has anyone ever heard of using compresed gas to calm or sedate bees
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CO2 will cause bees to go to sleep. They use it down in S.A. to work the hives of AHB . Give them a dose and they sleep for about 5 min or so.
i have no idea. nitrous No2 would be explosive!!!
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We used about $200 worth of C02 making up mating nucs this spring. Happy bees!!!!!!!!!
I thought CO2 kills them. I saw somewhere on the interwebs a "bee removal" company that kills them with CO2 gas and then removes the comb. Their big sales pitch was that they kill the bees without leaving behind dangerous pesticides that kill bees :scratch:
I did some reading and found that out. But here's a video of the S.A. beekeepers having done this and working with the bees.
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Ammonium nitrate can knock out lots of things. If inhaled, it can knock out a person. It can knock out buildings, remember the Murrah Federal Building. It can knock out plants if too much is used on them.
cchoganjr
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How do u happen to know that?
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Commonly used to anesthitise virgin queens prior to and during Instrumental Insemination. Properly dosed.
I've used ammonium nitrate several times to introduce queens, mainly virgins. It's only explosive in large quantities and under pressure with fire. It does burn hot so you have to be careful when smoking bees with it not to burn them [did that once and melted a styro nuc]. Bees sleep for about 5 minutes. A couple of queen breeders use it to make up mating nucs. Search utube for video.
Yes it can knock out buildings, but it has to be mixed with desiel fuel and have a large charge put to it first. lol.. Not sure about the other applications but the plants being fertilized though.. Never heard of the other uses..
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My remarks were meant to be a joke to Odfrank, about different things that happen when you use ammonium nitrate. Please don't take them seriously when talking about putting bees to sleep. I have never tried it, but, if Odfrank says it will put them to sleep, I will take it at face value.
Of course I know it takes other measures to make it explode, it takes larger quantities to burn or kill plants rather than fertilize them. However, in all seriousness, ammonium nitrate is not something to play with. There are lots of good uses and there are a lot of ways to use it illegally.
cchoganjr
Of course I know it takes other measures to make it explode, it takes larger quantities to burn or kill plants rather than fertilize them. However, in all seriousness, ammonium nitrate is not something to play with. There are lots of good uses and there are a lot of ways to use it illegally.
cchoganjr
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Requeening mean bees with Ammonium nitrate - Get a few table spoons from a local wholesale nursery or farmer or terrorist. Have a new caged queen, division screen and drone guard (entrance queen excluder) ready. Light the smoker, drop in a tea spoon of ammonium nitrate, don't inhale the smoke as it will blast out of the smoker. Fumigate the hive with the blasting smoke. The bees will fall unconscious. Shake them onto a sheet in front of the hive. Place all the brood in the upper brood chamber. They will awake from their stupor and walk back into the hive, the queen being found on the entrance excluder. After an hour or two divide the hive introducing the new queen above the division screen into the box containing the brood. These mean bees will kill the new queen if you try a direct introduction. The division screens sends the old mean bees back to the box down below, young bees above to accept the new queen. Either squish the old queen, or mark her and run her back into the bottom. You will then have to find her and squish her after the new queen up above is accepted, then merging the boxes.
I did dozens of mean hives in the '70s using this method, works great.
I did dozens of mean hives in the '70s using this method, works great.
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There was no diesel or charge in the West, Tx fertilizer plant explosion last year..
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ODFrank- interesting!
Do/did you have to use a dedicated smoker or clean out the used smoker before reusing ?
Do/did you have to use a dedicated smoker or clean out the used smoker before reusing ?
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Like I said, Ammonium nitrate is not something to play with, unless you know what you are doing.
cchoganjr
Way overblown comment. Many beekeepers, including myself, use it without problems. It is the common fuel for fireworks. A few teaspoons will never explode.
odfrank. I just put the queen cage on the top frames, smoke them, release the sleeping queen and put her on the top bars and close up the hive. I get about 85% success with mated queens and about 70% with virgins. Only one trip to the hive, come back in 3 weeks and combine the failures with another hive.
odfrank. I just put the queen cage on the top frames, smoke them, release the sleeping queen and put her on the top bars and close up the hive. I get about 85% success with mated queens and about 70% with virgins. Only one trip to the hive, come back in 3 weeks and combine the failures with another hive.
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Really??? I thought firecrackers explode. How many teaspoons are in a firecracker. Or better yet, how many firecrackers would you have to have to have a teaspoon.
cchoganjr
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