Too many bees while extracting!

[jdesq]

I've used blowers, fume boards and brushes, I've cajoled, sweet talked and swore, but I always have too many bees around when I extract. Am I expecting too much to be beeless during this operation. I do it in the garage with the doors shut. It's hot and no breeze and I am always partly suited up. I'm hot and cranky and tired when done. I always think there has to be an easier way. No matter what I do I spend most of my time removing bees from frames that do not want to be removed. I'm constantly running back and forth from the garage to my yard with a couple of frames in hand that I've just brushed the last bees from only to get in the garage and shut the door to find 10 more bees beat me in. What are some of your tricks to simplify this operation? Some days I think about expanding from 4 hives to 8 or 10, then I extract and think I must be crazy to want to do more of this.

[KONASDAD]

Your garage needs to be bee proof if it is not. If the bees are just clinging to aboard when you bring in into garage, I use the flick method and it works well. yes its hot and hard work and is part of the drudgery of keeping bees.


Take a telescoping top and place on ground upside down. get a moist towel that will cover a hive. Remove super, take each board and shake the bees off. Put board inside an empty super over T.top. Put towel over box and repeat for each board. Sounds like a lot of work, but I find it takes a few minutes per super at most and almost no bees. Remove supers or leave until evening where I then do one last shake per super and remove to house.

[utahbeekeeper]

Honestly, 5 minutes of fume board and BeeQuick and my supers are absent bees.  Our garage is finished, drywalled and painted, pretty bee tight.  Keep remote on me and stack the 6 or 9 supers inside with no bees . . . . well the odd one or two, but they bounce against the windows trying to get out.  Hot, YES, but it makes for quick work in the extractor.  I am in a good mood on harvest day.

[wtiger]

No personal experience extracting yet, but I've heard that simply brushing the bees off and then quickly putting them into a super with a cover on the bottom and a towel over the top to keep the bees out works pretty well.

[charmd2]

I shake the bees off a frame, hand it to my daughter to run into the house with, replace with new frame.  Take next frame, shake bees off,  by this point my daughter is back, she runs inside with that frame. 

Now this year I am only extracting out of two hives, and I've only extracted a super from each, so it's not exactly to difficult.  I am guessing next year, it will be a little to time consuming to do the shake and run.  :) 

[Keith13]

I shake the bees off a frame, hand it to my daughter to run into the house with, replace with new frame.  Take next frame, shake bees off,  by this point my daughter is back, she runs inside with that frame. 

Now this year I am only extracting out of two hives, and I've only extracted a super from each, so it's not exactly to difficult.  I am guessing next year, it will be a little to time consuming to do the shake and run.  :) 

Just think, if you end up with more supers and hives you might also end up with a track star for a daughter ;)

Keith

[charmd2]

Keith, to true.  :)  however she is a little girly girl, and thinks all exercise should be avoided, she's eight.   The only reason she helps me at all is they are *her* bees..   Mom does all the work, and she just gets to tell everyone she keeps bees.   :roll:  But still, it is free running labor.  literally     

[johnnybigfish]

 I like Konasdads reply the best! and for me, its soooo true!..Just part of the deal!
I'm sure though that there are ways to do it better than me....When I extract, I have bees EVERYWHERE!!! On my head, face, arms, legs,....Really, EVERYWHERE!!! :shock:..What bothers me most is how many bees end up in the honey extractor and honey buckets!..I spend more time trying to save lives than I do spinning and bottling honey...I, by this time, am only wearing shorts..the bees arent trying to sting at this time, theyre just trying to get their honey back..( poor little guys)..(Yeh, I know,..Girls...)
And its HOT too!..Pauls a "Fraidy Cat" and he whines and complains about the bees in his face, and he's wearing a  jacket and veil! He doesnt think its as funny as i do when we get stung near the eyes...or nose....or lips....or anywhere!
One day, I'm gonna get a metal building with an air conditioner so i can stay cooler..I think the bees will just continue to be part of this process...I think all those bees around are pretty cool really, especially when someone comes around and sees me in the middle of them going about my business :)

your friend,
john

[Moonshae]

I got a screened gazebo from Home Depot for $200, The handful of bees that come in with the supers are only looking to get out, and the bunch of them outside that smell the honey and want to get in can't.

I'm not sure why you're wearing a bee suit to extract...I'm willing to bet the bees aren't interested in you at all, they either want the honey or to get out. If they're finding a way into your garage, you need to find out where and plug the hole. Filters are great for removing bees from extracted honey...try using a paint strainer bag that fits over your bucket, too, to keep the bees out of the filtered honey.

[jojoroxx]

I recently had the pleasure of taking a couple frames of honey. I too shook, and brushed the bees off. (can brushing kill them? As a side note: there were a bunch  (50?) of dead bees outside, and at the bottom of the hive the following morning..?...i don't think they like the brush.. :-P)

It is difficult to get them all off by shaking alone, because as jdesq mentioned, the little buggers are flying back on as fast as you convince them to leave! :-x

I recall my first bee keeping experiences, many years ago, and my partner would always use a bee escape. I sensed a mixed opinion about them on this forum. But, when taking a full super it seems they work flawlessly. He would just place the escape below the super, facing down, in the evening. Come morning we'd grab the honey - completely empty of bees 8-)

[sc-bee]

Do you have windows in your garage? Are they functional-- let up and down? If so cover the windows except one--- fabricate a bee escape into the window if it will let up and down. They will be drawn to the brighter light outside if extracting during the day and exit the escape or sweep out  w/brush. If feasible a nuc w/some brood outside the window will give them a place to go or brush off stray bees.

If windows are not functional maybe consider a bee vac to vac the windows, if that concerned w/the stray bees.

As stated above the bees are usually not concerned w/you during extracting. Although I have had a few stray stings :).

[MrILoveTheAnts]

I extract honey in the kitchen and keep it well newspapered up. I usually only get 1 or 3 bees in with the frames but they're at the lights mostly. I don't care that it's air conditioned either. So what if the honey doesn't flow as fast, it beats having to deal with bees.

[johnnybigfish]

 Hey moonshae, I've thought about the gazebo several times and it sure seems like a good idea, but I wouldnt want to take it down...Then I imagine  with the wind we can get here it'd probably end up in the barb wire fence :(
Jojoroxx, I've found that bees are harder than they appear.I got one today while it was sticking me in my wrist, and i tried to pull her out without breaking her stinger in me.(It broke off anyway) But, after checking her out, I found she was harder than expected..I guess thats why people can handle the queens to mark them.
your friend,
john

[rdy-b]

I've used blowers, fume boards and brushes, I've cajoled, sweet talked and swore, but I always have too many bees around when I extract. Am I expecting too much to be beeless during this operation. I do it in the garage with the doors shut. It's hot and no breeze and I am always partly suited up. I'm hot and cranky and tired when done. I always think there has to be an easier way. No matter what I do I spend most of my time removing bees from frames that do not want to be removed. I'm constantly running back and forth from the garage to my yard with a couple of frames in hand that I've just brushed the last bees from only to get in the garage and shut the door to find 10 more bees beat me in. What are some of your tricks to simplify this operation? Some days I think about expanding from 4 hives to 8 or 10, then I extract and think I must be crazy to want to do more of this.

If it gets to bad from robber bees from the neighborhood or there are to many bees in the suppers do it at night the bees will go to the lights -when suppers have many extra bees i clean them with a shop vac-I also where dishwashing gloves and a few stings goes with the territory - 8-) RDY-B

[Moonshae]

Hey moonshae, I've thought about the gazebo several times and it sure seems like a good idea, but I wouldnt want to take it down...Then I imagine  with the wind we can get here it'd probably end up in the barb wire fence :(

I didn't get it just for honey harvesting...we have a ton of mosquitoes around, and we can't enjoy the deck after dusk without being eaten alive. This allows us to stay outside and enjoy the fresh air. It does a good job in some wind, but the directions did specify that it should be taken down in the case of high winds. I suspect taking off the fabric roof and screened sides would be sufficient...that's all I'm planning to do, even for the winter.

[Hayesbo]

I like Konasdads reply the best! and for me, its soooo true!..Just part of the deal!


...I think all those bees around are pretty cool really, especially when someone comes around and sees me in the middle of them going about my business :)

your friend,
john

I extract about 3 miles from the hives. After about 1 hour I am covered in feral bees. My sister and neighbors say it looks like a horror movie. I just take it easy moving through them and watch where I grab the frames for uncapping. (ask me why I am careful where I grab  :shock: :shock:)  I also watch where I step since coming from the hives I am usually very hot and extract in shorts, t-shirt and bare feet. (ask me also why I watch where I step. :shock: :shock:)

how close are you to the hives where you extract?


Steve

[eri]

Steve, I'll bite. Why?

[Hayesbo]

Steve, I'll bite. Why?

I hate the stings on my fingers and between the toes. For some reason they seem to hurt the most. I may not be a quick learner, but that pain is quite a motivator to pay attention.  Doh!!  :'( ;)

Steve