Whilst working my cell builders this morning, I got to thinking about smoke and bees.  Bee-L has had a lot of discussion on what fuel to use in the smoker but why does it work?

I have heard the old story we tell young children of how smoke makes the bees think it is a bush fire and they gore honey, are full and cannot move properly and hence are quiet.

Most logical is that smoke disrupts the pheromone communication within the hive by the bees.  But then we use all sorts of fuel in our smokers so it would seem that it does not matter what the source of the smoke is but that it is smoke.  So can we use something that will stir the bees up enough so as to overcome the disruptive nature of the pheromone communication?

Trevor Weatherhead
AUSTRALIA