>At 12:58 PM 25/10/96 +0100, Dave Black wrote:
>>Morning All, (and 'Afternoon' to the rest of you)
>>
>>I have a question. One of the purposes of the use of smoke is to confuse
>>or mask pheromone communcation between bees so that an agitated bee can
>>not warn its fellows. Do not essential oils have the same property ? If
>>so has anyone noticed nice peaceful bees when using these compounds ?
>
>So is my notion that the bees think: "Smoke! Smoke! It's a bush fire! Save
>the honey!" and then, being comfortably fat with the honey, don't feel like
>stinging, is that too fanciful to be true?
>
>Bruce
>10 months, 2 hives
>
>      -------------------------------------------------
>      Bruce Laidlaw
>      Head Teacher Foundation Studies
>      East Sydney College of TAFE  (Technical & Further Education)
>      Darlinghurst, New South Wales, Australia  2010
>      Phone: +61-2-9569-2854 (h,) 9339-8648 (w), Fax: +61-2-9569-8940
>      http://pip.com.au/~abestuds/
>
>         (\                  /)
>       {|||8-  Beekeeper  -8|||}
>         (/                  \)
Thats not too far from what I have read. My understanding is they get
distracted by the thought of a fire that they are not as concerned about
other things. They want to pack up all the honey they can in case they have
to move. I dont know the real answer but I do know that to use heavy smoke
makes them take on honey. I use smoke as seldom and as little as possible.
 
 
 
Jerry Fries