Beesource Beekeeping Forums banner

History of using smokers?? and pictures......

16K views 43 replies 15 participants last post by  Michael Bush 
#1 · (Edited)
Of course many more folks would likely see this in the “Bee Forum” but my questions are not really regarding using a smoker but why we use smokers and how the use was started. I have seen natives in Africa and in the jungles of South America building fires and using smoke to rob bee hives so smoke has been used many places for hundreds of years. But why? Is it just because my daddy’s daddy did? Have read it makes the bees think there is a forest fire so they start eating honey stores and get ready to leave, is this correct? Sort of hard to believe that bees from “bee yards” so many generations removed from any forest fires would know what to do. Really would like to hear the history, if known, as to why we use a smoker and also if any one has pictures of older or antique smokers please post and share them with us. Looking forward to learning more about why we do what we do.
Thanks.
 
#2 ·
#29 ·
i always wonder the about the circumstances that occurred when a human figured out ancient practices like using smoke to keep bees calm when robbing the hive. Obviously it was basic observations of natural events. But how early in those observations did the association of disruption of scent communications become known so as to make the practice one that was reliably consistent.

And who ate the first oyster?
 
#5 ·
From a Creationist point of view it's very easy to see why smoke subdues honeybees. They were created that way. Just as a horse was created to submit to a bit. The whole theory that smoke makes bees think they need to fill up because of a forest fire has always made me chuckle. Think about it. Have you ever smoked your bees, had them fill up on honey and then leave the hive because "a fire was coming"? Of course not. We would have quit using smoke millennium ago.

Now I now the Evolutionist will probably jump all over this. First let me say that I am old enough to remember when evolution was a theory that most people chuckled at. Now that it is a religion, it is far easier for me to have faith that something as highly complex as the honey bee and all it's necessary infrastructure was created by design, then the faith it takes to believe that something as highly complex as the honey bee and all it's infrastructure was the result of an accident.

Rock
 
#7 ·
>Have read it makes the bees think there is a forest fire so they start eating honey stores and get ready to leave, is this correct?

L.L. Langstroth was a very smart man and seldom mistaken, but on this I think he was very much mistaken. It just interferes with their sense of smell.
 
#10 ·
Also, if you happens to squish the bee - smoke interfere with alarm signal. In Switzerland they used very weird device for smoking - it is a small container with burning fuel and air flow is provided by breathing into flexible pipe, which comes through special hole in the veil into the mouth. They used way less smoke than us.
 
#14 ·
I have seen some old pics, and read about old beeks who just smoked a stogie/cigar or used a pipe to smoke the bees--I also work with a fellow from El Salvador who used to catch swarms with his grandpa by building a fire on the ground under the swarm and capturing them, but this wanders a bit from the original post--Some say there is no california,,,,I don't know because, I've never been there ;)

==McBee7==
 
#15 · (Edited)
I have seen some old pics, and read about old beeks who just smoked a stogie/cigar or used a pipe to smoke the bees--I also work with a fellow from El Salvador who used to catch swarms with his grandpa by building a fire on the ground under the swarm and capturing them, but this wanders a bit from the original post--Some say there is no california,,,,I don't know because, I've never been there ;)

==McBee7==
 
#17 ·
Using a veil and a bee pipe would be tough. The temptation would be to go veil free. Have this habit of blowing bees to get them to move and could see myself getting nailed in the lips. (ouch) I'll stick with the way I was taught. The old Kelly smoke cloud. :)
 
#23 ·
Not that I would want to breathe it in but I have been playing with fuels and have settled on spruce cones and mint leaves. Nice thick cool white smoke and I like the smell. I tried pine, burlap and cedar shavings as well as adding some food grade pellets. Some are a little smellier than I would like and others burn too hot or too fast. I find that I may want (need?) a larger smoker just to have a cooler smoke.

I've watched videos of natives in places using various fire and brands to create smoke to harvest wild honey. I'd rather a "modern" smoker anyday.

Makes more sense that it just messes with their sense of smell but it might be that the "go and fill up" instinct is just a method of keeping the open honey from getting contaminated by the smoke. I don't think that they go and chew through cappings to get at cured honey, do they?

Jeff.
 
#27 ·
I am currently using my dad's old smoker from the 1940's. (He kept bees for a few years, and then it got put away in the attic for the next 50 years).

It is not terribly old in the grand scheme of things, but it is virtually identical to a couple of current models. Still in good shape, works fine, and I like using it...
 
#28 ·
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top