Bee Extraction

[Ruben]

Last fall someone asked me to get bees out of an old shed, it was close to winter so I decided to leave them til spring. A friend of mine made a bee vac over the winter and we were going to try to suck them out. They are easy pickings as far as extractions, they are 2-6ft off the ground in the wall and we can pull the board off to get them out. We are doing it for the bees ( it's a friends shed ) What I would like to know is when would be the best time to do this? Should we do it now before the flow or wait til late April? Bees here are bringing in pollen by the boat loads and some hives have started to stop taking syrup. What do you think?

[iddee]

Do it now. There will be fewer bees and less honey to contend with. They will also have a better chance of building up stores with the flow still to come.
I just posted the following on another forum. It may help you some, also. The op there did not have a vacuum, but the plan is still the same.


>>>Once exposed, you need to remove the comb piece by piece. Start at the top and work the outer comb first. When you get to the center, leave two pieces of brood comb about a foot long. As you remove it, shake the bees into your hive body. The comb with honey can be put in a bucket or something for feeding back or your own consumption. The comb with brood should be put in frames and wired or rubberbanded in to hold it in place. When it is done, wait 30 minutes and if you have the queen in the hive, the bees will be fanning at the entrance and the others will be gathering on the hive. If you don't have her, she will be on the two combs you left. She will be between them. At that time remove them and shake her into the hive. She will stay with the brood comb. Leave the hive on site for a few days and all bees will reorient onto the hive. Take them home at night in order to save the field bees.

[power napper]

Listen to Iddee--he knows what he is talking about!

[hilltop hives]

I did my first cutout for the year Saturday the temp. was around 60 and windy. These bees were so gentle that we didn't even use smoke. We ended up with three medium frames of brood, around four pounds of bees and the queen. They had very little honey but they were really packing in the pollen. I added two frames of honey from one of my strong hives and installed them in a medium box. Sunday the temp. fell to around 30 and this morning the ground was covered with snow.
This coming weekend we are supposed to do another one three stories high. Not looking forward to this one.

[Ruben]

Should we use the vac Iddee or not?

[iddee]

Yes, if it is a proven design. I have seen vacs that kill more than they save.

[Ruben]

I printed the plans off the BeeSource Plans Page and he built the vac from those plans.