[honeybees]

Fellow beekeepers, I had the best day in beekeeping in my life. I was contacted by an exterminator that there was a swarm in a small tree in a front yard. He was sent there to exterminate them but he knew that I would rescue any hive he should find and with permission from the owner of the property. I will also give credit to my brother, he video taped the removal. Anyhow, it was text book removal. The swarm was the size of a pineapple. We put the concrete tube bee vaccum together, hooked up to a small shop vac and those little guys got sucked into the tube with no problem. As far as I could tell when I got the tube to their new home, there was not one dead bee from sucking the bees into the tube. True, with all the commotion of transferring the bees and with them flying around me, I wasn't gonna stand there and really look to see if any were dead. But all in all, it was a good removal. The bees that were on the outside flying around the hive sure were impatient to get in, so I just stepped aside and left them do their thing and within minutes they were like pigs in you know what. If all bee removals go like this one did I will be doing plenty more. I didn't get stung which was a good thing and I was glad to do my part in keeping the honeybees safe. I forgot to say I am a newbee at this hobby and hope to be doing it for years to come. To everyone that took the time to read, thank you and cheers. Below is a tag to view my bee vac
http://s999.photobucket.com/home/mbsl55amg

 

[toms1arrow]

Honeybees congrats to you! That is an exciting story. I also am a newbee and can't get it off my mind ever since I hived my first 2 pkgs May 3rd. I think you are/should be happy as pigs in you know what! Congrats again. Like someones tag line says - Welcome to your new addiction. How True!

 

[beekeeper1756]

Congratulations. I was hoping to do some cutouts this weekend but the weather is stormy/rainy on Friday, clearing on Saturday. Perhaps Saturday, I can get to them.

I'm going to put the finishing touches on my bee vac creation alla Roboworld and give it a try.

 

[bigbore]

yes, I agree it is very exciting, just remember, some go great and some go to H__L in a handbasket, but above all have fun with it, and remember

 

[MichaelShantz]

Great story. I did roughly the same thing end of March. Got on a swarm rescue list, got a call, arrived on scene, pretended I knew what I was doing, didn't mention I had never done this before, pushed a cardboard box under the swarm, timidly pushed on the swarm with bee brush. To my amazement the swarm dropped into the box! My hive is now accelerating happily. I've made a bee vac but have only tested it on single bees (no casualties). My design is much lazier than yours.
http://ww2.michaelshantz.com:8001/homepage/gardens/beevac.pdf

Good Luck!

 

[arthur]

wow, now that is a bee vac.

 

[honeybees]

It is amazing what a couple of hours will do, going from a very high on the capture to now a very low, what is the fear after a capture? SWARM, AGAIN here is what happened: once I unloaded the bees from the bee vac, alot of them dropped into the hive. Some of the bees were flying around, once the the top was on, the only way in was the front entrance and that was blocked because I didn't want any to escape. The bees that were flying around went to the front entrance, they wanted to get in. I removed the the block and all the bees were now inside, HAPPY DAYS. The way I saw it, they wanted in because the queen was inside, so I took for granted that they now have a new home and everything is hunky dory. Take nothing for granted. Well, Friday at lunch time went to check on the hive and there was no movement. This morning having more time to check the hive, a BIG FAT NOTHING! They had swarmed! So I called a local beekeeper, he has done this for 12 years, he said probably my biggest mistake was not to seal up the hive after those last couple of bees wanted to get in. (I thought they would be contented with their new home) He also stated that if I killed the queen they will swarm or they did not like the smell from the previous occupants which caused them to swarm. He said next time seal the hive for two to three days and to make sure they have some honey on frames which will give them something to do. Which will also give the queen time to start laying eggs. Well the good news is that there was not one dead bee in the hive, so getting sucked up into the vaccum did not harm them. Well live and learn and be sure to read all you can because now maybe someone will do what I failed to do. Cheers