I was wondering if anyone here used sugar water spray as opposed to a smoker to calm the bees during inspection? I have heard of people doing this but wanted to hear of any pros and cons.
I too have been interested in this concept. I picked up some honey-b-healthy just for drenching. Currently my bees are so docile that I don’t even smoke them. I light it and have it close at hand but have yet to need it.
Hi Freddie, even if your bees don’t need calming, there will always be a need for smoke, primarily when replacing frames, QXs & lids etc. You can use smoke to drive bees away from where you want to replace things as a way to minimize casualties.
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My ladies numbers are steadily growing. I’m sure it will become more crucial very soon. 
I always set it to where it’s blowing across (into) the hive vent.
I see that Cedar does that also, however it’s not necessary. My use of the smoker when returning frames, for example is if a lot of bees are sitting on the ledge next to where you want to replace a frame, you can puff some smoke onto the bees to drive them away from where you want to position the frames so as to not squash them. The same thing goes for replacing a QX. Just a few puffs of smoke will drive the bees down, allowing us to position the QX with a minimum of squashed bees.