The overall best smoker fuel is cotton, because it offers cool smoke that will not harm the honey bees within your hive colony.
The smoke beekeepers use can come from a variety of fuels such as burlap, pine needles, wood pellets, twigs, or cardboard. The role of smoke is to calm bees, therefore you should never use synthetic materials or paper that's been bleached as it can irritate the bees.
There are many materials that may be used as fuel in a smoker, but the most common ones are unprocessed cotton fiber, wood, pine needles, burlap or wood pellets. Dadant & Sons Pro Tip: Most experienced beekeepers have a favorite material, or mix of materials, that they feel produces the best smoke.
Once all the pieces below have been assembled, it is recommended to check the smoker operation before using it to work in the hive. Bellows are constructed with: • two wooden bases of rectangular shape (12.7 cm x 19 cm x 1.3 cm); • a conical spring of 9 cm of base (diameter) and 13 cm of height.
Extracting the honey means removing it from the hive frames. To do this, the uncapped frames are spun in a machine called an extractor. Centrifugal force draws the honey out of the combs and into a reservoir.
Liquid Smoke:
Liquid smoke is made by condensing the smoke given off by wood as it smoulders. It is completely natural and will not harm your bees. You can then simply spray it from an ordinary garden sprayer. It is easier to use than a traditional smoker but doesn't quite have the glamour of a traditional smoker.
Bees Love Nicotine, Even Though It's Killing Them.
Without smoke, the entire hive can quickly become unmanageable, stinging the beekeeper severely and possibly taking down neighbours in the process. I was once called to a house where the resident beekeeper had opened his hive without smoke, the bees erupted, and the beekeeper ran.
The simplest method of honey extraction, and probably the oldest, is the crush-and-strain method. You simply destroy each of the wax cells holding the honey by crushing the entire comb in a bowl (with a tool or with your hands). Once you've broken the cells, you must strain the honey and wax to separate them.
Smoke a bit and watch them move deeper in. Another methodis to light 2-3 pieces of our Betterbee Smoker Fuel (it won't flame up, but will smolder). Then add more smoker fuel, wood stove pellets, or wood chips/shavings/pine pet bedding until smoker is ⅔-¾ full, puffing strongly until billows of gray smoke come out.
Start with a fistful of shavings and place them in the smoker. I use a long lighter to light my flame. You can use many types of fuel in your smoker. We use untreated, new pine shavings.
The comb, honey and frames may be used in the hive again. Bees will clean up a bit of mold, although by doing it for them they can focus their talents elsewhere (pollination.) If it is black mold, remove and trash the foundation (or melt for other uses). Clean the frames thoroughly, air out, freeze, and reuse.
But how you deliver wet frames to the bees is important. It is popular to pile the frames into a great heap on the edge of the bee yard and let the bees do their thing. I have seen frames piled in wheelbarrows or stacked like wood in a bonfire. This will get your frames clean in no time, but it is not good practice.
The most common way is to put the frames back in the supers just harvested and put the supers back on your hives. Then in a few days, the bees will have cleaned up the mess and you're left with a super full of clean, dry, not sticky frames.
Too much smoke can literally drive bees out of a hive, into the grass where the queen might be injured or lost. Too much smoke can make the bees aggressive and confused. Too much smoke damages honey – beeswax is a fatty acid which absorbs odours.
A 4×10 inch smoker will last two to three hours if packed correctly. The fire should be started and coals established prior to packing the canister tightly with fuel. The smoker should be lit from the bottom. I use pine needles and pack the canister with as many pine needles as I can stuff into the canister.
As a result, it is thought that overtime bees have learnt to dislike dark coloured animals who approach their hives. Therefore by wearing white, a beekeeper can approach and open the hive without the bees becoming defensive and attacking, decreasing the chances of the beekeeper being attacked/stung.
Many commercial beekeepers like to use hessian for smoker fuel and this is certainly a cheap option. If you leave these bags outside, they also rot faster which means that they burn faster and better when it comes to the actual job.
If there are just a few bees in one location, they may simply be smoked out using smoke bombs or nets filled with smoke pellets that will force them out into the open air, where they can be picked up by hand or vacuumed up with a special vacuum machine called a “bee vac.”
When honey bees become alarmed (usually in response to a perceived threat to the hive) they emit the strong-smelling pheromones isopentyl acetate and 2-heptanone.