The Smoker
A smoker is a small portable tinder box with an attached bellows. When
bees are exposed to smoke, they react by eating honey stored in the hive
and become less likely to take flight. The smoke may also serve to
mask any alarm phermone which is produced when the hive is disturbed.
The end result is that the bees are calmer and less likely to sting after the hive
entrance and the open supers have had a liberal amount of smoke blown
across them.
The desired effect is to produce large amounts of cool smoke and a variety
of materials are used. Burlap smolders well and burns for some time.
A mixture of dried leaves or grass and porous or rotted damp wood works
well, as does wood shavings or corn cobs. Paper is useful as a starter
but care should be taken to avoid print and colors which can produce
toxic smoke.
As the bellows is pumped, the smoke from the funnel shaped nozzle can
be directed to areas of the hive where bees appear active or agitated.
The Veil
A veil
is essential to protect the face from any bees which are inclined
to sting. The veil should cover the head and tie tightly around the neck
or shoulders to prevent bees from entering from the bottom. There are
flat faced veils that zip onto beekeepers overalls, and several varieties
that fit over a hat and drape down to the shoulders. The face area
can be made from netting or even from wire panels, as long as the design
keeps the fabric of the net from laying against the face. Ideally, the
hat and/or veil should be light colored since bees respond aggressively
to darker colors. Both light color and fabric is adventageous in the
middle of a summer honey flow in Central Texas!.
Hive Tool
A hive tool is essential due to the
bees habit of securely "glueing" movable sections of the hive together
with propolis. It is not uncommon for the lid to be stuck to the inner
cover with globs of propolis, and the inner cover is often stuck to
the super, especially in any area where the bees
detect an incoming draft.
Frames are regularly secured with propolis to the ledge upon which they
sit, and the hive tool is needed to loosen them for removal and inspection.
The standard 10 inch hive tool has a sharpened wedge on one end for
loosening frames, and the other end is recurved for prying supers apart.
The flat end is also useful during general hive inspections when oddly
shaped or placed "burr comb" is found and needs to be scraped off the
inappropriate surface. This end can also be used to gently clear bees from
the tops or ends of frames that are being manipulated.
Clothing
