When bees sense danger, they release an alarm pheromone called isopentyl acetate from a gland near their stingers. This chemical wafts through the air and alerts other bees to be ready to attack. Smoking a beehive masks this pheromone, allowing the beekeeper to safely perform a hive inspection.
It's also a common compound released by fruit and fermented drinks, which is why there is a common wisdom saying that you should not go near a beehive if you have eaten or handled a banana recently.
Super bizarre to experience the first time handling a hive. Smells like banana flavored runts and then suddenly the little girls are bouncing off your face screen
My grandpa always bought refrigerated Bud Light cases and kept them in a closet and then re-refrigerated them and it always tasted or smelled like bananas. I guess that explains why… never would I have thought this
You are both correct. Although I'm specifically referring to Apis Mellifera aka the European/Western honey bee, smoke masks the angry banana smells and makes them want to gorge on honey and ignore you. Just a couple puffs can buy you around 20 minutes to work with the hive in my experience. I've had bees that were so gentle I didn't need smoke or protective gear and bees that were so cantankerous that it was like smoke never existed. Source-am beekeeper.
It also partially covers up the alarm/attack pheromone scent. Its the same chemical as artificial banana (isopropyl acetate) and can actually be smelled by humans who done a fuck up in the hive. Just having banana candies before hive time increases your odds of getting stung
It's different when they don't care about themselves and just the hive, better to be calm and try to save as much as possible compared to fleeing and just dying because you need your hive
There’s also the use of tobacco/nicotine to smoke bees, where nicotine is a strong neuroactive chemical. Anyone who’s smoked a cigarette too fast knows what too much nicotine feels like.
304
u/Zarda_Shelton 8d ago
So the smoke calms them by making them feel the urge to pack up and run away from death? Am I reading that right?
Maybe me and bees just think differently, but when I need to flee something that tends to be the opposite of calming.