Honey bees are an integral part of nature, deeply impacting our lives as consumers. Many plants, including food bearing ones, rely on honey bees and other insects for pollination, allowing them to survive and produce additional plants. Because of this, bees a main factor in how much food farmers are able to produce each season. Sadly, many bees are dying off, known as colony collapse disorder. The reasons for this are largely debatable, though it likely seems to stem from pesticides, harmful treatment of hives, and mites.
For my project, I decided to focus on bee smokers and the creation of an alternative to this bee keeping tool. From extensive research, I learned that the main use of a bee smoker was to disrupt bee pheromones to prevent them from attacking. In order to replicate this, I created a mint leaf and agave nectar mixture that would confuse the bees senses, making them unable to interpret bee pheromones sent around the hive. I was very proud of this final result, because I was able to duplicate the use of a bee smoker, while also eliminating the harsh aftereffects of the smoke, causing the bees unable to communicate for a while, severely hurting the hive. If I had to do this differently, I wish I had researched less on what a bee smoker does and more on what I could do to make my mixture better. I'm sure I could have added more ingredients to make my creation even more effective at warding off bee attacks.