Beekeeping Hints – Fueling your smoker – Save money! Go natural!

OK, I get all the mass mailings of all the same beekeeper supply houses and vendors that most of you do. Some of times I just flip through some of the pages and shake my heads at what people will buy, and much more at what people will pay! Clearly, there’s some newbies still out there that haven’t been tought about smoker fuel or else have more money than brains.

So, let’s just employ a little planning and opening your eyes. Most cases, some of the best smoker fuel is right in front of you and best of all, IT’S FREE! Unless you’re in a desert you have pine trees around you somewhere. In my case, they line the roads to my hives and we have lots of them in local parks! Well, simply avail yourself to some of the dry pine needles and pine cones!

They’re some of the best smoker fuel you can find! They light easily (especially when you use a blow torch like I do!) and smoke more than Winston Churchill
smoking a cigar!

When loading my smoker I first cram in a dry pine cone in the base, then I pack the rest on top and around sides. Works incredibly well.

Usually I take a small bag with me and fill it with dry needles and a few cones. You never know when you’re not going to have a pine tree handy and need to fire up a smoker.

Some beekeeping vendors hope you have more money than brains, well, I’m hoping you have more brains than they think 🙂

I did a quick low budget youtube’er on this. It’s here at: https://youtu.be/V_CQTdceWJc

Good luck and good Beekeeping!

I’m Don Rima and that’s the view From Where I Stand.