> > I am coming to the view that lighting and using a smoker has a placebo > calming effect on the beekeeper so (s)he no longer emits the anxiety > pheromones that cause the bees to react stingily. > If honey bees acted defensively towards threatening entities only because they could sense anxiety or fear, I wouldn't expect (wild) honey bees with that trait to exist for any substantial period of time. Perhaps lighting a smoker does have a placebo effect on the beekeeper which causes them to stay more calm and collected. Randy Oliver has a great talk on how to work hives with minimal disturbance to the bees (and beekeeper). "Tips on Working Bees" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcfqTx4_FAo *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html