On 27 Nov 99, at 9:10, William Morong wrote:

> This past season I tried once, and only once, a supposedly wonderful smoke
> substitute, that may or may not be similar to what David describes, called
> Fabi-Spray.  It was horrible, for the following reason.

I was the one who introduced Fabi Spray to North America and once
again someone has copied without doing any research!!   Fabi Spray is
not a smoke substitute, it was first introduced as a clearing agent,
to clear bees from honey supers.
        I did some work on using it as a calming agent for angry bees, for
which it is perfect. There are some hives that smoke riles them up,
instead of calming it makes them even more aggressive, more smoke,
more aggression. Fabi Spray is ideal for these types of hive, a
couple of sprays and it seems to numb them and stops the aggression
dead, ideal for reqeening those angry hives.
        Whoever sold it to you didn't do you or anyone any favours. The
product has a black mark against it, unfairly!!

> What level of awareness does Liquid Smoke induce?

On discussing it with Jean who has a trifle more experience with it,
she prefers Liquid smoke over Fabi Spray. She says and I agree, that
Liquid smoke doesn't numb the bees like Fabi Spray, and work in the
hive is not interupted. Mind, I suppose it's like all things,
sometimes 'a little is better than a lot'.
        I do know one thing, my old smoker will be given a well deserved
rest next year.





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