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what's the best way to get the bees out of the super?

6K views 22 replies 20 participants last post by  mazin 
#1 ·
This is my first year of beekeeping on my own... I have one super on my hive and it is full. I'm going to extract it this weekend and place it back. what is the best way to get the bees to move down to the hive body?
 
#5 ·
Aw, heck! I'll throw this one out there:

I use a combination of Bee-Quick and a leaf blower. Surprisingly, blowing bees out of a super, that's stood up on it's side, doesn't upset the bees in the least! Once they get their bearings, they fly right back to their home hive, like it was no big deal.

DS
 
#7 ·
blower



can you give us some more info on blowing bees? what kind of blower-gas or electric? how close do you hold it to the frames? fume boards don't work on hives with top entrance only, and you get a big cloud of angry bees if you brush and shake a couple supers one frame at a time. thanks,mike
 
#11 ·
This will certainly work for one super. I've converged on the following process just because I found it works pretty efficiently for my small scale operation. As you read this, keep in mind that I use QE and don't need to worry about loosing a queen in the process. I never smoke the bees during super removal because I find that they have a tendency to start uncapping cells which results in bees more reluctant to leave the comb. I don't use a brush either because it takes too long and seems to upset them more than without.

First pop the outer and inner covers and set them aside. Sometimes it helps to give them a couple of minutes after the covers have been removed before you start pulling frames. You can pop the top on two or more hives which seems to help the sequence. After waiting a couple of minutes remove a frame give the frame a good strong jerk in the direction of the hive's entrance (not back into the super!!). If done right, this will dislodge 99% of the bees. Don't be wimpy, give it a good strong jerk. This assumes that you have good solid frames that can handle the load. Have an empty super waiting in the bed of your truck (at least 6 feet away) or what ever you plan to use to transport the boxes back to your extraction area. As you walk back to the truck shake again (or blow) the remaining bees from the frame. Place in the waiting super and cover with a cloth. Repeat until all frames for that box have been removed. Move fast, don't worry about being too gentle, speed is your friend. I can pull a ten frame medium in about 4 minutes. If the bees are too aggressive I find it helps to remove the entire super from the hive and move it about 20 feet away from the hive. That way you minimize collective excitement in any one hive.

I've used this technique the past two seasons and have had good success. It requires no special equipment or fumigants, but it sometimes requires strong nerves if the bees get really nuts. Oh, you probably don't want to try this if your hive is close to neighbors.
 
#14 ·
thanks for all the input. I only had one to remove.. I used the smoke and brush trick. worked well.. I was not prepared enough to have an aditional super to place the frames so I leaned them against a tree till I had all removed and then placed them back into the same super.. I lost about 4 oz cup of honey from the combs that mashed against each other.. got 2 1/2 gal from my fist extraction :D Will place it back after work today... Thanks again for all the info
 
#15 ·
What about a larger scale operation? I have 30 hives this year. Last year I used BQ, but had a heck of a time getting all the bees off the frames. It seems that about 3/4 of them will go down, but some are just stuborn and will not leave that comb no matter what I do. I ended up having to brush the remaining bees off. As you might have guessed, they didn't like that to much. What do commercial beekeepers do to get bees out of the supers?
 
#17 ·
My method is ALMOST exactly as Barry Digman's post.

EXCEPT, when I'm extracting, I don't use any smoke. Personally, I leave my bees plenty enough honey and I don't want them sucking up what honey I've deemed as mine when they're being smoked.

Two fume boards are the way to go, by the way. One works while the other is being worked.

DS
 
#19 ·
I've tried a lot of methods and none of them work fully to my satisfaction.

Blowing: It can be hard to get enough out without doing a certain amount of damage to the bees. Bees tend to hide in the wind shadow on the top bars of the frame (assuming you blow from the bottom to the top). If you have a lot of hives, you get a LOT of bees on the ground.

Brushing: They don't really like it and it's slow, but it works.

Escapes: Work reasonably well, but require extra lifting.

Abandonment: Sometimes works great, other times not so good.

Fume board with Bee Quick: Not perfect, but probably the best method available. You may have to brush a few bees to complete the job.

One thing to remember -- you will never remove every bee. A few bees in the extracting room is quite normal. They will be confused, disoriented, and looking for a way home. The only time I've been stung while extracting is when I've actually gotten a bee squished between my hand and a frame.
 
#21 ·
Yeah, I'm having "problems". The basic problem is bottling plants that
talk a big story, and then change their story a week later.

If anyone knows of a small bottling plant that could use some extra
business and is not run by compulsive liars, feel free to drop me a
note at bee-quick@bee-quick.com.

'Cause, for all I know, the guys I am working with right now will also
turn out to be liars. I sure hope not.
 
#22 ·
Docking;

Don't waste your time fooling with chemicals or smoke. You need neither to effectively remove the bees from the supers. Use a leaf blower which works great (~30 seconds per super).

- A blower results in minimal "bee deaths" as I found out from direct experimentation some years ago.
- Smoke causes the bees to break open the capped honey comb and start sucking up honey.
- Chemicals take longer to use and who wants more chemicals in the hive.

Thanx.
 
#23 ·
bee out of the super

Last year I placed the super on it's side on the ground ten feet a way from the hive till sunset. most of the bees left the super back to their hive, then get me an empty super and brush each frame from any leftover bees in the enterence of the hive. This year so far the bees not inerested in working in the super ?
 
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