Author Topic: Bees And Smokey Air  (Read 2960 times)

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Offline Jen

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Bees And Smokey Air
« on: July 08, 2018, 12:59:19 pm »
1. It's fire season and questions are coming up about how bees get along in smokey air. One of our beeks in our circle of bee clubs says that bees hunker down and will eat their stores, and just like winter, parish from starvation even if there are stores in the hive.

2. It is also said that bees will hunker down in their hives and burn up with the fire?

3. Also, on very smokey days, I've seen my bees still come and go. To my knowledge, on very smokey days the bees will not travel out as far to forage, due to not being able to find their way back to their hives?


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Offline Bakersdozen

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Re: Bees And Smokey Air
« Reply #1 on: July 08, 2018, 01:18:03 pm »
Good questions, Jen.  I look forward to hearing what others say.  Fortunately, I have not had any experience with fires.
I did check Randy Oliver's website for any information.  As he is a fellow California beekeeper, I thought he might write about it.  He didn't as far as I can tell.
I would guess that if the smoke were too intense, the comb will pick up the scent of smoke.  If the heat is too hot, the comb will melt.
I don't think they would eat all their stores.  These are just my thoughts.

Offline Lburou

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Re: Bees And Smokey Air
« Reply #2 on: July 08, 2018, 02:05:15 pm »
Personally, I would trust your personal observations above guesses. 

Bees will engorge themselves with honey after you apply smoke to the hive, but the leap in reasoning saying they will 'starve with honey in the hive' is a really big leap in my view.

Don't know about bees burning up in a fire, I could see it both ways...fire always has a hundred variables and a single blanket statement about bees AND fire will almost surely be wrong.  JMO

:)
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Offline apisbees

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Re: Bees And Smokey Air
« Reply #3 on: July 08, 2018, 06:49:36 pm »
Foraging and the amount of nectar being brought into the hive is less when fires are present but in most cases the weather is much hotter and the reduction in collected nectar could be the plants reducing nectar output because of the heat and drought conditions. I have seen hives that the bees stayed in but the hive bodies where burnt and charcoaled on the out side.
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Offline Lburou

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Re: Bees And Smokey Air
« Reply #4 on: July 08, 2018, 07:00:53 pm »
... I have seen hives that the bees stayed in, but the hive bodies were burnt and charcoaled on the outside.
WoW! 
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Offline Jen

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Re: Bees And Smokey Air
« Reply #5 on: July 08, 2018, 07:57:16 pm »
Apis, we did discuss that aspect of when there is so much smoke that blocks the sun, the plants just don't produce the nectar and/or the nectar dries up.
 
"I have seen hives that the bees stayed in but the hive bodies where burnt and charcoaled on the out side."

Agreed... Wow! Just think... lifting those lids and finding the bees alive... makes me teary thinking about it.




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Offline riverbee

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Re: Bees And Smokey Air
« Reply #6 on: July 08, 2018, 11:44:27 pm »
this is a hard question to answer jen.  i am not in a state where wildfires are common.

wildfires have many causes, (mostly human error); drought and lack of nectar and or pollen would be my concern for the bees. when the smoke is so thick, not sure how this affects the bees.

keep an eye on your hives, if they appear that they are suffering from nectar/pollen or even water collection, give them what they might need.


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Offline Bakersdozen

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Re: Bees And Smokey Air
« Reply #7 on: July 09, 2018, 12:32:08 pm »
.

wildfires have many causes, (mostly human error); drought and lack of nectar and or pollen would be my concern for the bees. when the smoke is so thick, not sure how this affects the bees.

keep an eye on your hives, if they appear that they are suffering from nectar/pollen or even water collection, give them what they might need.

Jen, perhaps a boardman feeder filled with water would be a good idea.  Just to make life easier for the bees.  It won't stop anything.

apis, were the bees still alive after the hive bodies were charred?

riverbee, I watched part of a program on PBS last night.  There discussing wildfires in the west.  An official said that 93% of all forest fires are caused by humans.  That's 93% that could have been prevented.

Offline Jen

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Re: Bees And Smokey Air
« Reply #8 on: July 09, 2018, 02:19:34 pm »
Sadly, this particular wildfire was started by a burn pile or fireworks on July 5th, in high winds, burning 35,000 acres, taking out our surrounding small towns right to the ground. The area that the fire started was on ranch land and under strict fire restriction issued by the state of CA. But the gentleman decided to start a burn pile anyway. He's in Big Fat Trouble right now!

Happens every single year!
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Offline Bakersdozen

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Re: Bees And Smokey Air
« Reply #9 on: July 10, 2018, 09:51:53 am »
Everyone, because we were getting off topic, I split this thread into two.  Both were good, timely topics.  The comments on smoker safety have been moved to a this thread https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/index.php?topic=7956.0.

Offline efmesch

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Re: Bees And Smokey Air
« Reply #10 on: July 10, 2018, 03:21:53 pm »

If I was successful in moving this picture to this post, you can see how the bees, even though their hive is on fire, resist abandoning home.  The picture was taken of an apiary burned down by a fire started intentionally by incendiary kites from the Gaza strip.  There's plenty of smoke still in the neighborhood, a lot of charred hive boxes and burning frames, but the bees still stay on the hive.


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Offline neillsayers

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Re: Bees And Smokey Air
« Reply #11 on: July 10, 2018, 10:36:40 pm »
Wow Ef,

I always assumed (we know what that leads to :)) the bees were gorging on honey to evacuate away from the fire. Hmmmmmm.....
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Offline Jen

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Re: Bees And Smokey Air
« Reply #12 on: July 10, 2018, 10:45:29 pm »
Oooh My Oh My! That is just tough to look at!  :'(
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Offline Wandering Man

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Re: Bees And Smokey Air
« Reply #13 on: July 10, 2018, 11:35:03 pm »
Oh my ...

As Jen said, it’s hard to look at.
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Offline riverbee

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Re: Bees And Smokey Air
« Reply #14 on: July 11, 2018, 12:08:29 am »
thank you very much ef, and incredible photograph!
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