[WISHBONE]

I'm doing a trapout, (using Mr. Hogan's method) in a basement wall. I took out 5 frames covered in bees. The homeoners asked how many pounds of bees it was ? I've read it before, but can't find it now. Thanks, Randy

 

[Tenbears]

I have never read it, But many years ago I figured it out using Known factors and have used it as my scale ever since. Don't know if it is exact, But I am sure someone will cheerfully correct me if it is too far off. 1 frame =1200 bees or approximately 1/3 Lb.
5 frames would be 6000 bees +- or 1 2/3 Lb.

 

[drlonzo]

According to wickapedia a standard worker bee weighs in at only 90 mg. Using the calculations from MG to LB's - 1 pound = 453592 MG, divide by 90 = 5039.91 bees per pound.

The next part is dependent upon who is saying how many bees is on a frame. I hear estimates of anywhere between 1000 and 1500 per side of the frame. So most of the time i use the center number myself. 5039 / 1250 = 4.0312 sides of frames per pound. So basically for every 2 frames there is a pound of bees covering if they are fully covering the frame.

Getting into how many bees is in the brood comb is another fun one. Most say 60% is brood. I use that number myself. Each side of a deep frame has about 3500 cells. 3500 - 40% = 2100 brood bees per side. 1 frame hold about 4200 brood bees then. 4200 / 5039 = .83333 pounds of brood bees per frame. So one could say that if they have 2 frames fully covered in bees, and the frames are full of brood as well they have about 2.66 pounds of bees.

This is the way i figure it for my nuc's that i make up. More or less they end up with at least 5 pounds of bees/brood in each one.