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Smoking honey bees out

Smoking Bees Out

Whether you should attempt to try smoking honey bees out of a chimney, wall cavity or other place is going to depend on a number of factors. Generally speaking it is not something that should be done without seriously thinking it through and assessing all possible risks.

The chemistry of smoking honey bees

Beekeepers are often found using smoke to keep bees calm during hive inspections: the smoke is used to mask the smell of alarm pheromones produced by honey bees when they sense danger. The pheromones (isopentyl acetate & 2-heptanone) are released by a gland located near their stinger. The release of this pheromone puts the other bees on alert and causes them to also release pheromones, so preparing the honey bee colony to be ready to defend against attack.
Smoke masks the pheromone by reducing the electroantennograph response of the antennae.
Strong floral odours can have a similar effect.
The effect of the smoke and floral odours is reversible, and the responsiveness of the bees’ antennae gradually returns within 10-20 minutes.

History of calming honey bees with smoke

Smoke has been widely utilised for calming honey bees, you will have seen documentaries showing various tribes across the world climbing cliffs and tall trees to collect honey after lighting smoky fires beneath, to reduce the number of bees inclined to attack & sting.
Now in the 21st Century within the modern built up environment the use of smokers when working with bee hives in the apiary is being frowned upon; for good reason. When carrying out a risk assessment most people will see that the overall benefit does not outweigh the risks associated with using a bee smoker.
Now with the changing environment, drier ground conditions etc there is a greater potential for a fire incident.

Insurance for smoking bees out

For a honey bee removal & relocation business gaining insurance for the use of a smoker on or around a property is highly unlikely.
For many properties that we work on, we are required to carry out a 2 hour Fire Watch if we use a cordless tool for cutting roof timbers.
The dangers of a bee smoker are far greater than that of a cordless tool. The cause for concern is not only the use of the bee smoker, but the lighting of it and the need to push oxygen through the embers to keep it alight.
Beekeeping Association Apiaries have to be concerned about the flammability of the clothing worn by any members or guests that attend the apiary when bee smokers are in use.
The placement of the smoker needs to be constantly monitored, and how its dealt with on completion of the work because it will still be hot and contain embers.
Even if the insurance was not a problem one would expect to see a mandatory Fire Watch of the site for a minimum of 2 hours post use.

Should honey bees in walls be smoked out?

The simple answer to this is no – unless you are the one doing it and its your property and you fully understand the risks. You should not allow your local friendly beekeeper or anyone else to do it .
In the past we have reluctantly used smoke to push bees out of wall cavities, we were never particularly happy about doing it and in the back of our minds new we were not doing the right thing.

5 Problems with smoking bees out

  • pumping smoke into a wall cavity can cause smoke damage and a strong acrid stink (dependent upon what the source of fuel is for your smoker)
  • you won’t be insured for any damage caused. To have insurance for hot works using a bee smoker a business will need a RAMS for that specific task, any RAMS written will identify an alternative method
  • A beekeepers smoker creates smoke from a container with hot embers in the bottom. The air (oxygen) is blown thru the embers to slow burn material sitting on top of the embers. This air then comes out of the smoker through its spout mixed with the smoke created, along with any loose hot embers
  •  A wall, chimney or roof cavity may all contain materials that could potentially ignite uncontrollably: often we find bird nesting material, mouse nests and other combustibles within wall cavities, along with wax and honey.
  • A bee smoker can be notoriously frustrating, this frustration inevitably leads to the user madly pumping the smoker blowing air rapidly (& uncontrollably) through the smoker taking with it hot embers, whilst trying to reinvigorate the smoke production.

It’s highly unlikely that anybody that really knows anything about live bee removals will be using a hot smoker, they may try using other forms of smoke such as liquid smoke in a hand sprayer, but a simple risk assessment will have knocked the use of a bee smoker of the list of viable tools.

Should honey bees in chimneys be smoked out?

If the bees have been in the flue for a while the largest risk to the property would be falling wax comb containing honey.
This is why we always say any fire lit to try to smoke out honey bees should be of a low heat.
As the temperature rises within the flue the wax softens and becomes weaker, especially that of new wax. The honey stores within the wax increases the weight pulling on the weakened wax and causes it to fall.
At this point the wax comes into contact with the flames and ignites and is then fuelled by the honey stores. Do you remember those science lab experiments at school establishing how much energy there is in a gram of sugar? A honey & wax fire creates very high temperatures and often spits.

If the bees have not been there for long (or been there historically) then one should be very wary of the possibility that the cluster of bees at the top of the chimney does not just drop down the flue to the fireplace causing them to swarm into the room.

7 factors to consider when smoking bees out of a chimney

Whether or not honey bees can be smoked out of a chimney will depend upon multiple factors.

  • The condition of the chimney stack
  • Whether its a shared stack
  • The condition of the flue (each fireplace has a separate flue within the chimney stack)
  • How long the bees have been in the flue
  • Whether the flue is lined
  • The location of the bees within the flue
  • The bee entrance location

8 considerations for smoking bees out of a chimney

Smoking bees out of chimneys needs to be thought about carefully.
There is no reason why a low burning smoky fire can not be lit in a fireplace to try to push out a newly arrived swarm, providing certain conditions are met.
As a minimum before attempting to smoke out bees please consider the below points before proceeding

  • the chimney flue needs to have a good up-draught.
  • the bee swarm needs to have arrived very recently.
  • the bees (probably) need to be in the flue that serves the fireplace in which the smoky fire has been lit.
  • the fire needs to be a low heat smoky fire – not a roaring fire.
  • if after a few minutes of starting your smoky fire you have not seen an increase in activity of the honey bees at the bee entrance its likely this method is not going to work.
  • if bees have occupied the flue for some unknown length of time prior, then this method should not be used without checking its safe to do so.
  • When smoking bees out consideration for how best to collect them should be made. Otherwise they may well occupy another part of yours or your neighbours property

If you have tried this method on a newly arrived swarm and not had success at smoking bees out of a chimney I would suggest getting in touch with us. Unfortunately by the time you realise you are not going to get the success you hoped for its often too late for our Swarm Eviction Service to be effective. The Swarm Eviction Service is only effective if we can get to bees before the queen starts laying eggs.

Alternatives to smoking bees out of walls & chimneys

Natural oils offer a great alternative to smoke, possibly not as immediately effective as smoke but when done with persistence just as successful in the right conditions and certainly better to live with and without the fire risk.

BUT whether using smoke or natural oils these two methods are really only effective if the bees haven’t been in situ for long.
There are no definitive time points that can be used to say whether smoking bees out will be effective or not, but ideally for success in smoking bees out it needs to be done within the first day or two, by the third day it will be getting quite difficult to move them with quick success.
For honey bees that have been in situ for anything more than 7 days other methods will most probably need to be used – but there is always the exception you never do know.

Even after only a day or two it can be very difficult to smoke honey bees out of a chimney, wall or some other cavity.

For a recently arrived swarm please see our page Urgent Swarm Eviction

Our honey bee relocation Specialist is waiting for you!

Swarmcatcher are the UK honey bee colony removal specialists that provide an ethical eco-friendly bee removal and relocation service across the UK.

Get In Touch: Tell Us About Your Bees
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Honey Bees in Chimney

We attend more chimney honey bee removals than we do of any other type of honey bee removal or cutout. We don’t need to dismantle the chimney, we rarely remove more than 4 individual bricks. When honey bees occupy a chimney space it is usually one of three scenarios or a combination of them.

Learn More
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Honey Bees in Roof

Generally speaking honey bees don’t colonise large roof spaces, when they are flying in beneath tiles they more often than not are colonising a cavity wall or an old dismantled chimney stack that is hidden beneath the tiles. But they love dormer windows and flat roofs

Learn More
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Honey Bees in Wall

We remove bees from walls and we can do it without taking them down or knocking huge holes into them. We remove the bees the wax & the honey. Rarely do we need to remove more than 8 bricks, which we remove whole so they go back as they were.

Learn More

Very Happy with the service from Swarmcatcher

I contacted Swarmcatcher to enquire about removing the bees that had set up home in a disused chimney of my elderly parent’s home in Northamptonshire. There was a large hive in the chimney, the bees had been there 5 years. I received expert advice from the Swarmcatcher team, who gave me clear and detailed information regarding the removal process and associated costs. They subsequently carried out the removal work to their quoted cost and schedule. The bees are now safely rehomed and my parent’s house no longer ‘hums’ all summer. I would thoroughly recommend Swarmcatcher.
Theresa Roper
Bees removed from chimney Church Brampton Northamptonshire crop1
Check More Testimonials

For further information on bee removal and relocation please use the contact form in the side bar or message button below, or CALL 01297 441272 to speak to someone local who knows all about it.

If you are looking for information on removing bees from a chimney check out our article ‘Honey bees in chimney‘, or if you repeatedly have bee swarms take up home in your chimney you may want to look at our page ‘Why honey bees like chimneys‘ & ‘Everything you need to consider when removing bees in a chimney‘ which is a fairly extensive overview.

For information on bee removal and relocation from roofs you may want to look at our page ‘Honey bees in roof‘, or if you have honey bees in a wall our page ‘Honey bees in wall‘ maybe of use.

For examples on removals of honey bees from these and other more unusual places check thru our blog page Honey Bee Removal Blog and investigate our Tag cloud too.

Don’t forget a general overview on honey bee removals which can be found at ‘Live honey bee removal‘.

Our honey bee Specialist is waiting for you

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Swarmcatcher

Beekeeping has been a family pastime for generations. We just love it, we live and breathe honey bees: it’s in the blood. We are a business that specialises in honey bee nest removal operating across Scotland, England & Wales.

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  • About Us
    • Testimonials
  • Honey Bees in Buildings
    • Honey Bees in Chimney
      • Honey Bees in Chimney
      • Removing Bees in a Chimney
      • Why honey bees like chimneys
    • Honey Bees in Roof
      • Honey Bees in Roof
      • Honey bees in attic – what you need to know
    • Honey Bees in Walls
      • Honey Bees in Walls
      • 13 Common questions about honey bees in walls
    • Live Bee Removal
    • How to get rid of honey bees
    • Removal Methods
      • Honey bee cut-outs
      • Honey Bee Trap-outs
      • Honey bee exclusion
      • Smoking honey bees out
      • Poisoning Honey Bees
    • Live honey bee removals
    • Proofing & Guarantees
    • Honey Bee Surveys
  • Swarm Eviction
    • Live honey bee removal v Swarm collecting
    • Honey Bee Swarms
    • Bee Identification
    • Bee Stings
    • Bee stuff
  • Blogs
    • General Blog
    • Beekeeping – monthly
      • Beekeeping – January
      • Beekeeping – February
      • Beekeeping – March
      • Beekeeping – April
      • Beekeeping – May
      • Beekeeping – June
      • Beekeeping – July
      • Beekeeping – August
      • Beekeeping – September
      • Beekeeping – October
      • Beekeeping – November
      • Beekeeping – December
  • Contact Us
    • Contact Form
    • Submit Your Testimonial
    • Privacy Policy
    • Cookie Policy
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Phone 02922-401649Email admin@swarmcatcher.co.ukLocation All of England, Scotland and Wales
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