bee vac

[kayakdg]

Hi I built my first bee vac. It seems to work well. I just need to know how to calabrate this thing (vacume pressure) so I don't smash all those bees. Thanks Dan

[BULLSEYE BILL]

First buy a small shop vac, about 1 1/2 hp like the one at Lowes works well for me.

Second use a smooth bore hose, no corrigation on the inside. About six feet is long enough, much longer and you will trade off with more damaged bees.

Third, incorporate a valve in the hose between the vac and the cage box. My box leeks enough that I can control the amount of suction with a little duct tape around the lid of the cage box. However a good control valve can be made by using a perferated weed wacker protector that coils around the base of a tree. I fashioned one onto the hose and planned to vary the amount of tape on the perferations to control the suction.

Forth, put some padding in the cage so the bees don't smash themselves upon entry into the box.

The real key here is to not buy too big of a vac.

Bill

[Michael Bush]

I bought a real small vac and cut a hole in the top and make a damper out of a piece of plywood that pivots on a screw on one corner so I can open up the hole or close it and then I put hardare cloth underneath the hole so the bees can't fly out.

[Russ]

I used the small Dirt Devil hand Vac on the bee vac box that I built. Seems to have enough suction. Built it from plans on this site. Haven't used it yet so time will tell the real story. Dale