# No smoker--How badly am I going to get stung?



## BerkeyDavid (Jan 29, 2004)

Do you have a beesuit or at least a veil? If so you might be ok. Get you a pipe and some tobacco!


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## deehovey (May 30, 2006)

I do have a veil. We don't smoke, but any other ideas on a simple smoke source? Maybe a fire in a coffee can and a hand fan?


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## onlygoodSHBisdeadone (Sep 10, 2005)

All depends.... Is your insurance paid up? Seriously though,, you'll need a smoker. It will make all the diff in an enjoyable learning experiance and swearing off beekeeping as a hobby forever. I've been in it for 24 years and though there may be some on the forum with a brass set that would try something as invasive as comb removal/frameup without one, not this old bean. At least not without banging back a fifth first.


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## Sundance (Sep 9, 2004)

I see them on ebay for $5 sometimes.

Here's one for $1.99.........

Smokers are handy.

http://cgi.ebay.com/OLD-OLD-wooden-BEE-SMOKER-USED-CONDITION-VINTAGE_W0QQitemZ7419260097QQcategoryZ1217QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


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## iddee (Jun 21, 2005)

I do jobs regulerly like that and sometimes get 40 to 50 stings which doesn't bother me all that much. I would not go into one without a smoker. I like to keep my stings under 200, so a smoker is necessary. If you don't buy the smoker, at least buy a half dozen epi-pens. You are going to need them.
Also, wear a pair of coveralls, taped at the ankles and wrist, and a good pair of thick gloves along with your veil. If you try your first cut out without this equip., you will NOT continue to keep bees. It will have the worst day of your life. After 30 years experience, I still hit hives that just refuse to stay calm.


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## PA Pete (Feb 2, 2005)

I agree with OGSHBIDO  Get yourself a smoker and make it an enjoyable learning experience.


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## deehovey (May 30, 2006)

OK, I'll go get the smoker in the morning. One question though. What if I didn't fasten the comb to the top bars? What if I I just lean the comb against the side in the bottom of the hive? Ok, that's two questions.
Also, I'm not actually doing the cut out. I'm getting a box of bees and comb from someone who does bee removals. The problem is how to get this established in my TBH. 

Sundance, that smokers really cool and I'm sure I can save money on E-Bay, but my problem is I get my bees tomorrow. So, I've got no choice but to spend the $35 to get one tomorrow, unless there is something I can rig with household materials.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

Buy a cigar. A smoker is well worth what it costs. If I HAD to make do, I'd make a can with a hole at the top for the smoke to come out and a pipe on the bottom to blow the air in.


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## Scot Mc Pherson (Oct 12, 2001)

I don't use a smoker and I usually wear shorts and a tee-shirt weather permitting (now that I live in iowa, sometimes its jeans and a sweatshirt). Some bees get antsy but I get stung maybe 3 or 4 times a visit to my yards and I work through a few hundred hives.

A veil is a necessity even if you don't use it all the time, sometimes you'll have a hive that you can't work without a veil. I don't use a smaoker because one of my buyers will only buy honey that I have legally committed to being smoke free. Smoke does get into the honey no matter how careful you are with it.


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## Heritage (May 10, 2005)

I've heard that liquid smoke works if you dilute it with water and spritz it on. I've never tried it, but might tomorrow morning when I try to get a colony out of the eaves of a neighbor's house... I sure hope it works!


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## onlygoodSHBisdeadone (Sep 10, 2005)

>what if I didn't fasten.....
You'll have a mess
>What if I lean comb ....
You'll have a bigger mess.

Bees would begin drawing comb were you would not want it.
Unless TBH is based on Lang dimensions where you could install frames in TBH you'll need to cut out a few frames of comb and attach to top bar to get things started. Set hive your getting where you want your TBH to be and give bees a few days to orient to that spot. Then cut and fasten a few frames of brood to top bars (be sure you get queen in TBH) and move old hive 10' or so and place TBH were old hive was. Field bees will return to and set up house in TBH then after a day finish removeing bees and comb from old hive and place in TBH. This way there is not as much cut out being done initially when there is alot of bees in old hive. And after the next day older bees will be in TBH and only young (and fewer) bees will be in old hive making it a little easier.
As far a smoker goes beekeepers are a friendly lot by nature. Check with your local beek oranization and explain your situation to someone active in it and I'm sure you could find someone willing to lend you one if not buy cheaply plus they would be able to give you pionters/help with your move. Good luck

[ June 02, 2006, 10:26 PM: Message edited by: onlygoodSHBisdeadone ]


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## Sasha (Feb 22, 2005)

It depend on your bees and time when you are checking them.Most times I feel I can do just fine without the smoker but sometimes like when you have some difficult operation like what you plan to do a little bit of smoke would help you and the bees to be calm.If nothing else lite a smokey fire in a tin can and puff the smoke on the hive 

deehovey >
ie comb, are they going to come after me? If it's likely they're going to try to kill me then I will bite the bullet and run into OKC and buy a smoker

The bees have never come at me.Really never.Bee gentle and slow.I have rip apart my tbh few days ago and I got sting 2-3 times only.


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## Carolina-Family-Farm (Aug 2, 2005)

deehovey 

I was planning on getting a new smoker this week; If you would like to have my used one your welcome to it. My used one works perfect, I've just been wanting a larger one.

Just PM me your mailing address and I'll UPS it to ya.


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## Jon McFadden (Mar 26, 2005)

Langsroth used a spray of sugar water. Will has tried this, but I didn't think it worked all that great. I've always used smoke.


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## deehovey (May 30, 2006)

I've survived!!!! No stings! I ended up not getting ahold of the people I was going to borrow a smoker from. We used a tin can and fanned it some with some cardboard or the bee brush.


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## deehovey (May 30, 2006)

Here's a pic of the smoker we used. Pretty darn simple but it seemed to work. Either that or these were really gentle bees. Actually I think it was a combination of the two. 

Simple tin can smoker


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

If you poke a few small holes in the sides near the bottom and poke two holes at the top and put a wire bale on it for a handle, it will be MUCH handier.


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## buckbee (Dec 2, 2004)

FWIW, I have given up smokers (and smoking!) and now use a water spray with some drops of essentail oil of White Birch (smells remarkably like smoke) and sometimes Lemongrass and Peppermint. 

Smoke tends to drive bees down into the hive, but often it drives them into the air as well. It also triggers the bees' alarm response, causing them to rush to their honey stores and stuff themselves, ready to go into 'emergency swarm' mode. This is a waste of bee energy (and foraging time) as they have to put it all back again when you go away.

Water spray makes them 'freeze' rather than go down, which is not so good if you want to see between frames, but ideal for a TBH where there is no gap between bars anyway. A little sugar dissolved in the water makes them slightly sticky and less liable to fly, so they get busy cleaning each other instead of panicking. 

I use a pump-up spray holding about a litre (sorry, liter - sorry, a quart[?]) and you can calm the most defensive bees by just spraying more water until they give up. It does no harm to the bees, or the beekeeper, and it works. I will be happy never to use a smoker again.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>Smoke tends to drive bees down into the hive, but often it drives them into the air as well.

Then you're smoking far too much. It should really do neither if you're using appropriate amounts. It should just calm them. One or two puffs from a well lit smoker is usually plenty to keep a typical hive clam for quite some time.


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## buckbee (Dec 2, 2004)

Mmm, well, not always, in my experience, I have to say. After all, feral bees would not be expected to act calmly in the event of a forest fire - they would pack their picnic baskets and vacate in a hurry! I have known some hives (not mine!) to become very agitated by only modest amounts of smoke, while others do appear to become calmer. Like Winnie the Pooh said...


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## ClatsOre (Jul 27, 2004)

I have a young girl that works one of my hives for a school project she is about 100# on a good day, and all she wares is her dads white shirt no veil and no gloves. She goes though my TBH frame by frame and takes all the drones off by hand and puts them in a box. She put two frames with no foundation in them and as the hive fills the frames out she cuts out the frames and caps them and looks for mites. No smoke and no stings so far.


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## ClatsOre (Jul 27, 2004)

opps that is the hive caps the not her


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