Computer Software Solutions Ltd wrote:
>
> I followed some of the books I have read, and used smoke when I was lifting
> the crownboard. However I noticed that the bees were very quiet until I used
> the smoke, and then they got a bit aggravated.
>
> I am wondering if I am using smoke unnecessarily and maybe upsetting the
> bees thereby.
 
Whenever you puff smoke on the bees you will notice that they make more
noise.  Their response is to fan the smoke out of the hive.  This does
not indicate that they are aggrevated.  It is just the natural reaction
to a foreign scent in the hive.
 
The old explanation for the way smoke works related to fooling the bees
into thinking there was a forest fire.  Since bees don't seem to "think"
in that way, and it is a rere bee that has experienced a forest fire and
ended up in a managed hive, that is probably an old wives tale.  Since
much of the life of the hive is organized on scent, a strong foreign
scent in the hive disrupts that organization.  This masking effect is,
in my opinion, a far more likely explaination of the impact of smoke on
a hive.
 
--
"Test everything.  Hold on to the good."  (1 Thessalonians 5:21)
 
Tom Elliott
Chugiak,  Alaska
U.S.A.
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