't harm bees, it just interferes with their sense of smell so that they don't react to alarm pheromones. Bee smokers are usually referred to as “smokers” for short.
The protective head covering beekeepers wear is called a hat and veil. It consists of a hat with a wide brim, with mesh hanging down to your shoulders.
Beekeepers have always used smoke when handling the hive – there are even illustrations of the practice from ancient Egypt! Smoke is known to 'calm' or 'soothe' bees. Therefore using a beehive smoker makes hive maintenance easier and safer with minimal risk of stings.
The overall best smoker fuel is cotton, because it offers cool smoke that will not harm the honey bees within your hive colony. The last thing you want to do is have an ember fly out of the smoker and hit your queen.
You should never use wood, plastic products, rubber, paper, corrugated cardboard, or any synthetic product or products that contain adhesives as fuel in your bee smoker.
Too much smoke can literally drive bees out of a hive, into the grass where the queen might be injured or lost. Too much smoke can make the bees aggressive and confused.
Be careful not to over smoke because you can hinder the queens laying ability for a period of time and bees will consume too much honey. Smoke just enough so you can work comfortably and don't get too close to the bees when smoking. You can stay 12 inches away from the bees and your smoke will cover a larger area.
You should puff a little smoke around the entrance to the hive about 5-10 minutes before you open it. This starts the fire drill and they will hopefully be full of honey and unable to sting when you open the hive.
Bee suits are traditionally white because white is a neutral color that can help prevent bees from becoming aggressive. White also absorbs less heat, ensuring the beekeeper stays cool during hot days. And finally, bees are easier to see on white fabric.
Gloves are a useful way to avoid stings. Some beekeepers choose not to wear them, because they can limit dexterity.
Bee stings through a bee suit can happen. Bee suits are bee-resistant, not bee-proof. However, getting stung through your bee suit is unlikely if you use a full-body bee suit. Not fully closing a zipper or tightening the wrist or ankle openings on the bee suit are more likely to result in a sting.
It is understandable that new beekeepers have a fear of being stung while beekeeping. This fear is overcome to a large extent by wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) such as bee suits, veils and beekeeping gloves. Beekeepers who are fearful of bees wear excessive PPE at times.
The minute they start making honeycomb, smoking bees out is quite ineffective because the smoke doesn't get around the colony properly. Even if the bees move off the comb they have started to make their home, they often just move back in when the smoke goes away.
Do bees sleep at night? Bees rest and sleep at night. Which might seem obvious, but it wasn't studied scientifically until the 1980s when a researcher called Walter Kaiser observed their sleep-wake cycles and found that honeybees sleep an average of five to seven hours a night.
There are many materials that may be used as fuel in a smoker, but the most common ones are unprocessed cotton fiber, wood, pine needles, burlap or wood pellets. Dadant & Sons Pro Tip: Most experienced beekeepers have a favorite material, or mix of materials, that they feel produces the best smoke.
A Bee's diet consists of honey and pollen.
Honey and pollen are the building blocks of a bee's diet. Bees eat honey because it provides them with energy-laden carbohydrates, while pollen's protein provides bees with essential amino acids.
A good quality smoker will cost $35 to about $45. A 4-inch in diameter by 7-inch-tall smoker (4×7) is good for five to ten colonies in the same yard before inserting more fuel. A shield is nice to keep the beekeeper's fingers from touching the hot smoker canister and reduces burning potential.
Smoke acts by interfering with the bees' sense of smell, so that they can no longer detect low concentrations of the pheromones. In technical terms, the smoke reduces the electroantennograph response of the antennae.
If smoking works by getting bees to fill up on honey, surely smoking a swarm is pointless. Yes, that is how it pacifies before an inspection. And yes, smoking to pacify a swarm is pointless and unnecessary - for that reason.
The beekeeper uses a bee smoker to calm the bees while he or she inspects them or works around the hive. It's believed the smoke sends a signal to the bees to consume as much honey as possible in case the fire forces them to abandon the hive. While they are busy eating, the beekeeper can work around them.
Eischen set up a standard lab test, placing 300 to 400 mite-infested bees inside a cage and covering the cage with a plastic container. Then he put the plant material inside his smoker, lit it, puffed the smoke into the container, and corked the plastic container opening to prevent the smoke from escaping.