Clearing supers for harvesting

[Unclegru]

Hi,
Thought I would harvest my honey this week. Put the bee escapes into the crown board after setting them up. Next day, however, it looked like no bees had gone back down to the lower super or brood box. Bees seemed more twitchy than usual though. A lot more than usual seemed to surround me and they took ages to actually stop buzzing around me.
Anything I can do to clear the super and not upset the bees so much? Advice will be much appreciated thanks.
Also the hive seems very crowded and a lot of bees are hanging around on the outside o the hive.
Also is there a best time of day to disturb the hive? I tend to go in early in the morning as the hive is close to neighbours fence and want the bees to settle back before neighbours star to use their garden
Gareth

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

are you sure the ecapes are in the right way, and the springs set to the right gap?
Not that Porter escapes are particularly reliable anyway

 

[mbc]

The pressure to get empty supers back on hives asap has been so intense this season I've developed a quick one stop method of clearing full ones from a site. I first sort the supers ready to clear then clear most of the bees using beequick then stack them with clearer boards top and bottom before finally blowing out any remaining bees with a 24v cordless blower before loading them in the truck and taking them back to spin out. The turn around is very quick and supers full of honey one day can be emptied and back on bees being filled the next.

 

[Unclegru]

Did wonder about the escapes so rechecked when I saw that the bees were still there. Escapes are correct way round and springs set at around 3mm. I did notice that when I removed escapes to check them that there were bees directly underneath the escapes so wondered whether there is just no room for them in the lower part of the hive. What is bee quick please?

 

[mbc]

What is bee quick please?

Clears supers fast without foul odors or harsh chemicals
Now With Pump-Sprayer Top!
A Non-Toxic Blend Of Natural Oils and Herbal Extracts
Www.bee-quick.com

 

[Karsal]

Did wonder about the escapes so rechecked when I saw that the bees were still there. Escapes are correct way round and springs set at around 3mm. I did notice that when I removed escapes to check them that there were bees directly underneath the escapes so wondered whether there is just no room for them in the lower part of the hive. What is bee quick please?

Make yourself a fume cloth. An old pillowcase with almond essence and peppermint oil placed over the top of a super and the roof popped back on for two minutes.
They hate the smell and retreat down into the hive away from the smell.
Hardly a bee left inside the super and cost is minimal.

 

[Beefriendly]

I've found in warm weather bees can be reluctant to leave the super even with a rhombus clearer board. Even more so if they don't have free space to crawl into. I'm presuming you added space as in empty super(s) below clearer board?

I've never managed to get fume boards/cloths etc to work.... ever....so I've given up on that route, although others swear by it...I swear at it...

 

[pargyle]

Probably too late now for this season ... get some rhombus escapes and make some proper clearer boards with a 50mm space underneath.. chuck away the porter escapes which at best are unreliable and at worst useless. Never had a problem clearing supers with the rhombus escape boards...

 

[mbc]

I've found in warm weather bees can be reluctant to leave the super even with a rhombus clearer board. Even more so if they don't have free space to crawl into. I'm presuming you added space as in empty super(s) below clearer board?

I've never managed to get fume boards/cloths etc to work.... ever....so I've given up on that route, although others swear by it...I swear at it...

I started using a blower last year as bees were proving to be reluctant to clear out of the supers with a rapid clearer board left on overnight, I put it down to the warm evenings.
This year I've saved loads of time and fuel using a combination of fume boards, clearer boards and the blower, it's worked really well for me with narry a bee taken away with me and supers cleared in one quick visit.

 

[enrico]

Put an eke between the clearer board and the box below it. They will use the porter bee escapes then. Then throw them away and get a decent rhombus one! I put two on one board and they cleared in three hours
E

 

[Beefriendly]

I started using a blower last year as bees were proving to be reluctant to clear out of the supers with a rapid clearer board left on overnight, I put it down to the warm evenings.

Yup, had the same problem last year in the warm weather with bees not clearing via rhombus over 24 hours.
What sort of a blower have you been using...it has crossed my mind to try that a time or two.

 

[mbc]

Yup, had the same problem last year in the warm weather with bees not clearing via rhombus over 24 hours.
What sort of a blower have you been using...it has crossed my mind to try that a time or two.

A stiga 24v blower.
Bees cling on at first and are difficult to shift but if left for a while in a stack of supers they're far less clingy and blow out easily

 

[Erichalfbee]

I like a deep rhombus clearer board and an empty drawn super under the ones to be removed if I'm taking quite a few at the same time

 

[Poly Hive]

Apart from all of the above the porters (which should be banned from sale) encourage the holes in crown boards which in turn cool the bees in Winter. A very bad thing.

One of these days the penny will drop.

PH

 

[masterBK]

But if there weren't holes in the crownboard how would you manage with a feeder? Holes can always be covered with something when not needed.

 

[Poly Hive]

I don't.

I feed using an eke with a big slab of fondant on the top bars and going this route I have not yet lost a colony to the proverbial isolation starvation as the food is directly above them.

For clarity from the bottom up. Floor. 2 x Brood boxes. Eke surrounding fondant. CB (holeless!!!!) Roof. Brick!

KISS

PH

 

[Millet]

I cleared two supers yesterday..it took me around ten minuets from start to finish..however i do have four rhombus boards that i might start using soon as my lady friend has allowed me to sleep there again after our last dispute..

 

[Walrus]

A stiga 24v blower.
Bees cling on at first and are difficult to shift but if left for a while in a stack of supers they're far less clingy and blow out easily

Good to know. I might try that (any excuse to have another power tool!). I usually brush them off but the brush gets sticky and it is slow going.

 

[mbc]

I have apiaries far and wide so the saving in time and fuel of clearing supers in one visit has been considerable.

 

[Angry_Mob]

I have apiaries far and wide so the saving in time and fuel of clearing supers in one visit has been considerable.

Do you make your own fume boards? I've frames cut to make some clearer but might try a fume board. All I need is some thin metal to sheet it?