Hi All:

Our bi-directional bee counters have shown that within 2 minutes of being
smoked, the outgoing bees stop going out.  No apparent effect on incoming
bees, except that the colony tends to stay at a lower overall level of
activity for a long time after being smoked -- sometimes as long as a day.
Note, I said lower, not inactive.

Also, during the heavy fires in Montana a couple of years ago, when the
smoke was so thick we could hardly see the hives, whole yards of bees
stopped working.  Bees would fly around the yard, but stayed close to the
hive.

Just like their human counter-parts who stayed home just in case the wind
changed and brought the fires toward their homes.  We had major fires in
all five connecting valleys, so even when the wind shifted, the hives were
soon engulfed in smoke from another fire.  None of these fires were closer
than 20 miles, but even the people in their homes tended to panic when the
smoke got particularly thick.

As per Peter's comment about not believing bees go down to get honey, just
watch the bees when you lift the cover and smoke them.

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