Quitting Smoking

[aggienaut]

   Beekeeping is dangerous. The beekeeper we bought most of our bees from is retiring because he's lost too many fingers to equipment (four I think?). The only casualty to Africanized Bees in California has been a beekeeper, but by and large the bees are the least of our problems. The single most dangerous piece of equipment we have? The smoker.
   Its more likely to ruin you financially than lethally however -- I know two beekeepers who were put out of business when they or an assistant accidentally started a fire with a smoker. In one case it burned a large area of national park and the beekeeper will never ever be able to pay off the millions of dollars of damage that were landed upon him.

   Consequently I've always been very careful never to set my smoker down in dry grass or near anything flamable. Still though, on Friday the danger of smokers was highlighted for me.

   I was working the bees when my smoker appeared to go out. I was trying to wheeze the last bit of smoke out of it to avoid dealing with relighting it, when I smelled bananas -- the smell of the attack pheromone.

"dealing with relighting it"
Dave IS standing in the exact same place in both pictures.

   So I set the smoker on a double-high hive and opened it up. Burlap didn't appear to be burning. So I pulled it out and reached for the lighter. However there was a pretty decent breeze, and as soon as the burlap was out of the smoker this breeze caused it to suddenly burst into flame!!
   So I'm holding a piece of burlap that has flames the size of my hand leaping off it ... my hand itself will be engulfed in a few seconds if I don't do something! First instinct is of course to throw it to the ground and stomp on it. The surrounding foliage is fairly green, but the breeze is stiff enough that there's a pretty decent chance the breeze would catch it and blow it down the hill like an incendiary tumbleweed. I think its safe to say that I stared at the fire in absolute terror at this point.
   I jammed it back into the smoker and grabbed a stick to push the flaming part the rest of the way in. Closed the top with great relief that the incident was contained.

   At least it then provided ample smoke for me to distribute to the bees.

It looks so innocent...

Comments

[wagrobanite.livejournal.com]

Who knew beekeeping could be so dangerous?

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Yeah I don't think "danger of fire" is what most people would guess the greatest danger in beekeeping was.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Why do you smoke the bees?

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Bees do a lot of their communication via pheramones, and specifically the call to attack (the aforementioned smell of bananas). The smoke masks these smells, and so they all just sit tight.

For safety's sake

[erisian-fields.livejournal.com]

WHY isn't there a smoker designed to be set down without massive danger of starting a grass fire? You could carry a metal lantern stake (check Home Despot), jab that in the ground where you're working, and hang it on that. There are some tall metal plant stands that might work, too.

Bananas = attack. My 15 year old would probably agree with the bees (she hates bananas).

Re: For safety's sake

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Part of the problem is when you're in your bee yard you're moving from hive to hive constantly .. kind of like a bee at flowers. (= So setting up a stand at each hive would take a disproportionate amount of time. And anyway, there's almost always other beehives in the vacinity upon which you can safely place your smoker. That works pretty well, so its not like we can never put them down, its just when people get careless and set it on the ground (which is also USUALLY safe, which contributed to the possibilty one won't think about it hard enough when it ISN'T), or, as almost happened to me, the wind might grab your burlap or a small piece of it or a spark from it while you're lighting it.

[boxsofrain.livejournal.com]

That is pretty cool!

We missed eachother last night, I ended up going out and didn't have my phone with me. :(

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Pff LJ > doing things in the real world! :D

What did you end up doing pumps?

[yami.livejournal.com]

Lost fingers? nearly half of them!? How!? BEEZ!

Losing Fingers

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

A lot of beekeepers lose them trying to saw wood to make their own hives and things. This guy lost several (all?) to gears in his homemade crane on his flatbed. d=

[magsmom.livejournal.com]

ay yi yi.

[furzicle.livejournal.com]

I was always less concerned that the neighbors would call the authorities about the bees and more concerned that they would call when they saw the smoke on our hill. After all, bees fly away, but a raging inferno on your neighborhood hill is a really bad thing.

[furzicle.livejournal.com]

Oh, don't worry, Ma'am, it's only smoke...for the bees which we are raising, to the tune of 60,000 in this very box. Nothing whatsoever to worry about.

[baxaphobia.livejournal.com]

You deal with my two worst fears...bees and fire! Yikes. How scary!

Bees + Fire

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

At least its not firebees eh? But yeah having a somewhat out-of-control fire in my hand was pretty scary

[bitchencamaro.livejournal.com]

My step great uncle in Devon keeps bees. The one time I went to visit him, we arrived just as he was relieving them of their honey.

I barely know him, so we got to bond as he picked their stingers out of my scalp. It was fun!

Although he did miss one ( my hair is very thick).

Bee careful!

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

But the bees did get through your hair? I keep my hair pretty short but the bees still usually can't get through it to my scalp

[glowy-lovers.livejournal.com]

I never knew anything about smoking.....dangerous huh?

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Yep. Burlap isn't the only thing that beekeepers use but I think its by far the most common, and its dangerous because its highly flammable and light enough to blow in the wind.

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Haha no it was the guy we get our bees from in Redding, Ed Allen.

Though I think I did hear a story awhile ago about some numbskull who worked for Bee Man who decided to light a yellowjacket nest on fire .... IN SOMEONE'S ATTIC!! lol.

[selucius.livejournal.com]

You must love what you do! Bees and fire both scare me.

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Sometimes when I've been stung in the face a dozen times I wonder why I do it, but generally I much prefer it to working in an office.

[heethen-crone.livejournal.com]

I had no idea smokers were that dangerous. I really enjoy your posts, learn something new every time.

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Thanks! (=

[alycewilson.livejournal.com]

Scary!