Fume board instead of smoker?

[juzzerbee]

It hasn't rained here in my area of southern Wisconsin for over a month or 2 and everything is terribly dry. I have some supers ready to pull off but I am very nervous about using my smoker in the very dry condition. I attempted to pull the supers 2 days ago without my smoker. It didn't work well. I found a small area on a frame in one of the supers that wasn't capped and decided to wait a few more days. I have since learned that a fume board will really make things easier for me when I try again. Can I just use a fume board to do my inspection of frames versus a smoker? As I inspect I could pull the capped frames. The hive I want to pull frames from is currently 4 supers tall(mediums). Would there be any negative consequences from using the fume board as a "smoker" of sorts to get through the hive? Thanks, juzzerbee

[rkereid]

The fume board doesn't really settle the bees like smoke. It will drive them down, though probably not off of brood. By the time you are in the bottom boxes the bees will have no where to go.

If you light your smoker and then put plenty of material like pine straw (pack it in) over the lit material, there will not be any sparks coming out. Monitor the smoldering material so it does not burn up to the point where it is on top of the pack. You do have to monitor closely.

[Vance G]

The bee go or other chemical drives the bees off the honey best with no smoke. It does not work well to drive bees off brood. fume the bees off the supers of honey and stack tightly and cover to keep bees from re-entering. Have a bucket and set your smoker in it when not in use and you will be fine.

[mrobinson]

Personally, we use peppermint oil in a water spray, although of course we do have a smoker ... a tried-and-true strategy. A smoker stuffed full of nearby straw works well, and if it's throwing sparks, you're probably "puffing" it much too hard. Easy does it.

[snl]

I found a small area on a frame in one of the supers that wasn't capped and decided to wait a few more days.

That little area does not matter, go ahead & pull them..............

[juzzerbee]

I stopped in at Dadant today and asked the same question to them. They suggested to try Honey B Healthy with some sugar water(like mrobinson suggested). That is a relief, I just found out it is currently illegal to have a smoker going around my area at this time.