What is a smoker used for in beekeeping? You use a smoker to trigger a bee's natural instinct to leave the hive so that you can work with the hive. A smoker is used to put smoke on the bees. They think...
A smoker is used to put smoke on the bees. They think their natural habitat is a forest. When smoke comes into their hive in the forest they know it's on fire. If it's on fire, they are going to leave; they know this by instinct. So they suck up as much honey in their little stomachs as they can hold because they know they are going to leave their hive because the trees are going to burn down. It's just like after a big thanksgiving dinner, you really don't want to go out and mow the lawn. You would rather go in and lie down on the couch and watch the football game. It makes you lethargic. So the smoke is to make the bees suck up the honey and they become lethargic.
You smoke them every time you go in to the hive to do anything. I have been medicating them this week and I smoke them so I can take the hives completely apart, medicate them and put them all back together.
The smoke is used to make them not sting as much. I get stung even when smoking them. It hurts when they sting, but the secret is to scratch the sting off immediately. When you get stung, you must note it immediately. You reach over and you scratch the sting; never pick it off. The stinger is stuck into you and it's got this little sack on top and the sack is pulsing. It's a natural involuntary impulse and it's pumping the protein into you. If you reached out and grab it and pull it out, it's like you push everything in through the stinger and into your arm. If you scrape it off, you stop everything immediately. So when you get stung, reach down and scratch it off.
