As Stan points out, other species and races of honey bees readily abscond
when faced with excessive smoke.  But this would be difficult for European
honey bees during the warm part of the year, since the queen is too
engorged with eggs to fly.

It appears to me that smoke elicits this relic absconding behavior in EHBs
nevertheless.  In such absconding behavior, older bees abandon defensive
duties, and house bees immediately engorge on honey (breaking open capped
honey if necessary, which is why you want to avoid smoking when pulling
comb honey).

Smoke also acts as a repellent, resulting in any defensive bees turning
around and no longer responding to the movement of the intruder.

Smoke also "overloads" the odor sensory cells on the antennae, making older
workers less responsive to alarm pheromone.

The combination of the above appear to me to be why smoke, gently and
minimally applied, is so effective for avoiding the initiation of defensive
behavior.

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

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