Allen Dick wrote under the heading of "bee blowers"

> I might mention that I have also recently been using some Honey Robber
> since the weather has improved, but not enough to use abandonment safely.
> I'd try Jim's new product  ( http://www.bee-quick.com/ ) since I
understand
> that it smells a touch nicer than butyric, but unfortunately our co-op
> promises to reject honey taken with any but a few approved products due to
> regulations in some importing countries

I am surprised that butyric anhydride, Bee Robber, is still "approved" for
use.  There is research, Canadian at that, out there to show that it leaves
a residue in the honey just like other bee repellents.  Here in Australia,
it must be over 10 years ago that we stopped using repellents.  The most
popular was phenol (carbolic acid).  At the time I remember that I was on
our Honey Research Committee and we looked at all repellents including
butyric and we rejected any research on these as all were found to leave
residues in the honey.

The most popular way of clearing bees here in Australia is clearer boards,
called escape boards in North America, but some do use bee blowers and the
abandonment method is  practiced in the yapunyah country.  Abandonment is
not feasible in most other areas because of robbing.

Trevor Weatherhead
AUSTRALIA