Everyone has their own way of lighting a bee smoker. This is mine.
By Bee Girl
We got a smoker this Spring. It came in a box and I got to open it which was the best bit. It is very shiny. I don’t think it will stay shiny for long because that is not really how smokers work but it looks good right now.
Here is what I do.
Quick note before I start: I light the smoker before every hive inspection. If you’ve never watched one Mum wrote about what an inspection actually looks like.
Step one
Get your paper and your lighter. Scrunch the paper up a bit so it catches easier. Light it and put it in the bottom of the smoker. Let it actually catch before you do anything else. This is the part where you have to be a tiny bit patient which I am not always brilliant at but you do have to wait or the whole thing goes out and you have to start again.
Step two
Once the paper is going, put your cardboard in. Not loads of it. Just enough to get a good base of heat going. I tear mine into pieces so it fits better and burns more evenly. The cardboard is what keeps it going while you get the grass ready.
Step three
Grass. Fresh grass works best. You want enough to fill it up but not so much that you smother everything underneath. Then you pump the bellows. Lots of puffs. Keep going until you see good smoke coming out of the top.
The important bit
You want cool smoke. Not hot smoke.
Hot smoke hurts the bees and that is not the point. The point is to calm them down not to hurt them. To check if your smoke is cool enough hold your hand near the nozzle. If it feels too hot on your hand it is too hot for the bees. Keep puffing until it cools down and you get a nice thick cool white smoke.
How much fuel for your bee smoker
We only have one hive at the minute so I don’t load it up with loads. Just enough for one inspection. At the apiary where we do our training they use pine cones and wood chips and cardboard and sometimes grass as well. There are lots of ways to do it.
Pine cones smell amazing when they burn by the way. Just so you know.
What I’ve learned about lighting a bee smoker
Don’t rush the lighting bit. If you rush it goes out and you have to start again and by that point the bees are already open and that is not ideal.
Keep puffing even when you think it’s going. Smokers go out faster than you think especially if it’s a bit windy.
Cool smoke. Always cool smoke.
And don’t panic if it takes a few tries to get right. Ours went out twice the first time we used it and Mum said a word she probably shouldn’t have said and then we started again.
It was fine in the end.
That’s how I light a bee smoker. Everyone has their own way. If your way works for you and your bees then that is the right way.
I should probably tell you that Mum cheats.
She uses Dad’s burner which is basically a little gas canister that lights the smoker in about thirty seconds flat. I am not allowed to use it because I am eleven and it involves a flame that is not a lighter.
She uses it when she thinks I am not watching.
I am always watching.
Bee Girl x