Blowers or patience?

[JamezF]

Likely to have a hundred or so bees in the vehicle, but a short way down the road I stop and open the back door to let them out. Do this a couple of times and by the time you get to the yard the vehicle is clear (almost; there's always one more).

Last time I did that (in my Fiesta, so I was effectively sharing the car with them) the "one more" turned out to be a hornet

James

 

[Gilberdyke John]

My rhombus boards all have a deep eke built in. Makes it much easier to do the whole lot in one go if you can
I don’t bother putting the wet supers back on the hives. They are stacked up and stored wet.

Mine too

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I just bought a pile of second quality Apiguard ekes in the sales (no more expensive, maybe cheaper than just buying loads of 2x1 battens) to make clearer boards up - they haven't failed me yet

 

[blackcloud]

Ditto- made from recycled kitchens
Bought a shedload of escapes in a BE sale a while back-they were under a quid each as I recall.was worried Id overdone it but ended up this year running out of kitchens instead

 

[Swarm]

It always looks a bit mean blowing uncleared supers onto the ground but if your a commercial beek without the time or manpower or profit margin to make repeat visits to use clearer boards I guess . . ..
Ian Steppler on the YouTube out in Manitoba manages to use clearer boards and he has hundreds of hives. But he has a lift machine to help. ?

After using clearer boards I usually get a few thick stragglers left behind that didn't get the message. Brush or shake them off.

I made some of these this year.

 

[Parsonage Bees]

I made some of these this year.

Yep. I copied Mr Steppler's design. Need to make another couple. They seem to work OK.

Somewhere I have said that nothing he does has much relevance to hobby beekeeping in the UK but there is always something you pick up on.

. . .. Ben

 

[Garry R]

My rhombus boards all have a deep eke built in. Makes it much easier to do the whole lot in one go if you can
I don’t bother putting the wet supers back on the hives. They are stacked up and stored wet.

I store wet too and stacked in an old non working freezer away from the wax moth. Glacial acetic at 80% is left in the freezer with them and scuppers nosema and the moth if any. Also no need for sealing of supers from the fumes as the freezer seal does that job. Supers are stacked ready for refilling the following year.

 

[0bee-1]

Are Milwaukee tools red or Golden Brown?

I hear they Are Big In America....

 

[MillMeadow]

I found this fascinating video where a lady in Japan is displaying great patience alongside using a blower.

The care and precision she takes with applying it on a lower setting suggests the blower is being used more to prevent harm/dislocation for the bees rather than for her conveniance.

Obviously I appreciate that this would not be practical in a commercial operation or for beeks with many hives.

Thought I'd link this as an interesting take on what we seem to think of as a binary question.
Those boxes looked quite sturdy and expected them to be heavier than, or hold more than, 5kg of honey though.

 

[Moobee]

My rhombus boards all have a deep eke built in. Makes it much easier to do the whole lot in one go if you can
I don’t bother putting the wet supers back on the hives. They are stacked up and stored wet.

That makes sense. I just pinned mine to spare feeder boards. Might see if I can rustle some up for this year.
I stored a load of mine wet outside. OH thought I’d set up a load of extra hives!

 

[blackcloud]

".I just pinned mine to spare feeder boards. Might see if I can rustle some up for this year."

Use old/ redundant super or bb if you cant get round to it in time

 

[Rob H]

I found this fascinating video where a lady in Japan is displaying great patience alongside using a blower.

The care and precision she takes with applying it on a lower setting suggests the blower is being used more to prevent harm/dislocation for the bees rather than for her conveniance.

Obviously I appreciate that this would not be practical in a commercial operation or for beeks with many hives.

Thought I'd link this as an interesting take on what we seem to think of as a binary question.
Those boxes looked quite sturdy and expected them to be heavier than, or hold more than, 5kg of honey though.

The blower question aside that is quite a haul of comb she had there albeit the footprint of the boxes didn't look very big. That must be about as close as it gets to "keeping" bees but them being in a natural environment ie a vertical tree trunk etc.