Colorado Bee Vac Review

Max Morgan said:

Has anyone purchased and had any field experience using the Colorado Bee Vacuum? From the manufacturer's video, it looks far superior to any others I have seen but, I can't find any actual reviews.

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This is Guy Shingleton, I build them so there are reviews out there now. You can always contact me, by web site or phone,
and hopefully I can give you names of people close to you that you can talk to and maybe see their vacuum in operation.

I own and operate a honey bee removal company and am a residential builder. As far as the colorado bee vac itself, I have never used one but it appears to built well construction wise.
I do like the idea of the individual "catch box", but I have never been a fan of the top mounted vac system for several reasons. I never could find a system that I liked and one that met all my needs.
With many hours of bee vac research and many hours of hands on removals, I have built my own bee vac system that is simple and works quite well.

Mr.Beeman said:

I own and operate a honey bee removal company and am a residential builder. As far as the colorado bee vac itself, I have never used one but it appears to built well construction wise.
I do like the idea of the individual "catch box", but I have never been a fan of the top mounted vac system for several reasons. I never could find a system that I liked and one that met all my needs.
With many hours of bee vac research and many hours of hands on removals, I have built my own bee vac system that is simple and works quite well.

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I always say that there is as many bee vacuums as there are bee keepers. I know some people have copied my design and built a vacuum because I have seen the pictures. Not as finished but they still work. Two of the reasons that I didn't try to patent the design because of the cost of the patent fees and it would not stop individuals from copying the design for their own personal use anyway. My sales are to people who don't have the skill or want to take the time to build one themselves. Over three hundred sold so far and sales have doubled every year for the last three years and I'm hoping that trend continues. Happy bee hunting!

I have one. It takes some playing with the flow,adjustments to keep the bees alive. It works great. Just don't use it on a bee tree cut out in August with a lot of suction.

(the resulting sticky dead bee mess was my fault for not dropping the flow enough and not emptying out the basket soon enough)

charmd2 said:

I have one. It takes some playing with the flow,adjustments to keep the bees alive. It works great. Just don't use it on a bee tree cut out in August with a lot of suction.

(the resulting sticky dead bee mess was my fault for not dropping the flow enough and not emptying out the basket soon enough)

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Typical of any bee vacuum is learning where the sweet spot is as far as the vacuum pressure. The other thing is during the heat of summer its a good idea to only go half full or maybe 2/3 full to give them room to breath. I know, easy for me to say, I have multiple catch boxes for big removals and multiple swarms during a day, but it's a good idea to have a spare catch box. Also reminder to leave your vacuum running during the hot days to continue circulating air through the catch box to help them keep cooler. Keep them in the shade while catching and transporting. I have had people go to all the trouble of removing a big hive and putting the box in the back of a pick up in direct sun resulting in cooked bees. I also carry a spray bottle with water in it and will give them some sprays during transportation to cool them off and give them something to drink. Good luck with the bees.