When harvesting honey, I just wanted to hear some input on some different ways to get the bees out of the super. Right now I am using the fume board. Like to hear some different ways and how they work.
:)doak
bee brush
leaf blower
escape board
propane torch
just kiddin, don't worry :-D
only a bee-brush or a feather-brush,a regular brush is somewhat rough
When I did this in the past, I used an bee escape above the excluder, gave it 3 days, and had no bees in there. I've come to understand that the fume boards work in a few hours, so depending on how much of a rush it is, and you don't overdo the scent (driving the bees out of the whole hive), the fume board could be more ideal.
myself and my mentor use fume boards.
i liked the fume board. i pulled the honey supers off first and set them with a cover, next to hive on extra super and BB. it only took a few min. and bees exited the bottom and went back home. i learned that it takes very little stuff on the fume board to make them leave. to much seems to make them move slower.
I use a fume board which seems to get 80% of them out and then I take one frame out at a time & brush the rest off. I have tried escapes & blower, but didn't like either as well.
KathyP: your quote is fantastic! I believe that strongly. It should be part of the swearing in ceremony for all political office holders. Where does it come from?
I take the hive body off, and then tap against a pair of upright 2x4s next to the hive. I brush off the rest.
Sincerely,
Brendhan
Thanks all.
Kathyp, I havent thought about taking the super off like you said. It doesn't take long the way I was doing, but I always have a doz. or so left inside.
I have to be careful, My Wife is "HOSPITAL" responsive to any kind of insect sting.
I have to watch when I start extracting. Slung out one and1/2 5 gal. bucket tonight.
doak
I lean them against the side of the hive and use the leaf blower. If they are really packed with bees you may have to pull a few frames to blow them out. No nasty fumes for my honey :-D
heaflaw,
it comes from the "wheel of time" series of books written by Robert Jordan. an absolutely fantastic fantasy/adventure/legend, type of story. currently 12 book long if you count the prequel. one more to go. it's on CD as well, which is good because they are very long books :-).
in fiction, for the type of story, i have not been so taken with a series since i was a little kid and picked up my first wizard of oz book.
SOT series is good too.
doak, i still end up with a few. i just found that this worked a little faster and didn't disturb the entire hive. i ended up with fewer bees pee'd off.
Abandonment method.
Triangular escape.
Brushing them off the combs.
I only have a couple of hives, but I take an empty super out to the hives and set it on a sheet. I take the super which I am robbing and take one frame off, stand in front of the hive and give it a vigorous shake - most bees fall off on the landing. Then I take the bee brush and vigorously brush the rest off of the frame and when it is bee-free, I put it in the empty super and cover with a sheet. Then I move to the next frame. The whole thing takes only a few minutes.
When all the frames are in the super, it is then covered with the sheet on all sides and I can take it in to the house without gathering bees as I go.
Linda T in Atlanta
I use the one way escape with the inner tops. I only have a few hives and the few extra days of waiting will the bees move down is no problem. If I had more bees I might be moreinterested in using a fume board or some other method of clearing the hives from the supers.
Didn't someone show a picture where they took the supers off the hives and stood them on the sides?
I think standing them on the sides is for the blower.
doak
>I think standing them on the sides is for the blower.
It also works with the abandonment method.
Michael, I just did an "advanced search" for abandonment method on your site and it didn't come up. Can you describe what that method is?
OOps - I just searched this site instead of bushfarms and found that what you mean is something you described on this site last year - taking the super off at dusk and leaving it behind the hive until dark and then moving it into the house - few stragglers because since the super was "abandoned" most if not all of the bees will have returned to the hive.
Thanks anyway,
Linda T
>taking the super off at dusk and leaving it behind the hive until dark and then moving it into the house
That's it.