Beesource Beekeeping Forums banner

Blowing bees from supers

28K views 64 replies 23 participants last post by  Ian 
#1 ·
#11 ·
Well the blower is the way to go with us...we already have 2...I hate the chemical that mann lake makes...it smells soooooo bad...not to mention bee go. And it ticks the bees. A blower is natural to me as I run one a lot each week at work. I got stung 2 times yesterday during extracting- once pulling honey and once when I was walking bare-foot grabbing boxes of honey. It stones the bees so bad that they cannot fight back lol. Do it your own way but this works for me.
The other thing with doing it this way is that the supers are almost totally void of bees...try that with bee go.
mike
 
#12 ·
Build yourself a lazy susan table on top of an old revolving drafting stool so that you can elevate the box and turn it around to both sides. Also buy a shop vac hose with a crevice nozzle to attach to the blower. And don't blow the bees where you will step on them.
 
#14 ·
It may take you about 5 yrs to realize this(did for me) but the fume pads are 3x as fast plus half the work. You will especially notice this in a year of a bumper honey crop when you handle those boxes twice as much and they are full. We got 3 of the bg hand held blowers they only get used in the tail end of honey pulling when it gets late in the year or on cut comb they work good & don't stink it up.
 
#19 ·
I am from the "old school"... we stood them up in the yards, smoked like a mad man, then loaded them on the truck and away we went... our honey house was always filled with bees, but we set a ten frame empty with a few brood frames by the window every few days just gave us another 50 hives or so each year. Lol.

Btw, that was three men (two popping and standing up supers, then one would smoke while the other hand supers to the one in the truck that was stacking them)... we would pull about 400 supers in a day, then work through the night and next day slinging... then put them back on that next evening...

Three men, 2,000-3,000 drums per year... hive tools, smokers, and back aches... that was "real beekeeping in the pre-mite days". Lol.
 
#24 · (Edited)
In mike's defense, he is not the only one that uses a blower.. if blowers would have been available back in our day, we would have certainly given it a shot... but pop was cheap and got a good giggle out of seeing us bust our ***** day in and day out..."separates the mice from the men" was his reasoning, and he was right... I work my guys harder than most, but I take great care of them in return... efficiency in a large operation is important for more reasons other than monetary return... mike is a good beekeeper and I'm happy to see someone his age being so devoted... I especially loved his pics of his fight with efb... goes to show that he cares more about the overall health of his bees than his bottom dollar and number of hives... we all have different takes on things, that's what makes the forums so powerful, so long as we take things subjectively...
 
#26 ·
Oh, I do not blame you for doing it your way! I would just like to suggest that it may have to do with the number of hives you are dealing with. When you have a few hundred hives to gather supers from it can be a real pain. I also wonder if you are using a standard fume board. We have 10 fume boards and when we go into a yard we place the boards on and by then the first one is ready to gather. Then we place the first board on the eleventh hive and get the second and so forth. Really very quick. And few bees in the honey house. So I suppose I am wondering just how you were applying the Butyric acid. We have done both and there is no competition. So you are correct... do it your way, but keep an open mind.
 
#27 ·
Mike, we gotta pick on someone! :lookout:

At one time I did the blower thing as well. I can't imagine doing it this way if you're going to work up to a few hundred hives. If you do, I'd feel better if you would blow them out over grass instead of concrete, even if not a one was hurt. Just looks really bad. :)
 
#28 ·
I am beginning to think everyone is jealous. I would like to have a race with someone. Lets see who can remove bees fastest from 20 supers (10 hives) in a row. The someone would need to provide the hives with supers as we have no honey here.
LOL
Barry...I know you have to pick on me! I have a long list of the folks that pick on me...THAT HAVE NEVER WATCHED ME WORK BEES OR SEEN MY OPERATION! Come out, look, and then criticize me.
mike
 
#32 ·
I do have things that have worked. I do listen. I went from 2 hives to 20 last year. I made 90 bucks a gallon on honey. Not getting much honey is not my fault this year. EFB is not my fault..it HAPPENS! Pesticides are not my fault, they happen every year and i am trying my best to do something! I will admit i have had a negative attitude lately and am sorry for that. I have had a lot of business related stress (non-beekeeping) and a lot of decisions I have had to make.

MANY ARE NOT FILLED WITH A COMMERCIAL BEEKS FRAMES! As a matter of fact, about half are wired wax, 40% are new plastic that i have been working in, and maybe 10% are old frames THAT CAME IN NUCS! Yes i did use some old brood combs this year as it was all i had.

I may not have listened to some of the advice in this thread...but i do listed in other threads. Beesource has shaped the way I do beekeeping. I am sick of people making assumptions about my operation based on my internet posts! If you want to gripe about what i do, come over for half a day, look at all my bees, and then come on here and trash everything i do.

I have seen/heard too much about what happens in un-occupied supers.

So when are you coming?
Mike
 
#34 ·
I am sick of people making assumptions about my operation based on my internet posts! If you want to gripe about what i do, come over for half a day, look at all my bees, and then come on here and trash everything i do.


Mike
Then why are you making internet posts about your operation? You may be reading the internet too much and need to take a break. Quite frankly you sound hypersensitive.

At $90 a gallon, honey must be in real short supply in Texas, wish we could get that.
 
#33 ·
bee go vs. a blower did you want to race mike? three weeks ago with three guys we were pulling 1000 supers a day from 9-5. had to stop at a 1000 thats all the semi trucks could hold every day. Give a fume board a try again mike your back and ears with thanks you of course you parents and girlfriend might not lol.

regards Nick
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top