Collecting smoker fuel

[Martimart]

I use untreated cat litter pellets.
once lit will smoulder for hours .
for quick jobs, egg boxes .

I've wondered if they will be ok, pellets online cost a small fortune so was planning on getting some cat litter pellets to give them a try.

 

[The Poot]

I use corrugated cardboard rolled up with hessian sacking. Also egg boxes for quick jobs. I found wood shavings unreliable in my old cheapo smoker, but haven’t tried them in my Dadent purchased this year.

 

[Murox]

Any old pure cotton material seem quite good - jeans work.

 

[Michael Palmer]

I buy bales of second cut hay. Makes a nice smoke. More than 10 bales per year

 

[BigAshW]

I wonder what the wider consensus would be?
Do you buy smoker fuel, are you recycling wood to make alsorts of hive equipment, the more we can do such things the better.
Same goes for growing our own food at home as much as we can.
This is at the for front of my mind more so than ever, David is a right pain in the ass isn't he.

I collect rotten wood from our forest apiary and use cardboard packaging and a straw fire stater to get it going.

I also make all my hive parts out of pallet wood other than the boxes themselves which I buy the pine multi packs from bee equipment when they have them in stock.

If I ever get access to a proper workshop I'm sure I could make the boxes out of pallet wood as well.

 

[Wilco]

I use whatever is to hand. Usually ripped up cardboard boxes, sometimes sawdust, sometimes dead wood. If too hot a handful of grass on top.

I collect rotten wood from our forest apiary and use cardboard packaging and a straw fire stater to get it going.

I also make all my hive parts out of pallet wood other than the boxes themselves which I buy the pine multi packs from bee equipment when they have them in stock.

If I ever get access to a proper workshop I'm sure I could make the boxes out of pallet wood as well.

You certainly can, even without a proper workshop. Some pallets better than others. If you're lucky you can find ones with wider boards which are wide enough to make supers. Most of the time you need to join them together on the thin edge (I use dowels and glue but could probably use a router to make them tongue and groove) to make them wide enough. You'll probably need a variety of pallet styles to find wood chunky enough for the handles though.

 

[Curly green finger's]

I use whatever is to hand. Usually ripped up cardboard boxes, sometimes sawdust, sometimes dead wood. If too hot a handful of grass on top.



You certainly can, even without a proper workshop. Some pallets better than others. If you're lucky you can find ones with wider boards which are wide enough to make supers. Most of the time you need to join them together on the thin edge (I use dowels and glue but could probably use a router to make them tongue and groove) to make them wide enough. You'll probably need a variety of pallet styles to find wood chunky enough for the handles though.

Not much of a village idiot are you.

 

[Wilco]

Not much of a village idiot are you.

All depends on who else is in the village!

 

[Erichalfbee]

Not much of a village idiot are you.

Looking at these tags next to folk’s avatars I sometimes wonder about others

 

[Newbeeneil]

I've wondered if they will be ok, pellets online cost a small fortune so was planning on getting some cat litter pellets to give them a try.

I tend to use cardboard for rapid starting then rotten wood and when it's going well add a handful of grass pellets from a local forage merchant they last forever!
https://millbryhill.co.uk/products/...VA_kCu0lkmI1BiViTuhFoY_mrvDOtoBgaAnMQEALw_wcB

 

[victor meldrew]

I've wondered if they will be ok, pellets online cost a small fortune so was planning on getting some cat litter pellets to give them a try.

Pop some damp grass on once you’ve got it going!
cool white smoke and prevents the odd pellet from rolling in the hive

 

[Finman]

Pop some damp grass

I wonder, how damp grass burns... I am not going to try.

If my rotten birch is too moist, I can dry up it in the micro wave oven.

 

[victor meldrew]

I doesn’t really burn , scorch a little . It’s purpose is to cool the smoke produced by the pellets .

 

[North End Bees]

I wonder, how damp grass burns... I am not going to try.

I've often put a handful of green grass on the top. It doesn't need to burn but it's helpful at making the smoke cool.

 

[Firefly]

Following a tip from a bee inspector, this year I discovered hemp straw. He buys it specifically for the purpose (from horse bedding suppliers, I think). I happen to have enough left over from a building project to last until I can't lift supers. Lights, burns, lasts, smokes, no sparks, no stress, bees happy. Magic (but not like mushrooms, as far as I've noticed)

 

[gmonag]

Following a tip from a bee inspector, this year I discovered hemp straw. He buys it specifically for the purpose (from horse bedding suppliers, I think)....

I have a problem with that! My smoker fuel literally falls out of a tree onto my hives.