how do you smoke a bee

by Noah Daniel Published 1 year ago Updated 1 year ago

Step 1: Crumple up a piece of paper and put it into the bottom of your smoker. ...
Step 2: Fill your bee smoker with fuel. ...
Step 3: Once lit, apply a few puffs of smoke to your skin to ensure it’s not too hot. ...
Step 4: After smoking, give it 30 seconds to affect the bees.
Step 5: Avoid over-smoking your hive. ...

Full Answer

How to start a bee smoker?

ignite starter material
get fire going in bottom of fire chamber
gently pump bellows throughout
add more fuel and gently pack down
close lid and pump until smoke is white and cool

Can you use smoke to remove bees?

Long stick or rake Smoke bees out rather than using harsh chemical sprays if possible. Bees create nests on tree limbs, in bushes and sometimes on the side of a house. If you want to use a natural method to rid your property of the hive, smoking the nest out can be effective.

How to get rid of honey bees without killing them?

What Are The Best Ways For Getting Rid Of Bees Quickly?

Use of bee spray. Bee sprays are designed in a way that makes them very effective against bees. ...
Using powder dust. ...
Installing an electric bug zapper. ...
Use an ultrasonic repellant. ...
Include bee repelling plants in your home garden. ...
Set a bee trap. ...
Water your yard frequently. ...
Use soap and water. ...
Calling the professionals. ...

How do you remove bees from your home?

Smoking the bees out
Hang or Place Mothballs
Relocating bees by luring to new location
Cinnamon
Incense (for indoor use)
Plant bee repelling plants in your garden

What do bees do when you smoke them?

The smoke actually masks bees' alarm pheromones. Smoke causes bees to prepare to leave their hive because they believe it is on fire. They begin to eat lots of honey, thinking they need the energy to go find a new home. Engorged with honey, their abdomens are so full it makes it hard for them to sting.

Can you smoke bees to much?

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. Too much smoke damages honey – beeswax is a fatty acid which absorbs odours.

How do you smoke a bee without a smoker?

Instead of a smoker, some beekeepers create their own spray to use on bees in order to calm them down....Create your own spray.Plain Water.Sugar (Syrup) Water (1:3 mix)Lemon Grass Oil & Spearmint (2-3 drops in a spray bottle with plain water)Pimpinella Anise Oil (2-3 drops in a spray bottle with plain water)

How do you smoke bees?

A smoker is used when one initially opens a colony. Crack the lid, direct a puff or two inside the hive, briefly recover the lid, then proceed to open the hive. Direct several puffs of smoke downward between the frames. It is normal for bees to buzz loudly as they flee the smoke.

Why do people smoke bees?

Smoke masks alarm pheromones which include various chemicals, e.g., isopentyl acetate that are released by guard bees or bees that are injured during a beekeeper's inspection. The smoke creates an opportunity for the beekeeper to open the beehive and work while the colony's defensive response is interrupted.

How long should a bee smoker last?

two to three hoursA 4×10 inch smoker will last two to three hours if packed correctly. The fire should be started and coals established prior to packing the canister tightly with fuel. The smoker should be lit from the bottom.

What happens if you don't smoke bees?

Without smoke, the entire hive can quickly become unmanageable, stinging the beekeeper severely and possibly taking down neighbours in the process. I was once called to a house where the resident beekeeper had opened his hive without smoke, the bees erupted, and the beekeeper ran.

Do you have to use a smoker for bees?

Just like humans, bees are easier to deal with when they have full bellies. The smoke also masks the smell of alarm pheromone. The use of a smoker is necessary to work responsibly with bees.

Why does smoke calm bees?

Smoke masks bees' sense of smell and prevents the transfer of intruder alarm signals. Smoke fools bees into thinking there is a forest fire, so they essentially get drunk on honey, which calms them.

What do you need for a bee smoker?

To get started, you need a smoker, matches or a lighter, newspaper or other non-toxic flammable starter material, and your smoker fuel. 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.

How do you use a honey bee smoker?

1:403:23Starting Your Bee Smoker - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipThe smoker bellows to puff smoke at the entrance of the hive. Pry open the hive cover and puff underMoreThe smoker bellows to puff smoke at the entrance of the hive. Pry open the hive cover and puff under it to alert the bees at the top. Use the hive tool to pry apart the lid supers.

What is the best fuel to use in a bee smoker?

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.

Is it OK to smoke bees?

Beekeepers have been using smoke to calm bees for generations. There have been no long-term side effects on the bees' health and smoke protects a colony from experiencing high levels of stress and aggression. Smokers are only harmful when beekeepers use them inappropriately.

Should you smoke your bees?

Smoke not only calms the bees, but they are more likely to stay on their frames, so moving frames from box to box is much easier. Smoking can be helpful during queen introduction because the odor of smoke masks the pheromones of the new queen.

What kind of smoke calms bees?

The researchers suggest that the ability of hop smoke to reduce venom droplet release in even the most perturbed bees may be due to the presence of lupulin in hops. Lupulin is known to have sedative effects on the nervous system, so it may calm bees, as well.

Does smoke make bees go away?

Smoke is probably the most effective way of getting honey bees away from your home and keeping them away. Honey bees are very sensitive to smell and when they smell smoke they think it's a forest fire, causing them to leave and most likely never come back.

Smoking Bees – What Does Smoke Do to Bees?

Beekeepers use a device called Bee smoker, which has been designed to create smoke by smoldering various types of fuel. They use pine needles, pape...

Why Does Smoke Calm Bees?

When a beekeeper smokes out the hive, the bees sense and interprets the smoke as being indicative of a forest fire. The bees realize that they must...

Does Smoking Bees Hurt them?

Beekeepers have used this technique for generations since it does not have long-term side effects on the bees’ health. Their pheromone sensitivity...

What is a Bee Smoker?

Humans have been using smoke for millennia to calm bee hives. While the first honey-collectors likely used a smoldering torch to produce smoke, today bee keepers typically use a hand-held smoker.

How Do I Start My Bee Smoker?

Why Should You Use a Bee Smoker?

If you are not sure why we use smokers and smoke the bees in the first place, you can check that out here in this article. But, if you don’t have the time to go through it, let me quickly outline the logic behind.

Step 1: Understanding The Bee Smoker

While almost any kind of smoke will get the job done, meaning you can approach the hive with a smoldering piece of wood, light a fire close to a hive, or any other means of smoking you can think of, remember this: less is more is the approach you want to take here.

Step 2: Preparing All Needed Tools

This is a very quick and short step. You just have to collect everything that you will need into one place. And here is what you are going to need to light the smoker up:

Step 3: Lighting the bee smoker

Once you get your essentials: smoker, fuel, source of fire (matches, lighter); start the fire (using cardboard or crumpled up newspapers) and push it to the bottom of the burning chamber. Use your hive tool to push the burning material, because you know – safety first.

Step 4: Using the bee smoker

The important thing to keep in mind is this; you are not looking to drown the hive in smoke; you are just sending them a message that they should take certain actions – using the smoke. I know many novice beekeepers who treated their first smoking experience like a battlefield.

Step 5: Putting out the smoker

After you finish the work around the hive, make sure to extinguish any burning processes and empty the remaining fuel on a fire-resistant surface. Sometimes, when you open the lid and shake the fuel out of the smoker, it ignites kinda violently as the oxygen touches the smoldering mass.

Negative Side-Effects of Using A Bee Smoker

Well, there aren’t many negative side effects to this method of hive control, but let’s mention and explore some of them.

How does a Bee Smoker Work?

A long time ago somebody figured out that if you blow smoke onto bees before manipulating their hive, they’ll be much less likely to sting. This practice was commonly used over many generations, but the actual scientific reason why it works wasn’t known until fairly recently.

The Different Parts of a Bee Smoker

The original design for today's modern smoker with bellows was invented by the American beekeeper Moses Quinby in around 1875, and the design hasn’t changed much since. A bee smoker is basically a metal can with a nozzle on top for directing the smoke and a set of bellows to help oxygenate the fire.

How to Light a Bee Smoker

Whatever fuel you use the secret is to add layers of kindling and fuel a little at a time. Your objective is to light a fire which will continue to smoke for 10 minutes or longer without having to operate the bellows. You also want to practice producing cool smoke from the nozzle.

How to use a Bee Smoker

With your lit smoker in hand you can now approach your honey bees. Begin by directing a few puffs of smoke at the hive entrance. There is a natural airflow from bottom to top of the hive so the smoke will pass through the colony. Wait a minute or two so that the bees get the message.

Put out the Smoker

When you're finished smoking your hives the bee smoker needs to be put out and stored. A hot or burning smoker remains a danger so you should get into the habit of putting it out and letting it cool properly.

How to Clean a Bee Smoker

Over time ash can accumulate inside the smoker around the air intake at the bottom. Also check the inside of the nozzle to keep it clean. Pine is resinous so needles and wood shavings can leave oily deposits and soot inside the fire chamber. Use a scraping tool such as your hive tool or a flat headed screwdriver or even a wire brush.

Suppresses the pheromone

The predominant mode of communication for bees is their sense of smell. Whenever there is an intruder near the hive, the bees secrete alarm pheromones, isopentyl acetate, and 2-heptanone. A pheromone is a substance secreted by an animal that causes a specific reaction in another individual of the same species.

Creates the illusion of a forest fire

Another explanation for smoke calming the bees is that when a beekeeper smokes out the hive, the bees interpret the smoke as a sign of a forest fire. Bees assume that they have to leave their habitat and look for a new one, or they’ll perish in the fire!

Smoking fuel

Smoker fuel, which is used to release the smoke, is the heart of the bee smoker. Smoker fuel basically needs two things: a starter and kindling.

How bee smokers work

The functioning of a bee smoker is quite simple: First, you take a starter, such as a piece of newspaper. You crumple it and light it with a lighter. You throw this ignited starter into the can. Then you pump the bellows to push oxygen into the burning starter.

Precautions when using a bee smoker

Beekeepers have used this technique for generations since it doesn’t have long-term side effects on the bees’ health. Their pheromone sensitivity returns in approximately 10 to 20 minutes after the smoke dissipates. However, beekeepers do have to be careful with the tools they use for smoking. Very high temperatures can melt the bees’ wings.

Why Do You Need A Bee Smoker?

To use a tool effectively, you should know why you need it in the first place. Smoke helps to calm honey bees because it interrupts their pheromones. When guard bees see a potential threat approaching the hive, they release a scent that alerts the rest of the colony to the danger.

Preparing And Lighting The Smoker

When it’s time to take your smoker out to the hives, the first thing you need to do is gather your supplies. You’ll need your smoker, fuel, and something to light the fire. Start the fire by using lighter materials such as cardboard, crumpled newspaper, or KwikStart.

Smoking The Hive

Once you’re happy with your flame, close the lid of the smoker and approach your hives. Remember to go easy on the smoke so that you don’t drown the hive. Start with one or two puffs near the entrance and at the top where you open the hive. Set the smoker aside as you work within the hive so that your honey bees don’t accidentally land on it.

How to Smoke Bees

When you smoke bees, always smoke from up wind so the smoke will naturally waft over the frames. You will need much less smoke if you use this technique. 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.

Bee Smoke Alternative

A sugarwater 1:1 spray containing an essential oil blend is a great smoke alternative.

What Smoker to Buy?

There are many different smokers available from different companies. Most of them work just fine and it’s just beekeeper preference as to which one you use. There are larger smokers available; they’re handy when you’re working bees for a long period of time. I use the smaller Dadant bee smoker and it’s lasted for many years.

Smoking Fuel

Many different sources of fuel can be used. You want a fuel that will burn slowly and give off a cool white smoke. Start by lighting the fuel on the bottom and puff the smoker so you have a fair amount of smoke coming out the top before adding all the fuel you require.

Smoking Tips

Before smoking the entrance, check to see which side of the hive is moving air into the hive and which side is pushing air out. Smoke the side where air is pushed in as shown in the diagram.

What Is A Bee Smoker?

A bee smoker makes a controlled slow-burning fire that emits smoke. This smoke can be puffed out of the smoker using a set of bellows. When the bees smell the smoke, they react by thinking they smell a fire. The first thing they do is to gorge on a bit of nectar. Let us engage in a philosophical exercise to understand how this works.

How Do Bees Get Angry?

When bees get angry, they release pheromones which communicate danger to other bees. The main component is isoamyl acetate which smells a bit like bananas. Smoke reduces the efficacy of this communication and also stops the bees even getting angry.

How Long Does It Take For Bees To Calm Down?

This is a very difficult question to answer. Each beehive has a different personality. This is a product of genetics, hive size, queen age, worker age, nectar and pollen source, and many other factors. The take-home message is that when bees go crazy they are actually very dangerous.

Lecture Over

Ok, so in a very gentle way, we have had a look at why smoking bees, as humans have done for tens of thousands of years, is a logical way of calming them. There is always some clever person out there inventing new things and new ways of doing things. Some of these inventions will stick, some will fail.

Step 1

Start a small fire directly under the bee's nest. Use dried pine needles, newspaper or twigs to get the fire going and put small sticks on it to keep it going. Place clumps of green grass on it to generate more smoke, always being mindful of the bees. If they begin attacking you, run for shelter in your home.

Step 2

Watch the fire closely, taking care not to let it become too large to control. Allow the smoke to rise to the bee's nest for about 20 minutes before attempting to remove it.

Step 3

Approach the bee's nest with the long stick or rake. Hit it at the section where it attaches to the limb and let it fall to the ground. Immediately push it into the fire with your tools.

Step 4

Allow the nest to burn fully. The next day, examine the area to ensure the nest and bee population are fully removed.