There are about as many different materials used in smokers as there are beekeepers. I use pine needles because they are handy. The smoke does calm the bees and I use it any time I go into a hive.

Pine needles? I can't even name all the toxins in pine needle smoke. Of course it calms them, they are poisoned into a semi comatose state.

But, the ignorance doesn't stop there. When I visited the USDA site and read of their ongoing study of the bees' plight, I discovered the following:

1. The USDA smokes the bees while they study them.

2. They wonder why the bees just abandon the hives and disappear. (Wouldn't you if you were continually being poisoned and your hive is growing bacteria and who knows what else?)

3. They have now discovered that smoking bees might kill mites. (Of course it does, smoke kills just about everything, including bees. Would they recommend this method for their children or their puppies or birds?)

So, there is a healthy second hand smoke? Wait til the tobacco industry hears that smoking pine needles is good for living things. And being completely engulfed in it has a "calming" effect.

I am amazed that the smoke thing just goes right over their heads. Too bad it's not going over the bees' heads. I've seen a lot of blundering of wildlife in my day but, this has to bee one of the worst. Any dentist can tell you that bacteria love a smoker's mouth. Bacteria just thrive in that environment. What? The bees are being overrun with bacterial infections?

Has anyone sat in a smoke filled bar some night and then have to wash it out of your hair and your clothes? Not to mention coughing your head off for a couple of days. Now, imagine all the tiny little hairs on a bee's body collecting all that smoke residue and them not beeing able to wash. Or, worse yet, trying to lick it off. Plus, their tiny little respiratory systems. They passed laws nationwide to protect us from that. I am totally amazed and dumfounded.

Here is a suggestion:

QUIT POISONING THE BEES WITH SMOKE AND WONDERING WHY THEY GET SICK!

getting back to the bees, great article on discover:
http://discovermagazine.com/2009/oct/19-who-killed-all-those-honeybees-we-did

the whole thing becomes much less of a mystery at this point and the prime culprit is identified- man-made impoverishment of bees gene pools. but other problems are listed as well- such as beekeepers feeding bees corn syrup during the winter (nutritional and immune system disaster) and forcing them to single crops during the pollination season (a lesser disaster)

> More than one beekeeper insisted that bees are not animals.

something that we should expect and yet still pretty jaw-dropping. but when man works with animals as part of a business, it seems to kill a lot of his potential empathy / understanding of that animal.

btw, thanks for the reply message. i wish i had more chances to observe birds, but i'll try to drop by that other place you mention.