How We Remove Bees From Honey Supers

How to remove bees from honey supers with bee escapes, bee blowers and fume boards.

[@raterus]

Bee: "Sure is windy today!"

[@mihai.r-beekeeper5694]

Hi Bob. You gave me a good idea. Thank you!

[@massachusettsprepper]

I like that leaf blower, and Mikita makes a good product as well. Thanks for sharing.

[@bobbinnie9872]

Yes they do

[@dryridgebeesupply]

Another good one as always very practical easy to relate. Keep them coming.

[@bobbinnie9872]

Thanks.

[@pnwRC.]

Great video as always. As soon as I can find one, I'm planning to get the Milwaukee leaf blower. Since I already have Milwaukee cordless tools, it just makes sense to me. That Makita does look like a powerful little thing!

[@bobbinnie9872]

I'm sure Milwaukee would make one too. Just make sure it's a strong one.

[@sandrocamargo698]

Awesome video, thank you for share all this tips!!! Thank you.

[@bobbinnie9872]

Thanks.

[@benjaminearls9983]

I have several makita tools. They work great. The 5amphour batteries last a long time. Compared to the 3amphr.

[@dadu63]

wasnt able to make it to see you this week cause i have a new grandbaby. planning on august 29th. thanks for video bob!

[@bobbinnie9872]

Congratulations.

[@aCanadianBeekeepersBlog]

Love the blower I gotta get one for odd jobs

[@bobbinnie9872]

Good for blowing out duds and such. I've been wondering if your style of escapes might work better than the triangle escapes. Any thoughts.

[@aCanadianBeekeepersBlog]

I don’t know, I have guys telling me the triangle are better than the Lewis type that I’m using. I think it all has to to with the internal function of the colony. If those processor bees are cycling down, the escapes work wonders . If they are not moving, they sit in the boxes and it dosent matter how much space is underneath. If there is not enough room, they beard. Naturally , right ?

[@bobbinnie9872]

@@aCanadianBeekeepersBlog You are correct. Like most beekeepers, I'm always watching for a way to reinvent the wheel.

[@aCanadianBeekeepersBlog]

Bob Binnie at Blue Ridge Honey Company I’ve never used a triangular escape but these conical are awesome. I doubt the type of escape matters a damn

[@Roger_Cope]

@@aCanadianBeekeepersBlog I like the escapes you folks use too. Watch most of your vids, very efficient system you use for that size operation.

[@andywhite9932]

Sorry Mr Bennie. I see you answered my question under someone else’s comment. Thanks for your videos. Would love to see how you strap the supers on the truck

[@MichaelSmith-vy2gp]

The leaf blower looks brutal on the bees. Will give it a go next season. Thanks for the tip. Cheers

[@bobbinnie9872]

Believe it or not it doesn't make the bees angry. It just seems to confuse them.

[@MichaelSmith-vy2gp]

@@bobbinnie9872 thanks for the reply. We've got a smaller battery blower that, after seeing your video, we'll try here at Canberra, Australia. Always willing to give something a go and see if it works for us. Love your videos btw, thanks. 👏

[@russellkoopman3004]

Bob great video again. Your hives look so strong. Do you harvest fall honey or is your honey harvest over?

[@bobbinnie9872]

We first harvest all the spring honey and then once again with the Sourwood. Everything after that is for them although it won't be a large amount.

[@apiariogallinati]

Parabéns, ganhaste mais um inscrito, apesar de não entender nada do que falaste.

[@bobbinnie9872]

Gracias.

[@scottreese5492]

You might try the single battery makita blowers, I have both double and single battery blowers and single battery ones seem to last plenty long enough and blow almost as strong. Plenty for bees

[@sidestitch2676]

Love your videos, thanks for taking the time to do them. When is the Sourwood honey going to be available? I keep checking your website and it’s sold out still.

[@wmrogerware]

Call them tomotrow, Molley confirmed my order is being shipped tomorrow

[@bobbinnie9872]

We bottled some today. Should be on the website any day.

[@sidestitch2676]

Bob Binnie at Blue Ridge Honey Company I called this morning got a split case of sourwood and Tupelo. Thanks

[@bobbinnie9872]

@@sidestitch2676 Hope you like it.

[@namentatic4978]

I'm not so rich to get this battery operating blower, but I'll try to use my little 4 gallons air compressor. With a good handle valve and tip blower, I'm sure it will work good.

[@jeremyhuggins8796]

Great video Bob, just too short. Hahaha 😁 Thank you for easing my concern about blowing the bees out. My Grandfather used to do it and I would worry about damaging them. He's 94 now and this is the first year he hasn't been able to work the bees. I was introduced to Honey Robber from a local bee supply and I love it! A figure "8" or "Z" pattern sprayed on fume board is enough for a few hives. Thanks again!

[@bobbinnie9872]

Thanks, we also do a pattern much like a figure eight.

[@beekingdom2457]

You have anews ideas

[@stufarnham]

Hi, My equipment is all set up for interchangeability. One aspect of this is that all of my boxes have entrance holes drilled in them which I plug with corks when they are not in use. This year I put a couple of very full boxes over an escape board and did not notice that there was no cork in one of the entrance holes. The resident bees moved down as expected, leaving two boxes of honey essentially unprotected. As you I get guess this left an opportunity for robbing and I lost over 100 lb of honey to robbing. For a small-scale beek like me 100lb is a lot of honey! No one to blame but myself. Beekeeping provides plenty of opportunity yo learn from your mistakes!

[@bobbinnie9872]

Plenty of opportunity indeed.

[@ReederBeekeeping]

You mentioned in a caption "spray bottols" work too. Does that mean misting the product over the honey supers to drive them down? I know huge operations that do that.

[@bobbinnie9872]

I know a few guys that use a spray bottle to apply Bee-Go on fume boards because it's easier to meter it out that way. Although I know it works, I personally would hesitate to simply spray over the super for fear of getting even a small amount on the woodenware, cappings or honey.

[@showmebees9431]

First!! Another great video. I wouldn't have thought a battery powered blower would be effective. Battery powered equipment has really come a long way. Thanks so much for sharing! I'm going to stop by and purchase some Sour Wood honey from you next time I'm through there. How long does it usually take you to sell out of it?

[@bobbinnie9872]

Fast.

[@bobbinnie9872]

We have enough for several months. I meant fast on the "First!!".

[@marciojosedefreitas8451]

Muito bom. Brasil

[@bobbinnie9872]

Obrigado.

[@user-vr8uv5mm9i]

روعه

[@framcesmoore]

that was cool, I always look forward to seeing your videos, does the dlower kill any of the bees thanks

[@bobbinnie9872]

As long as they aren't getting slammed against something it's OK.

[@framcesmoore]

@@bobbinnie9872 Ha thank you have a great day hope u received a lot of honey .

[@framcesmoore]

@@bobbinnie9872 Going to get me a blower now for next year I use the fume boards and u are right bees do not all leave, I take my suppers in the kitchen and I always have bees every where I did good, this year was my best ever got 15 gal of wonderful honey. Thanks again for the wonderful videos u do, they are great

[@markspc1]

Honey time !

[@cicadarhythm5709]

I use a feather! gotta try the blower sometime. Is it better to blow from the bottom or top of the super? Blowing from the bottom could blow out a frame right?

[@bobbinnie9872]

Blowing from the bottom could blow out a frame but thats where we usually start because the bulk of the bees seem to come out better, especially if there are uncapped frames the bees can hold on too. We usually hold the frames from falling out with our fingers as we blow and then finish from the other side. That's just us, everyone seems to do it different.

[@andywhite9932]

Mr Bennie. Ive considered escape boards for my operation here in the delta of Mississippi but fear hive beetles. Do you not have small hive beetles in north Georgia?

[@bobbinnie9872]

Hi Charles. We do have them in them North Georgia but probably not as bad as in Mississippi. We do have to careful though.

[@andywhite9932]

@@danholtbk7008 if there is any pollen in supers, those nasty hive beetles will lay eggs in them that hatch in a couple days. Then supers will be slimed

[@davidkoch733]

When you move all the bees in the supers down to the brood box, what happens to the overcrowding. Does it initiate a swarm?

[@bobbinnie9872]

Not at this time of year (late July). The brood nest has already begun to shrink. Two weeks later they are noticeably smaller.

[@tjones2ful]

I use the Kolbalt 40v and it works well. I have 3 other pieces of equipment that uses the same battery.

[@houssembenabdallah6599]

Does adding an empty super with drawn comb beneath the escape board help evacuating more bees from the super with honey?

[@bobbinnie9872]

In the case of a heavily populated colony it would.

[@houssembenabdallah6599]

@@bobbinnie9872 Thank you very much, I appreciate the reply :)

[@jtlearn1]

Ian stepplar puts another empty super below the escape to give them room to vacate from above.

[@bobbinnie9872]

How does he get the empty super off?

[@russellkoopman3004]

@@bobbinnie9872 Ian is still in a canola flow, so his truck lift raises 5 deeps full of honey off the Q excluder and he puts 2 more deeps on top, then the bee escape, then the 5 boxes of honey on top. So the hive is 8 deeps high. He is coming back 2-3 days later and the 2 new deeps are already getting full of nectar and he is scraping off lots of white wax that formed under the bee escape. It's crazy that one hive can produce that much honey.

[@bobbinnie9872]

@@russellkoopman3004 I noticed that, very impressive. At some point he'll have to get back to a single.

[@villainousssb533]

Bob Binnie at Blue Ridge Honey Company yes he brings them back to singles at the end of the season and stores them in a barn

[@HaUsSssss]

@@bobbinnie9872 Last year he ended up feeding with that last super on still just so they had space, he then came back later and stripped them off and let the bees rob the syrup out a couple hundred feet away. But he wasn't bulking them up, I think he was just splashing them with a bit of resource since the singles didn't have much for stores.

[@andywhite9932]

Mr Bob. Do you have hive beetles in your hives? Im afraid to use escapes for fear of hive beetles sliming my supers

[@bobbinnie9872]

We have a few, but nothing dramatic. If you don't have too many and get the escapes off within a few days you would probably be fine.

[@tjones2ful]

I don't think beetle go after the honey like they do the pollen. They need the protein.

[@TalRohan]

You note in the video that it doesn't hurt the bees presumably if you blow the bees up into the air they simply slow down and fly back without any problem, I can imagine a partially capped super being something to look out for though.

[@bobbinnie9872]

You are right, they hold on better if the comb is uncapped and it can help to start from the bottom and blow them through the top of the super because of the angle of the cells.

[@TalRohan]

@@bobbinnie9872 thankyou I actually hadn't thought of that possibility, I like this tecnique it seems a little kinder even than brushing or shaking bees off.

[@villainousssb533]

I notice Ian from Canada puts some drawn supers below the bee escape to give the bees room to work straight up. Do you have an opinion on this

[@villainousssb533]

Link to Ian pulling supers kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z3rKnIKXeriseJI

[@HaUsSssss]

I was just thinking this. I'm thinking of making 20 or so of these escape boards for next season to try out, I hate juggling fume boards. Makes me smell bad and the bees get pissed when I use it lol

[@bobbinnie9872]

We do super below the escapes when there is more honey to be made. The colonies in this video were finished making honey and were scheduled to be treated with Apivar within days so all supers had to off.

[@manchus30]

Where did you get the shorter leaf blower tube?

[@bobbinnie9872]

It's been a while and I don't remember for sure but it may have come with one or we may have cut a longer one down.

[@mckeeshoneybees8351]

Hi Bob, I was wondering if you have run into this situation before. I had an issue last year where I found my bees crawling out of all my hives shaking and dying. I called Ohio dept. of agriculture and after testing they found a farmer near me had sprayed insecticide that same day. Well now the farmers are calling me to let me know they’re spraying. I have 50 colonies 50 ft from a field that is getting sprayed today. (8/7). I hate to try and close them off all day because it’s hot and the colonies are packed with bees. I asked him if he could spray as late in the evening as possible and I’m going to put a feeder out to try and get most of the foragers on it. According to Ohio dept of ag, they’re not supposed to spray when beans are in bloom but I guess they bloom for quite awhile. Just wondered your thoughts. Thank you for your time.

[@bobbinnie9872]

Sorry your having this trouble, as if we beekeepers don't have enough to worry about. Your remote feeder idea may work. You may also get away with closing them up by using an empty deep with 1/8 inch hardware cloth on top. If I did this I would also give them a dripping wet towel inside the box for water. I've heard of beekeepers covering their colonies with netting with a water sprinkler. I would be curious to hear the results of anything you try. Good luck.

[@mckeeshoneybees8351]

Thanks Bob. That is a great idea. Unfortunately a little late for today but I can be prepared next year to do that.

[@darrenpierce9903]

When using escape boards do you put a spare super above the excluder .

[@bobbinnie9872]

In this video our honey producing season is over and our next step is mite treatment and then feeding to prepare for winter. When we lift our spring crop in preparation for our summer sourwood flow we do add supers under the escape..

[@darrenpierce9903]

@@bobbinnie9872 Thanks

[@franciscosanchez3713]

Do you put a super right away in the beehive or not?

[@bobbinnie9872]

In this video we were taking sourwood honey off, which is the last flow of the season, so we didn't put any more supers on. When we take the spring honey supers off in preparation for the sourwood flow we do add more empties.

[@patrickhopton4609]

How do you keep bees from robbing the supers you put on the truck?

[@bobbinnie9872]

Hi Pat. I hope you made a lot of Sourwood this year. I really dislike robbing. It makes me anxious. One of the things I like about using escape. boards is that we can get in and out fairly quick on the second trip. Everyone on the crew knows that once we start pulling and loading supers there's no screwing around and we get it done and leave. Of course there's no way of stopping it completely and it's one of the reasons I've been moving away from the larger yards of sixty-four to smaller yards of thirty-two to forty-eight.

[@BrainfoodHoney]

my mentor always said to blow down then after most get blown down then he flips up the super and blows out... too much time and i believe the bees could just come back... what are your ideas?

[@bobbinnie9872]

If you mean blow the bees down into the hive we don't do that but will occasionally blow the bees off the top bars before standing the box up and blowing them out. The bees being blown out go back to their entrance and not the box they are blown out of.

[@codytrubic5254]

Bob Binnie at Blue Ridge Honey Company i agree completely

[@max-xd1ff]

You say there is rong ways of use the blowwer what would you recommend i do to use it right and not hurt the bees.. From south african

[@bobbinnie9872]

It is easier to blow from the bottom of the frames first because the cells are slanted upward.

[@max-xd1ff]

@@bobbinnie9872 blowwer speed or non?

[@bobbinnie9872]

@@max-xd1ff High speed works better and doesn't seem to hurt them.

[@steveesau7591]

Bob - curious if you put the bee escape on and don’t pull supers for 3-4 days do you ever have issues with small hive beetle larva hatching in the rouge patch of pollen the bees place up in the supers. Seems like south of Atlanta if I leave supers in the drying room more than 2 days - I need to extract everything on day 3 as by day 4 I will have small hive beetle larva hatching.

[@bobbinnie9872]

Hi Steve. We rarely have trouble with that time frame. Probably because it takes awhile for all the bees to vacate. However we do use the same rule in the drying room as you.

[@georgehardee5470]

Why couldn't you put an empty super above the single deep and below the bee escape so the bees would have extra room to clear the supers?

[@bobbinnie9872]

You could, but then you would have to clear that also.

[@andrewsmyth6027]

@@bobbinnie9872 no you wouldnt. lift super put on super with empty frames then beescape, then full super, after 2 to 3 days, lift full super with minimal bees, no issue with a commercial blower which is not really beefriendly, but hey ho each to their own

[@bobbinnie9872]

@@andrewsmyth6027 Would the empty super with empty comb now have bees in it?

[@andrewsmyth6027]

@@bobbinnie9872 hopefully, because that is the result we would want

[@alexdurant2789]

@@andrewsmyth6027 Yea but then how do you get the bees out from that empty super? You don't want to leave an empty super over winter.

[@youesfbessauod7557]

Are bees harmed by strong air

[@bobbinnie9872]

Using the blower shown here seems to cause very little issues with the bees. It confuses them more than anything.

[@royknight613]

How can I get one of your Queens

[@bobbinnie9872]

We'll be booking queens at our store in January. That number is 706 782 6722.

[@royknight613]

@@bobbinnie9872 where from and how much foe a nice with queen sent to me in Tx 75092

[@rogierdikkes]

Still looking for honey robber in Europe, got a lot of request in our area to remove swarms from walls. None of the home owners want their walls opened. With swarm I could move them out.

[@bobbinnie9872]

May stink for awhile.

[@attesmatte]

I'm sorry, I'm not a native English speaker... But I've heard a lot of videos where people say "ecscape" (like ec-scape) instead of "e-scape". Is this a regional thing? 😜 Sounds so weird to me! 😜😂

[@bobbinnie9872]

Even in the same regions we Americans will pronounce some words several different ways. Here in Georgia I can hear at least four different accents, probably due to the people that settled in a community from different countries. When I moved to this area in the southern Appalachian Mountains thirty years ago I struggled to understand some of the people born here. Now my sister in California says I'm beginning to sound a little like them.

[@attesmatte]

@@bobbinnie9872 Lol, I can imagine! It's a big place. 😜