Removing bees from supers

[Nock]

What?s everyone?s go to method?  Bee escapes, fume boards, brush, leaf blower?  I?ve just brushed but only had couple to do. I?ve seen people use the blower but I would think that would hurt or damage/kill bees.

[The15thMember]

I use a triangle escape board.  There's usually a handful of bees left in there, but it's easy to just brush those few off the frames. 

[Nock]

How long you run them prior?  I?ve heard a day per super good rule of thumb.

[rast]

I have used a gas Homelite blower in the orange groves, just had to back away from the box a little with it. I used a fume board with Honey Robber this last time. Due to my back I was having to pull frames and put them in another box in my truck bed so doing a hive at time worked for me.

[iddee]

Fischer's bee quick and fume board for me.

[The15thMember]

How long you run them prior?  I?ve heard a day per super good rule of thumb.

I've never done multiple supers over one board, but I usually do one day.  Less than 24 hours and there's still a lot of bees in there, more than 24 hours and the hive beetles run rampant. 

[TheHoneyPump]

Have done bee escapes as well as tipping and blowing, and fume boards.
Bee escapes.  2 nights.  85-90% of bees out .. unless there is brood above in that case they will never leave.  If escape is left on too long the bees figure out how to get back up and it becomes ineffective.
Tipping.  Remove and pyramid stack the supers no less than 6 big steps away in front of the hive(s).  Tip in the morning, pickup late afternoon/evening.  99.9% of bees out. Same caveat if there is a frame with brood.  Use this method only during good flow conditions. When forage gets scarce the bees will rob it back. When forage is good they ignore the supers entirely and everyone returns to the hives.
Tip and blow. Same as tipping but only leave for 1 to 2 hours to vacate then blow the rest. The time between tipping and blower varies with the -round time- it takes to go through the group of yards in that area. Tip them all then go back to the first and pickup, blowing what has to along the way.  The problem with this is that many of the bees moving nectar around in the supers are young bees.  Blowing really disorients them.  The result can be alot of drifting between hives and clumping in the grass.  Not a problem, not a care, if you are running massive colonies or many colonies to get through. Blow them out, stack on the truck, and move on to the next yard.
Years ago used acid boards, fume boards, bee go, etc.  The most effective and absolute at getting bees out of the boxes. However the method becomes an ongoing unnecessary materials (chemical) expense along with the associated storage and handling hazards to the beekeeper and his/her helpers.
My personal preference is the bee escape as being the nicest and least risk to bees injury and lowest impact to colony functions.  Though I do dislike the time and cost of the double trips necessary. It is a simple piece of equipment that is highly effective, though not totally. Just takes good scheduling to make it work, and a plan Bee for when the bees become smarter than the beekeeper to bypass it. 

Hope that helps.

[Ben Framed]

A very good explanation HoneyPump. As others have suggested, I agree that you have the knowledge to write a fine book. Actually your post here, organized by subject might do the trick IMHO.

[BeeMaster2]

I use fume boards and Bee Quick. Very effective, fume board on for 5 to 7 minutes per super. I usually do 2 fume boards at a time on 2 different hives, staggered. If you have SHBs and their is any brood or pollen in the super, don?t use escape boards unless you are extracting on the second day. By the third day the larvae are emerging.
Jim Altmiller

[Nock]

Thanks everyone

[cao]

I set up a fume board under an empty box.  Then transfer one frame at a time,  shaking most of the bees off the frame.  It is a slow process, but there is no heavy lifting of honey supers full of bees.  Most of the bees get shaken back into the hive.  The few that remain on the honey frame soon leave it because of the fume board.  If in a dearth, I put an inner cover on top and will also smoke those homey frames.  Another advantage of looking at each individual frame is that I can remove most of the SHB's that are on the frames.  I usually don't fill the boxes full of honey frames.  Usually only 8 frames in a 10 frame box.  This makes my back much happier.  This works for me but would not work for the commercial beekeeper.

[Brian MCquilkin]

bee escapes  on no more than 24 hrs and a bee brush works for me

[Oldbeavo]

Bee escapes, 24-48hrs, SHB not an issue.
The colder the night the better the clearance.
Pick up honey as early aspossible in the morning.
Stubborn/dumb bees get the leaf blower,
Advantage, low cost, make your own.
Disadvantage, 2 trips to the apiary.

[Michael Bush]

Usually I wait for the weather to get cold and the bees are out of the supers... but if there is a flow on and I'm harvesting I use abandonment, which is removing the supers near dark and waiting for the bees to abandon them.  If that doesn't work, I "pound" them if the comb is solid and brush them if it's not.

[Brian MCquilkin]

Removed 25 boxes today and tried the Leaf blower, holy moly that was way too much work, and now too many bees in the honey house.
Back to the bee escape.