I never thought I'd ever decide to own one, or even want one; but after losing two swarms that wrapped themselves around the bottom of a young tree and refusing to move into a box I'm finally convinced that I should investigate bee vacs. I've been doing some research online and I think I want one that will vacuum them into a box w/ frames rather then a 5 gallon bucket. It just seems better for the bees in my opinion, but I'm curious about what others use. I'm looking for suggestions about the good, not so good, and definitely what to stay away from. I have to do this on the cheap, so any and all input is greatly appreciated.
I built mine the same way as you describe. It is so easy I have no idea why anyone would build it any other way. The down side is that it can be heavy.
I made two plenums out of 3/4" PVC sheet material I got at a local habitat store. I tend to leave things laying around and my first set of plenums were plywood and got wet/rotten. The bottom and top plenums are the width and length of a 10 frame deep. The top is 3" deep and the bottom is 4" deep. They are only different in the depths due to the amount of material I had. They can be any depth you wish so long as they are deep enough to accommodate the hose cuffs. I covered the open side of the bottom with #8 hardware cloth and drilled a hole to accept the suction hose from my thrift store wet/dry vacuum. The vacuum is a small, maybe 2-2 1/2 gallon unit. Definitely no need for a large vacuum source. The top is open and drilled on one end for the hose that sucks the bees. I use a 1-1/4" hose for the vacuum and a 2" hose for the bees. This is what I had on hand but I'll say that a larger hose for sucking up bees is better IMO. I feel the larger hose reduces the velocity and kills fewer bees. I have had to adapt a 1-1/4" hose extension a couple of times but it still didn't kill many bees.
Having the 10 frame box filled with drawn comb is a real treat and if I happen to have a frame with some honey on it I'll stick it in if I am doing a take out. If you are collecting swarms maybe foundation would be ok but the drawn frames give the bees a lot to hang on to.
The way I usually set it up is with the vacuum plugged into the bottom plenum facing in one direction and I set the deep on it. Then I put the top plenum on the deep with the bee hose facing the other direction. I found this is an easy way to get a little extra distance plus the hoses make more sense when plugged in at opposite ends.
I have used this vacuum countless times. It makes collecting swarms that are even a little difficult super easy and it is absolutely the only way to do a take out. I would never attempt a take out without the vacuum.
I use a ratchet strap to hold the three pieces together but I am going to soon concoct a system that will clamp the two plenums together with the deep box in between. I have had the boxes shift on top of each other a time or two after strapping them to the rack on my receiver hitch. I lost a few bees but not many this way. I'll fix it before I loose a bunch from the boxes shifting. When I originally did the plenums I wrapped duct tape around the seams between them and the deep hive body to seal the vacuum. I recently added weather stripping to the plenums which is much nicer and seals tight. It doesn't take much suction to vacuum bees and too much is no good.
I would estimate the number of bees that get killed by my vacuum to be maybe 1-2%. This is much lower than I would have thought. In this design there is no heat from the vacuum going through the bees. Still it is important to make sure the bees don't get too much heat during transport or vacuuming.
I usually just take the whole hive body, bees and frames and put them on a bottom board after removing the top and bottom plenums. If I have collected a small swarm or take out I'll remove the frames and dump them on another hive.
BTW I have vacuumed many queens without incident. Marked them and put them to work once home.
Good luck.
I have used my bee vac many times now without fail. I used a design from the NWNJ group. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xWA49Oy5Skw
That's a video with several god ideas but it is a bucket design but very cheep. Have a look
I built one like the Robo Bee Vac. Works great every time, easy to build, easy to use. Very few dead bees and any trash that gets sucked up stays in the bottom. http://youtu.be/922gkjV3iqA
I use a home made bucket type vac and find it invaluable. I built one that would suck the bees into a hive box but didn't like how it sealed and wasn't consistent with different hive boxes.
Build a bucket version to work along side a regular hive box so the stragglers can be picked up. Stay away from the opaque buckets. They are not as uv stabilized as the solid white versions.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Beesource Beekeeping Forums
1.8M posts
54.7K members
Since 1999
A forum community dedicated to beekeeping, bee owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about breeding, honey production, health, behavior, hives, housing, adopting, care, classifieds, and more!