What do you use to run out your bees?

[cklspencer]

What do you use to run your bees out of their supers and why?

[Russ]

I use Bee Quick and a Fume Board, Works Great.

[Fuzzy]

Your poll only allows one choice. Do you want me to vote 3 or 4 times ?

[cklspencer]

Just one choice, THe one you use the most. If you have others or use more then one feel free to explain your method.

[sqkcrk]

I use a nectar flow.

[peacekeeperapiaries]

bee go and fume boards, quick and easy. Use several fume boards and keep moving them ahead of you as the supers are pulled.

[hpm08161947]

Several fume boards with Bee Go and a leaf blower before loading on the truck.

[Specialkayme]

Bee escape for me. I prefer to avoid chemicals whenever I can.

The only thing I don't like about the escape, is my hives are an hour away. To use them properly, you need to put them on one day, and come back the next. Not always possible. Those times I usually just brush/blow the bees out.

[NasalSponge]

bee escape for me. I prefer to avoid chemicals whenever i can

x10

[jdpro5010]

Bee Go and a leaf blower to "clean" them up so to speak.

[stoweski]

Bee escape/triangle boards. After using them for a couple of years I love 'em. I left mine on for almost 48 hours this time. I think we managed to pull 4-5 bees off of the frames this year after using the triangle board. My father pulled one out!

Of course the triangle board requires planning and a close proximity to your hives as specialkay stated.

The nice part is you don't stink after pulling supers!

[sqkcrk]

That's why I use the Nectar Flow Method of honey removal. No stinky boards or clothing. Well, if I do it right the clothing still comes home smelling of sweat, but not BeeGo or Benzaldehyde.

[beemandan]

That's why I use the Nectar Flow Method

They just aren't biting, are they Mark? Ok....so I'll bite....what's the nectar flow method?

[sqkcrk]

Yeah, I was kinda surprised no one asked before, and then I just thought that maybe folks thought, "Oh, that old sqk, just tryin' to be funny."

I don't really know what to call it other than that. I guess I could call it the Squeak Creek Method or maybe more appropriately the MacDonald Method, since I learned it from my buddy Jon E. Mac.

But basically, as long as htere is at least a minor nectar flow, you just take all of your supers off of your hives and stand the ones w/ the honey in them on end. By the time you are through doing this to the whole yard, most of the bees will be out of the supers and back home or out foraging. If there is any brood in any of the supers, you'll know it because the bees won't leave it.

Then you collect the supers of honey, sorting out the empty combs or the not filled enuf combs and put those on your truck or a pallet and then onto the truck. And put the empties or partially filled ones back on the hives for the next flow.

Works good enuf for me on 600 cols and for Jon on 1,000 or 1,200 cols. Sure, you will take some bees homew/ you, but not many. Unless, like Jon, sometimes you want those bees to cover brood that youdidn't sort out and you have queens to make splits w/.

Jon will make splits in August, or especially in April or May, by not sorting out the brood frames. You might be surprised how good a split you can make w/ frames of drone brood, lots of bees and a queen cell or queen. 'Nother story.

Aren't ya glad you asked beemandan? Give it a try some time.

[beedeetee]

Okay...I always called that the abandonment method. Does it work for you during the day? I always pulled them in the evening about sunset. Then picked them up in the morning.

It would not always work. Yes, brood was one reason. But if the nights were warm (not common around here), probably 1/3 of the bees might still be in there by morning. On cool nights the boxes would be completely empty of bees. Maybe one slow moving bee in there somewhere. In those cases it worked better than any other method.

It failed enough that I now use Bee Quick and a fume board most of the time.

[Kingfisher Apiaries]

Stihl BG 85. Bee Go w/ nasty bees.

Mike

[sqkcrk]

Does it work for you during the day?

Yes, only time I do it. Took honey off of 64 colonies that way and will w/ the rest of the 536 left to work.

[Michael Bush]

I just wait for the weather to get cold and they are down in the brood nest, and not in the supers...

[jbford]

shake frames in front of hive entrance then use brush