First Cut Out - didn't go so great

[mike17l]

I did my first cu-out earlier this week, it was a small colony that had some africanized characteristics, but was very docile. The cut-out itself seemed to go great, the colony was above a door and required a ladder, but overall was a very smooth process. This was my first cut-out and I did not realize that I was sucking up as much honey as I was in my bee vac. Apparently too much honey is a bad thing, as when I moved the colony into a hive body it was difficult for the bees to get around. Well the colony was nearly a total loss, the only things that I gained were knowledge, experience, and a little honey for the colony I already had to steal away.

[Riskybizz]

I have a Lowes "bucket-vac" that I converted into a bee vacuum in case I ever need to use it. My goal doing bee removals from buildings is to never use it. The more you do cutouts the better you'll become at handling the bees, and comb and honey and setting it up in a new hive. Anyone can open up a wall and vacuum up a bunch of bees and throw them in a box, but your success will be much better in transferring them and keeping the queen alive if you take your time and do it right.

[shannonswyatt]

Sorry to hear about your experience, but it seems like there is a learning curve associated with cutouts, and a lot of lessons are hard learned. Next time you will be able to build on what you learned this time and things may work better.

BTW, I think that maybe your bee vac has too much suction. It should only have enough to suck a bee up when directly over it.

[wildforager]

Sometimes when the vac pressure is up to high you can rupture the bees honey stomachs and they will be a real sticky mess in the bottom of your vac. I'm guessing that what happened to you here. If you plan on doing more cutouts I would invest in a "Bushkill Bee Vac". Its been my best investment and I did 20 cutouts this year with it. I can't say enough good about it.

[shannonswyatt]

There are also plans on the site on how to make bee vacs. The bushkill is the way to go since you suck the bees into a hive body and then you put the cutout brood on top of it, allowing the bees to climb out of the crud and on to the comb, then discard the junk in the bottom. Otherwise you dump the crud on top of your newly cutout comb, giving the bees a lot of clean up. But any bee vac that has an adjustable airflow is better than no bee vac.

[odfrank]

You also have to be careful with the Bushkill vac to keep you air pressure low. If you can hear them shooting up the hose you are killing them.

[snl]

The Bushkill vac is the way to go, just make sure you get a vac with enough HP to take full advantage of it......

[mike17l]

Sometimes when the vac pressure is up to high you can rupture the bees honey stomachs and they will be a real sticky mess in the bottom of your vac.

That sounds exactly like what happened. I didn't know that was possible. Unfortunately, I lost the bees, but the I did learn quite a bit, and know better how not to do it in the future.

Thanks