Given a choice between a bee suit and a smoke, I'll always choose the
smoker. Smoke is a natural part of the environment in which bees evolved.
Predators attacking a hive are also something bees to which they have had to
respond.
Of the two, our counters and our infra-red imaging show that smoke tends
to suppress flight for a short period. Banging a hive without smoke, tends
to produce disturbances that last much longer, any bee that stings the
beekeeper dies, and our behavioral research indicates that bees can 'learn' to
be aggressive, remember the intruder.
Jerry
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