I don't think bees become docile with smoke....this comes with the breed, smoke makes them more
manageable, it has allot to do in how you work the hive, go very gentle when opening the hive,
absolutely no vibration & bumping, bees think you're a mammal braking into their hive.
Also, don't breathe towards them, your breath alerts them even more.

Konrad

I would say you did not smoke 'em enough. Smoke the entrance more than a couple of puffs. Lift one side of the top about a quarter of the way and pump some smoke in and hold the top in that position for a minute (60 secs.) letting the smoke work through the hive. Pump some more smoke in then lift the top completely off. Some bees require a lot of smoke. When I was a kid I was the smoker for my Father and Grandfather when they worked those *#^!!" black bees and you had to really smoke those little terrors. Anyway my Grandfather would be saying smoke 'em boy smoke the fool out of 'em. I was worried about smoking them to much so I asked how I could tell if I was using to much smoke. He said when I heard them coughing. His point was you can't use to much smoke.
If you are using an inner cover you can take the top off and smoke through the hole in the cover.
For your smoker use a small piece of cotton cloth like off an old tee shirt along with the pine straw. Make sure you have good billowing white smoke. Also if you can find the pine straw that has been run over and mangled real good on the road or parking lot get it. It works the best. When you find a bunch get it all and save it for later use. Good luck

Where did you get your bees? Florida is africanized bee territory and my experiance (limited) with them is that they do not respond to smoke in the same way that european honey bees do. They tend to get irritated and runny but less defensive.
If you got your bees from a swarm or a supplier there in Florida, you may need to requeen before you have a real problem on your hands.

That's all true about africanized bees, but I think I would have received a more negative response if that was the case. They are russian honeybees.

There are many reason's why not to use too much smoke,
it's better use less then too much! Smoker fuel is important too,
pine needles works best.
Some of the reason's why not to use too much smoke are:
Honey gets a smoky flavour, bees get agitated, queen stops laying and you can set the hive back
a couple of day's.
Try to work your hives when they are working, nice sunny day's.
Here is a thread on using smoke.

Konrad

Here is a link that might be useful: useing smoke

Interesting that they mention waiting 5-8 minutes after smoking. Who agrees with that amount of time, or not? Thanks for the replies so far, any further tips about it are appreciated.

Gary

I haven't dealt with russians but I have heard that some strains are a little testy. Re-queening might help.
I don't wait after I smoke but the theory is that they are more gentle after they fill up on honey so the wait is to give them time to fill up.
Another thought is that your smoke may be a little to hot. Blow a little on your hand before you smoke the bees. Nice and cool is what you want. Hot will get them riled up.

I put green grass in my smoker at the top to cool down the smoke

I like to have the smoker stuffed at all times.
Green grass is good and I use it too when we have it but usually not around at spring check.
Normally, when not puffing the smoker constantly, you will have cool smoke, the smoker is
burning on the bottom, so when smoke gets to the top, providing the smoker is stuffed all the way, the smoke will be cool.

Konrad

My Grandfather, Father and I used to worked over 350 hives in North Florida. After 40 years of beekeeping I have never had "smoky flavour" honey. Maybe a new market angle? I have found bees get agitated from the lack of smoke more so than too much as long as it is the cool smoke ccp6318 talks about. He is correct hot smoke makes them hot tempered.
Smoke stopping a queen from laying? Thats the first I have heard of such. Is that personal observation or the results of an actual study? Back when we were working a field of hives I would smoke, pull the full supers, replace with empty supers and be moving to the next hive in 5 to 8 minutes.

Greetings and salutations...

My usual technique is to smoke the entrance, and drive the bees back inside the hive. I will then lift the top and smoke heavily enough that it is hard to see the bars for the haze. This drives the bees down inside the hive.
In general, I agree with the grandfather's comment about smoking them until you hear them cough.

I like to use Pine straw too, although I have had fairly good results with a somewhat loose roll of corregated cardboard, old cotton rags, and last year's hay (very dry). This burns a long time, with no great heat, and, seems to work well. My understanding is that the smoke makes the bees think that the field is on fire, so they gorge on honey, to have some reserves in case they have to flee the hive.

As for too much smoking giving the honey a flavor...I do not think that would happen (or at least *I* have never seen/tasted it). The honey is sealed inside wax, which MIGHT get some smoky flavor eventually, but, the process of extracting the honey and bottling it would tend to drive off any of the volatile components that would leave flavor.

of course, having rattled on like that, I will say that the beekeeper only has a couple of rounds of smoke on any given hive opening to get the work done. By the time you get to the third smoke, they have realized it is not a field on fire, and it DOES seem to just annoy them. So, good idea to know what you need to do, and get it done as quickly as possible and get the hive closed back up.

regards

dave mundt

Smoke them until they cough. That's a good one but I have to agree. If you smoke the bees really good from the get go they don't get so jacked up. I you don't use enough they get fired up and it's difficult to smoke them down if you even can.
When I was in Central America I would go with local beekeepers to their beeyards when I had the opportunity. They had Africanized bees. Knowing that I would retire to Southern California I wanted first hand experience with them. Without smoke they were ferocious. Smoke them really really good and they were not much different than European bees. Heavy smoke is the key with aggressive bees.
Smokey flavored honey? That's almost as funny as coughing bees.

Smoking also serves to mask the alarm pheremone given off by the guard bees when an intruder is present.

My friend who has kept bees for 25 years said to puff smoke on yourself if you get stung. As mentioned previously, it masks the alarm pheremone.

Today a bee got into my hair. I forced myself to stand still, but it couldn't get out and eventually it stung me. It seemed so silly, since I'd just installed two packages (suited up but no gloves) and got not a single sting.

My same friend demonstrated a techinque to get a bee out of your hair. I just stared at her, speechless, thinking I don't even want to think of it happening again.

Well, I'm in Africanized Bee Territory and get a hive with AFB aggression very rarely. Russian bees are on the scale more aggressive than Italians and Carniolan bees. So that might explain why they aren't behaving the way you thought they would. Also you seem to be new to bee behavior and you will come to notice that they don't always react the same way from hive to hive. One hive I can open without smoke of any kind (not recommended) and even play with them while another will send 1/2 of all bees in the hive onto me, all attempting to get inside my suit as soon as I open the hive. Each hive is different. You can change the temperment of the hive by requeening them. The most gentle available bees will be Italians. They also make the most honey of all commercial lines and will fit well to your climate. California doesn't really use Russian lines at all since they work out more in actual cold climates. I wouldn't say they are necessary for your area. Or stay with the Russian bees and learn how they respond to what you do. Realize that the larger the hive gets, the more aggressive they will be able to become. The number of guard bees and foraging bees are much greater in a large hive.
As for smoke. I started with pine needles. Boy do I hate pine needles. Pine needles, when I used them, made everything including my honey/combs/suit/truck/hair smell like burnt pine needles. I switched to those compressed cotton plugs for a while and they work great, but I didn't like the smell that much. I have been using burlap for years now, old coffee bags, and I it still works better than twine or anything else I've read about. I love the way it smells, the amount of smoke it produces, and that the source is free for me (coffee shop near my house). You'll need to find a coffee shop that roasts their own beans, they will be the ones that will have bags available. I haven't tried the wood pellets, but I do know that wood and paper (in any form) make for hot smoke. Hot smoke not only stresses out the bees, but could damage the bees closest to the smoker. Burlap burns cooler.
I remember starting out and puffing smoke at the entrance. I worked for a commercial operation for a while and I was shown the first day to stick the tip of your smoker right at/in the entrance and puff 4-6 big puffs of smoke in the entrance. I still start a hive by puffing right inside the entrance to the hive. Puffing smoke at or around the entrance isn't going to get that smoke into the inside of the hive. You want all the bees in the hive to come in contact with the smoke, not just some of them. You can then open the lid pretty rapidly and you'll see them all slurping up honey. However, you'll find that not every hive will all be busy doing something else. Also, you're probably used to being in the hive for more than a minute or two and the effect of the smoke is temporary. Puff the top bars every so often and make sure to be inside the hive for only a few minutes or so.

I resurrected a different thread and I promise only to do this one, but Russians are very aggressive and their foraging is terrible. I have often wondered if it is the heat that does it to them. Thoughts?