Bee removal from honey supers

[hoodswoods]

Most of my hives have more than 1 honey-filled super above them & I have constructed a bee escape board from David Cushman's design http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/vortexescape.html.

I plan on trying this versus the other methods (blower, fume, brush...). My question is those of you that have used escape boards, is it employed a super at a time, or can I put it under multiple stacks ie 2-3 at once?

Also, these are booming hives - would it be wise to place a new hive body immediately below the escape board to give them some room to go? Heat indexes are +100 this week.

[hpm08161947]

I do not know how bad the SHB are in Roswell, GA, but I doubt you would want to leave that escape board on too long.

[hoodswoods]

We invented SHB. It is touted to work in the time it takes to work a hive.

[AmericasBeekeeper]

Good luck, but there are plenty of bad experiences posted on the forum. You will not hurt the bees feelings with a bee brush.

[hpm08161947]

We invented SHB. It is touted to work in the time it takes to work a hive.

So it will work in say... 30 min... max? If so then that will work.

So y'all invented SHB? Don't know... I think Coastal Carolina gave you a bit of help.

[Peter]

It is touted to work in the time it takes to work a hive.

Takes at least 24 hours whenever I've used one, still a couple to brush off then too.

[Fuzzy]

Hoodswoods,

I have several of the vortex escapes and use them but only if the supers are above an excluder. I have never seen them clear out in minutes. It is always overnight at a minimum.

personally, I remove them from the hive and stack them 4 high beside the hive with an escape on the bottom and top. It works really well. Usually there are no bees left behind.

If you want it done faster, use some bee quick or a leaf blower.

[honeydreams]

no more then 48 hours with a escape board. the reason why is because the little girls will figure it out.

[beyondthesidewalks]

If it's too good to be true, it probably isn't. I seriously doubt that it will take less than an hour to remove your bees with this device. I'd leave it on overnight and than rob. You can put it under multiple supers. Be sure your bees cannot get in above it or they will. If you leave it on too long you'll probably have SHB damage and mess. No need to add room. They'll hang out outside the hive. Good luck and have a great harvest.

[hoodswoods]

Appreciate everyone's responses. The thought of wading thru 90+ frames brushing/shaking/blowing off bees was not interesting in 97 degree heat - and my experience of knocking down bees from hive bodies, feeders, inner & outer covers tends to produce an air-filled mass of unhappy bees.

The fume board works ok - except for the expense and making sure I don't drive the entire colony out the entrance. Your (& previous comments re SHB & robbing) are well taken, but especially extracting late evening & pulling next morning - I'll have to deal with brood & the nurses as that arises.

Fuzzy - how do you control/cover the top escape board?

[sevenmmm]

I tried something different that helped, somewhat.

I placed a box of frames with foundation between the filled super and brood chambers. The number of bees on the full body was considerably less the next inspection, as they began to work the empty box.

Since I lost my bee brush and am now using the CC Miller method, less bees is certainly easier...

[Live Oak]

I use Honey Robber, a fume board, and a Stihl BG85 leaf blower. Spray an light X pattern on the fume board with the Honey Robber. Place on honey super for 4 - 7 minutes (DON'T over due it with the Honey Robber, it is an anhydride of butyric acid and if you apply too much in very humid conditions, it can harm the bees, as mentioned above at the very least it can drive the entire colony out the front of the hive and at worst kill large numbers of bees) remove the fume board, QUICKLY remove honey super and lay on its side. Have leaf blower running and ready to blow any remaining bees off of the frames. When the frames are blown free of bees, VERY QUICKLY lay on a flat surface (I use the top side of a telescoping hive cover) and cover up with an inner cover with a bee escape or the center hole duct taped shut before any bees can retake the comb.

I have an ATV parked next to the hive with a telescoping hive cover ready to lay the honey super on and the wife holds the honey super while I blow the bees off. I then lay the honey super down right side up and the wife QUICKLY lays the inner cover on before the bees can bet back in to the frames. This works well with 2 people and the Honda Recon 250 is just the right size for carrying up to 3 full honey supers.

We drive the honey supers over to the house and very quickly remove them from the ATV into the house and the wife quickly shuts the door behind me to keep out any bees that follow. We have the extration equipment set up inside where the A/C is running and the bees can no longer smell the open honey supers. The few stragglers who make into the house on the occasional frame or 2, we catch in a jar and turn loose outside.

Once you get the hang of this and a good cadence, this works very well and very fast. YMMV

[hoodswoods]

And I envisioned extraction as an, albiet messy process, a little less intensive. My mentor has the 'safe room', but I've gone into hot, defoliated & gassed LZ's with less equipment & not as prepared - these are supposed to be the lazy days of summer... I'm an old fart looking to satisfy his friend's/family's demands for some juice - let me hit the easy button - but, again, your processes are appreciated.

[Billy Y.]

Tried the link to Dave Cushman's design but no go. ?

I prefer the triangle escape boards myself. Leave them on for two days as that is generally how long it takes for them to evacuate the supers. I've used them on stacks as high a five supers with no problems - provided there is no brood in them.

[PappyMAINEiac]

[QUOTE=Billy Y.;685331]Tried the link to Dave Cushman's design but no go. ?

I had the same problem so I went to http://www.dave-cushman.net and then followed the links to the vortex escape.