Bee escapes

[susan2016]

Hi everyone

Can you tell me what bee escapes you think best to use to clear the super pre-honey harvest? I used the porter ones this year and put them in for a week.
When I came to remove them they were still full of bees. Please tell me:

1. Is this the best escape and 2. Did I leave the escapes in for long enough?

Thanks.

 

[tonybloke]

subject has been raised several times, Susan.
have a look here http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=11959

 

[susan2016]

bee escapes

Thanks for the link. It would appear clearer boards are the best which I'll have to buy.
Does anyone else think beekeeping is an expensive hobby?

 

[MuswellMetro]

Hi everyone

Can you tell me what bee escapes you think best to use to clear the super pre-honey harvest? I used the porter ones this year and put them in for a week.
When I came to remove them they were still full of bees. Please tell me:

1. Is this the best escape and 2. Did I leave the escapes in for long enough?

Thanks.

no and Yes

porter escapes can be problemtic and block, some people love them i hate them

i use a full rhomus over a single central hole in the crown board, slighltly less effecient that Poly Hives version on the link in the post above....the rhombus works well for me and clears in one day

if you leave clearers on too long the bees canl find a way back or bung up the porter escape

 

[Nic Rhodes]

pick ones with no moving parts like Rhombus escapes or copies.

 

[Poly Hive]

Are bees an expensive hobby?

No.

Try golf for pouring money away.

If you are canny your bees will pay for themselves.

PH

 

[richardbees]

Yes, it's expensive in the first year but you should be in profit by the end of your second year.

The key is in marketing your honey.

 

[Arfermo]

Thanks for the link. It would appear clearer boards are the best which I'll have to buy.
Does anyone else think beekeeping is an expensive hobby?

No clearer board works perfectly. I made a clearer board using the cheap Canadian type plastic cones in Thxxnes catalogue and even then find it easier to shake the bees off each frame as I check for maximum capping cover on each frame,then sweeping the few remaining bees off using my soft wallpapering brush before putting the frames worth extracting one by one into an empty super on the ground and sticking a lid on top to stop any flyers landing on the cleared frames. Somebody else on this forum also uses a very similar method - and it's cost free with the certainty that you are not removing frames with excessive uncapped cells which are not suitable for extraction or which will improve given a little more time. Best if you don't have dozens of hives of course.

 

[Cazza]

Hi everyone

Can you tell me what bee escapes you think best to use to clear the super pre-honey harvest? I used the porter ones this year and put them in for a week.
2. Did I leave the escapes in for long enough?

Thanks.

Hi Susan
You left the escape on for way too long. 24 hrs should do the trick.
Cazza

 

[itma]

Hi everyone

Can you tell me what bee escapes you think best to use to clear the super pre-honey harvest? I used the porter ones this year and put them in for a week.
When I came to remove them they were still full of bees. Please tell me:

1. Is this the best escape and 2. Did I leave the escapes in for long enough?

Thanks.

To work as a one-way bee valve, the 'springs' in a Porter escape need to be set to give the right size gap.
They don't seem to routinely come pre-set when new. So they need to be checked at least.
I think they need to be set to fractionally less than a bee-space. Say 7 mm?
Too small and the bees can't leave.
Too wide and they can get back into the super.
Check them!


I've been told to allow 24 hours to clear with Porter escapes.
A week sounds plenty time.
Correctly set, you could leave them longer - and though Porter escapes might get full of prop, the bees shouldn't find a way past them, back into the super.

Other types of escape rely on the bees not being able to quickly find the return route.
They can clear faster, but you need to remove the supers promptly (6 hours?), otherwise they will solve the puzzle and get back into the super.
Is that "better"? That's your call!

 

[Baggyone]

Rhombus ones are all I'll use now. I will include the homemade gauze type one in an earlier thread as I consider that to be of the same design. Ok, turns out you need yet another board per hive but a 6mm sheet of ply costs not a lot and the associated timber frame isn't much too.

I should break even this year (3rd year) and next year should finally get a little bit of a return. Mind you I own all my own extraction and processing kit, only thing left is wax that all methods I have tried so far have eluded me.

Baggy

 

[drex]

To work as a one-way bee valve, the 'springs' in a Porter escape need to be set to give the right size gap.
They don't seem to routinely come pre-set when new. So they need to be checked at least.
I think they need to be set to fractionally less than a bee-space. Say 7 mm?
Too small and the bees can't leave.
Too wide and they can get back into the super.
Check them!


Hooper says the gap should be 1/16". I have read 3 mm, but cannot find where.

 

[oliver90owner]

I think they need to be set to fractionally less than a bee-space. Say 7 mm?

It is sometimes better to follow the expert's advice - like those than manufacture/supply them to thousands of beeks. Thorne have a very sensible explanation for the setting and use of the Porter escapes. It is not a 7 mm gap. I think a bee can negotiate a Q/E at about 4.3 mm, so I am very sure they could negotiate a 7mm gap in a Porter bee escape!

 

[itma]

Yes, different people quote different widths! Of course that may be because of the different stiffness of their springs...

But if the bees are getting back in, its set too wide. Reset and try again tomorrow!
On the other hand, if its too tight, they can't get out ...

 

[Ross]

I used a cone escape clearer board this year it was pretty rubbish and most of my supers were full of bees when it came to taking them off. I think I will try the vortex escape in the thread above next year.

I wish I had been reading the forum reguarly before I made a whole load of cone escape boards.

 

[Poly Hive]

Ross have a look for my design, I tested it this summer by leaving it on for 10 days to see if there was a return by the bees... err.. nope.

Oh yes and it will save you some dosh too.

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=11959&highlight=clearer+boards

PH

 

[Swarm]

 

[Ross]

Many thanks PH, I like the design of these too, I really like the can be left on for 10 days bit. My daughter was born the day after I put my clearer boards on hence why they were left on a couple of days too long this time.

I liked the design of the Vortex boards because the description said that in tests after 15 mins around 90% of the bees had cleared. I keep my bees in a number of out apiaries which I drive in a small circuit to visit. Therefore (hopefully if the bees have read the description too) I can put the boards on, then drive the circuit again and collect the empty supers

 

[tonybloke]

Many thanks PH, I like the design of these too, I really like the can be left on for 10 days bit. My daughter was born the day after I put my clearer boards on hence why they were left on a couple of days too long this time.

I liked the design of the Vortex boards because the description said that in tests after 15 mins around 90% of the bees had cleared. I keep my bees in a number of out apiaries which I drive in a small circuit to visit. Therefore (hopefully if the bees have read the description too) I can put the boards on, then drive the circuit again and collect the empty supers

best left on for a few hours!!

 

[Poly Hive]

I agree Tony but there had been a lot of discussion about bees returning up into the supers so I tested it out.

I cannot guarantee they wont but that colony with that board did not.

PH