Clearing supers, again

[Kris^]

Today I pulled 3 supers from a hive, with frames of varying degrees filled.  I saw on the board here the technique of stacking them with a bee escape on top.  So I put them on a board on a cart, stacked them and went to get a bee escape.  Two minutes later, there was a robbing frenzy.  I put the bee escape on, but bees were all over the boxes.  It seems like they poured out of the other hives to rob and ended up bearding all up their own hives.  I think.  There was lots of fighting on the stack, but none at the hive entrances.    

After closing some of my entrances down I wheeled the cart away, and thousands of bees followed.  Later I wheeled them over by a sprinkler, and still the bees piled on.  (Several hundred buzzed around the place where the cart was before dispersing an hour or two later.)  Finally, I moved them back closer to the hives, and it got cooler.  But there are still bees crowding around the bee escape exit.  

Did I do this all wrong?  Will the bees that were left in the supers eventually find their way back to their hive?  (I know I didn't put the queen in the stack because I saw her in the upper deep -- after I removed the supers.)  

-- Kris

[Michael Bush]

>Did I do this all wrong?

Yes.  You never leave a box open.  You put each box on and immediately put a lid or a bee escape on top.  You never leave them exposed in a dearth.

> Will the bees that were left in the supers eventually find their way back to their hive?

Maybe.

[Brian D. Bray]

I hope you put the bee escapes on upside down so that the bees inside could escape.

You were not prepared for what you were attempting to do so a disaster reulted.  When harvesting honey take everything you need with you from the get go.  Once you start it's to late to go back to the honey house for a forgotten piece of equipment; as you just found out.

When harvesting honey I use a telescopic top turned upside down on the cart to keep the bees from gaining access from the bottom, then I stack the supers, placing another telescopic top on top to seal it up and keep the bees out.  The upper top is removed and replaced with the addition with each super harvested.  Don't leave honey supers open near bees.

[Kris^]

It all worked out in the end.  By nightfall there were just a few bees clinging to the escape, and fewer remaining inside.  What a fiasco.

Usually when I intend to pull honey, I yank the super a frame at a time, brush them off and put them in an empty super with a lid on top, or sometimes a wet towel.  I only intended to inspect today, but when I saw the hive had put away very little honey during the drought-like August we had, I decided to reduce the space as a preparation for starting to winterize them.  Hence my run back to the garage.  So much for ad lib!

-- Kris

[bassman1977]

When harvesting honey I use a telescopic top turned upside down on the cart to keep the bees from gaining access from the bottom,

This is a good idea...I do this during inspections instead of setting my boxes on a grassy/dirty area which can get junk into the hives, as well as keeping bees in.

[Brian D. Bray]

>>I do this during inspections instead of setting my boxes on a grassy/dirty area which can get junk into the hives, as well as keeping bees in.

Doesn't everybody.  My mentor taught me that that was the only proper way to safeguard the upper boxes while inspecting the Hive.  He told me to always put the telescopic top upside down and the cross stack the supers I remove while inspecting the hive.  Keeps the hive clean, reduces injury to the bees, and instills a good approach to inspecting the hive on the part of the beekeeper.  I've always considered that standard procedure.

[BEE C]

Thats the way I learned to do it.  Inspections are easy this way and you can dump bees right back over the frames or in front of the hive when done.  For removing supers I put an outer lid upside down  in my wheel barrow, set an empty super body into the outer lid, and cover the super with an inner cover.  I shake each frame of capped honey over the hive, and then quickly brush off the bees and put the frame into the super on the wheelbarrow.  Covering it up with the inner cover.  I only had a few stray bees inside the super by the time I got back to the kitchen.

[Kathyp]

or...fume them...which makes the whole job incredibly easy and takes care of the robbing problem......

now i'll go duck and cover   8)