Trevor Weatherhead wrote (in part):

>Most logical is that smoke disrupts the pheromone communication
>within the hive by the bees.  But then we use all sorts of fuel in
>our smokers so it would seem that it does not matter what the source
>of the smoke is but that it is smoke.  So can we use something that
>will stir the bees up enough so as to overcome the disruptive nature
>of the pheromone communication?

    I think Trevor has a more likely explanation than the postings on
the subject that followed his.  In that connection, some might find
the following items interesting.

1)  In 1950 A Mr. A.L. Casey published a short note ("Conditioned
behaviour in bees") in the AUSTRALASIAN BEEKEEPER.  After repeated
visits to feed his colonies, he noticed that the bees paid more
attention to his smoker than to the feeder --- even when he put the
smoker under a bush.  He concluded that the bees had become
conditioned; that is, smoke meant "feeding time."

2)  We had independently stumbled onto the fact that bees could be
conditioned in a similar manner and conducted a series of studies of
that behavior, as covered in the following publications:

1966  Wenner, A.M. and D.L. Johnson.  Simple conditioning in honey
bees.  Animal Behaviour.  14:149-155.

1966  Johnson, D.L. and A.M. Wenner.  A relationship between
conditioning and communication in honey bees.  Animal Behaviour.
14:261-265.

    While conducting our studies, we chanced upon Casey's note and
used smoke as a conditioning stimulus in some of our experiments.  We
wrote (in small part):

"In the first series of trials, smoke, furnished just prior to
addition of sugar solution, caused the bees in the enclosure to
return to the hive.  However, after eight trials (over a 2 day
period), the bees reversed this behavioral pattern and began to
accumulate at the dish following injection of smoke into the system
[before we provided sugar solution]."

    We covered this topic quite thoroughly in Chapter 7 of our 1990
Columbia Univ. Press volume (ANATOMY OF A CONTROVERSY: The Question
of a "Language" Among Bees).

3)  Any strong chemical could well disrupt honey bee defensive
behavior; perhaps that is why smoke works so well.  (I also found
smoke worked for me with yellow jacket wasp colonies --- but don't
try it on my account.)

    An old Russian beekeeper emigre told me that beekeepers in that
country (formerly) regularly rubbed clove oil on their hands and arms
before working colonies.  I tried that method.  It worked for me.
Though expensive, one can dilute clove oil with ethanol (how about
vodka?).

    Hope all that helps.

                                                        Adrian
--
Adrian M. Wenner                (805) 963-8508 (home office phone)
967 Garcia Road                 [log in to unmask]
Santa Barbara, CA  93103        www.beesource.com/pov/wenner/index.htm

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*    "T'is the majority [...that] prevails.  Assent, and you are sane
*       Demur, you're straightway dangerous, and handled with a chain."
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*                                    Emily Dickinson, 1862
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