>It makes beekeeping so much more pleasant, for both myself, and the bees.

> >How can you speak for the bees?
>

The bees speak for themselves.  A good beekeeper listens to them : )
A colony given minimal smoking (just enough to turn the guard bees' heads
away) remains much more calm and continue to go about their business.  You
can easily watch them still continue to work honey, feed brood, and the
queen will continue to lay.  On the other hand, the alarm pheromone
released by even a single bee causes major colony disruption, and the
immediate upregulation of many genes in the bee brains.

I don't have scale data, but some authors have suggested that a heavy
smoking greatly depresses honey production for the rest of the day.  This
concerns me about the use of liquid smoke, which would be expected to have
a much longer lasting effect in the hive, long after the beekeeper had left.

--
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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