Bee escapes

[AdamTX]

Last week I removed one shallow super from two different hives. I treated both hives the same way: I opened the hive, put a bee escape into the oval hole in the center of the inner cover, then put the super I wanted to remove on top of the inner cover and closed the hive. After two days there were no bees at all in the super on one hive ... but the super on the other hive was still very full of bees. I wonder why? It's like one of the escapes worked, but the other one didn't -- even though they both look the same to me.

The frames in both supers were pretty much completely full and completely capped -- except for a few uncapped cells on the outside side of the outside frames. The escapes both look "fine." I don't notice, for example, a larger gap between the "springs" on either one.

I would think 48 hours would be more than enough time for the bees to clear out (as they did on the one hive). So what would explain the one escape not working like the other one?

???

[Tia]

I hate those little escapes. They're very particular and I've found that sometiimes, even if they look okay, those wires are bent just the slightest bit in the wrong way, leaving them useless. I use triangle escapes. They work faster and so far have given me no structural problems.

The only other times I can clear a super are (1) when the nights are too warm (obviously not the case here since one hive emptied it's super) or (2) when there's brood in the box.

[AdamTX]

I didn't even know about those things. Just found a youtube video that shows one, and it makes sense. I should be able to knock out a couple of those in my shop in short order. Thanks for the tip!

You say that they work faster -- how long would you think it would take to clear one shallow super using a triangle escape board? One day?

[Tia]

That's what I do. Overnight.

[dixiebooks]

Adam, why don't you post a link to that vid? Thx. -james

[honeydreams]

best bee excape i ever used was this one.
http://www.brushymountainbeefarm.com...oductinfo/774/

[PCM]

Here's my homemade one:


Been a long time since I posted pictures hope this works.

PCM

[Specialkayme]

Possibly something you overlooked:

The inner covers I use (Brushy Mountain) have a small notch in the end of the cover. If the notch is facing down, no problem and the escape works fin. If the notch is facing up, all it does is create a second opening to the super, rendering the escape useless.

I've personally never had problems with escapes though (when used properly).

[Omie]

Someone once told me that if you leave the triangle escape board on 48 or more, the bees begin to learn how to find their way in and out, like solving a maze. I was told 24 hours is good. Haven't have to try mine out yet, so I can't say from personal experience.

[Fuzzy]

"Someone once told me that if you leave the triangle escape board on 48 or more"

I have one like PCM's above. I have sometimes become distracted and left it on for 4-5 days with no problems. All the bees were gone.

[Stonefly7]

Why don't you just blow them out? I used to use escapes, but the more hives you add, the more equipment you need.
You can use the blower for the bees and around the house. It takes much less time, and were at the house extracting! I bought mine for 180.00 at lowes.
Just an idea.

Kind regards

[Specialkayme]

"the more hives you add, the more equipment you need."
"I bought mine for 180.00 at lowes. "

How many escapes can you buy for $180?

[Stonefly7]

Most likely 180, plus tax. Better point would have been "time" management. I still work full time and try to do a good job of managing several yards. I am able to take a week off, for our annual pull.
The blower allows us to get in and out of the yards in a timely manner, and get to the extraction process. I don't have a day or two to add hardware and come back later.

When I just had a few hives, I built the triangle boards, which is a seperate piece of equipment, and was able to walk back and install them. They do work great, but not now.

I did not notice the person inquiring was just a beginer with a couple of hives. It that case, the purchase would not be justified.

Kind regards

[RiodeLobo]

Why not use fume boards instead?

[Specialkayme]

"Why not use fume boards instead?"

Adding even more chemicals to a hive? I think I'll pass.

[Stonefly7]

Bingo! We choose to use no chemicals at all. We use Mr. Conrads soft methods, and are very sucessfull.

But that's another thread, here its the escapes, which we choose not to use for reasons mentioned above.

Kind regards

[Riley]

I've used the little Porter escapes, cone-escape boards and the triangle boards and have had by far the best success with the triangle boards. This year I took another idea from Michael Bush's site and got even more efficient use of the triangle boards. Put down a bottom board, place a triangle escape board on, stack supers as high as you can reach (I put 8 or 9 on), put an inverted triangle board and another bottom board on top. The next day the supers were empty of bees and I was able to just load them up. With four boards I harvested all the ripe supers from 12 hives.

[Specialkayme]

I get your point Stonefly. If I wasn't able to come back to a hive, I had 1,000 hives to take from, and had one day to take it off, I'd use a blower. It's fast, easy, and relatively minimally invasive.

To me and my dozen or so hives (depending on the year), an escape is cheaper, easier, and less invasive than a blower. Sure it involves a second trip to the hive, but I can put an escape on one day, and take it off another day faster than it would take you to turn the blower on and tilt the super.

But the economies of scale certainly play a large role in the matter.

[AdamTX]

Adam, why don't you post a link to that vid? Thx. -james

Here's the youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keLtym7-4KM

Thanks to everyone for the comments / suggestions.

[dixiebooks]

That was great, Adam. Thx. -james