Bee Vac

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"This idea has saved me hundreds of stings and saved the lives of a lot of bees (I wouldn't pull feral hives without one). If you've ever tried to remove an existing feral hive without a bee-vacuum, I'm sure you've sworn off ever doing it again. Try it by vacuuming off the majority of bees first - then remove the comb one by one & vacuum the bees off each comb as you go. With less bees in the air & on the ground you'll have less of a chance at any unhappy bee-meeting. Plus the bees seem to know they're in trouble when you vacuum off most of their population - the rest will likely remain extremely timid. At the end of the day you'll have more salvageable comb (put back into empty frames and tie with cotton string or rubber-bands) cleaner honey (without 1000's of bee-parts) and a bunch more live bees."

"The idea behind the 'bee-vacuum' is exceptionally simple in design and you'll have much more fun in retrieving swarms or hives." - Matthew Westall

Bee Vac Plans - 4 page PDF file

View Gallery of design photos by Matthew Westall.