How do I clear bees from supers on Paradise Bee box

[Widget]

Hi
this year I decided to try out a poly hive and chose the Paradise bee box. However, there does not seem to be a clearing board available for it. I don't think an ordinary wooden crown board with bee escapes will fit securely and brushing the bees off the frames is going to be quite a task. I had a look online and found a Youtube video of a guy clearing bee box supers with a garden blower. He tips the super up on its side and blasts the bees out of it. It looked brutal. However, the bees in my bee box are not the nicest of bees so I am tempted! Has anyone got any suggestions?

Cheers

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Hi
this year I decided to try out a poly hive and chose the Paradise bee box. However, there does not seem to be a clearing board available for it. I don't think an ordinary wooden crown board with bee escapes will fit securely and brushing the bees off the frames is going to be quite a task. I had a look online and found a Youtube video of a guy clearing bee box supers with a garden blower. He tips the super up on its side and blasts the bees out of it. It looked brutal. However, the bees in my bee box are not the nicest of bees so I am tempted! Has anyone got any suggestions?

Cheers

Make a rhombus clearer board, easy and simple

 

[Erichalfbee]

I use hone made rhombus clearers in my poly hives. No problem. Just cleared four supers off one hive in six hours.

 

[pargyle]

Presumably because of the lip ?

The quick answer (if you have a spare super) is to make a clearer board using a rhombus clearer (not those useless porter bee escapes) that fits inside a super rather than on top of the brood box. A 50mm edge around a piece of plywood that sits snugly inside the super with a hole in the middle and a rhombus escape underneath should do the job. 15 minutes if you have the tools, skill and timber.

Edit ... Dani and JBM beat me to it ... but if you can't fit make it fit on top of the brood box and under a super then my answer of make it to fit inside and empty super will do the job.

 

[enrico]

As JBM. You can buy the plastic rhombus bits from any bee shop and make it to any design really. As long as you get the outer dimensions right you can't go wrong! Make the side bits as deep as you like. The bees like a bit of room to clear the escapes.
Sorry for repeating above we all posted at the same time!!

 

[Boston Bees]

Lift frame
Shake frame
Brush few remaining bees off frame with locally sourced organic piece of shrubbery
Place frame in separate box
Repeat

Really doesn't take that long

Or go down the carpentry route, if that's your thing. It isn't mine.

 

[drex]

I don't like poly hives, preferring the aesthetics of wood, but do have two old Paynes poly hives. My home made rhombus boards ( for wooden nationals) work fine. They do not look pretty when on but are only there for a few hours anyway, as they are so efficient

 

[pargyle]

I don't like poly hives, preferring the aesthetics of wood, but do have two old Paynes poly hives. My home made rhombus boards ( for wooden nationals) work fine. They do not look pretty when on but are only there for a few hours anyway, as they are so efficient

All my hives are Paynes 14 x 12 polys and I use home made clearer boards the same as JBM above - work fine ... Paynes also do a poly crown board now and I have some of them that I can use as clearers (not as crownboards though !).

 

[gmonag]

Lift frame
Shake frame
Brush few remaining bees off frame with locally sourced organic piece of shrubbery
Place frame in separate box
Repeat

Really doesn't take that long

Or go down the carpentry route, if that's your thing. It isn't mine.

That works very well, until you have shaken off a dozen frames or more. You then get a lot of annoyed bees flying all over the apiary. Using clearer boards makes taking supers a ninja operation!

 

[Widget]

Thanks for all the advice.
The main issue with the Bee box is that the supers and brood box have curved edges and a lip so that they lock onto each other; there is likely to be a gap with an ordinary clearing board because of the curved edges/lip so the bees would be able to get back in. It might be worth a try just to see. If the edges were flat as with other poly hives there would be no problem in using a clearing board with a rhombus clearer, which I have. I like the idea of making a clearer board to fit inside an empty super; I can see that might work. I am not much good at carpentry but I might get some plywood and have a go. However, I haven't got a spare super for the bee box so I may have to combine techniques; brush the bees off the frames in the least full super and then make a rhombus clearing board to fit inside it once it is empty to clear the other super. I didn't really think it would be a good idea to blast the bees out of the super with my garden leaf blower!

 

[elainemary]

Thanks for all the advice.
The main issue with the Bee box is that the supers and brood box have curved edges and a lip so that they lock onto each other; there is likely to be a gap with an ordinary clearing board because of the curved edges/lip so the bees would be able to get back in. It might be worth a try just to see. If the edges were flat as with other poly hives there would be no problem in using a clearing board with a rhombus clearer, which I have. I like the idea of making a clearer board to fit inside an empty super; I can see that might work. I am not much good at carpentry but I might get some plywood and have a go. However, I haven't got a spare super for the bee box so I may have to combine techniques; brush the bees off the frames in the least full super and then make a rhombus clearing board to fit inside it once it is empty to clear the other super. I didn't really think it would be a good idea to blast the bees out of the super with my garden leaf blower!

Like you, I have Paradise boxes in one apiary. Otherwise have WBCs. I use okd wooden crownboards from my WBCs (tho guessing nationals would work the same) with the plastic rhomboid escapes screwed over the crownboard holes. Then put an eke below. Used one yesterday to clear bees from a super. No problem re fit, I used a ratchet strap to secure it all. If have wooden crownboards (or buy from auctions) going spare quicker than making your own

 

[madasafish]

I use standard rhombus plus clearing board on my Paradise Honey Lang. On for 24 hours, no gaps no issues.

(I made mine with slightly wider wood to cope with the plastic lips.

 

[Anduril]

Using clearer boards makes taking supers a ninja operation!

A few years ago I had ninja bees, I used the clearer boards on a few hives, in the morning when I arrived to collect the supers, the one hive that didn't have clearer boards on piled out and attacked me and I hadn't looked into that hive the day before.

 

[gmonag]

A thought on shaking/brushing bees off frames:

The natural way to do this is to remove the crown board, take each frame in turn from the top super, shake/brush the bees back into the hive, put the frame into a new box and repeat. Then you do the same with the next super(s). The result is that the same bees get repeatedly shaken and brushed. No wonder they get annoyed.
If you remove all the supers that you intend to take away and shake/brush the bees back into the remaining part of the hive, each bee only gets brushed once.
Fewer annoyed bees!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

A thought on shaking/brushing bees off frames:

The natural way to do this is to remove the crown board, take each frame in turn from the top super, shake/brush the bees back into the hive, put the frame into a new box and repeat.

What's 'natural' about that?

 

[gmonag]

It is what I have observed on various videos and also what I found myself doing, until I gave it some thought. Perhaps natural was the wrong word, try "common".

 

[oliver90owner]

My Paradise Farm polyboxes are the same footprint as timber Nationals, so what is the problem?

I use my own timber roofs from my timber boxes if I want to. Ratchet straps around the boxes will easily secure ‘loose’ items. As I said, what is the problem?

 

[pargyle]

Thanks for all the advice.
The main issue with the Bee box is that the supers and brood box have curved edges and a lip so that they lock onto each other; there is likely to be a gap with an ordinary clearing board because of the curved edges/lip so the bees would be able to get back in. It might be worth a try just to see. If the edges were flat as with other poly hives there would be no problem in using a clearing board with a rhombus clearer, which I have. I like the idea of making a clearer board to fit inside an empty super; I can see that might work. I am not much good at carpentry but I might get some plywood and have a go. However, I haven't got a spare super for the bee box so I may have to combine techniques; brush the bees off the frames in the least full super and then make a rhombus clearing board to fit inside it once it is empty to clear the other super. I didn't really think it would be a good idea to blast the bees out of the super with my garden leaf blower!

There's always a way if you think about it ... I don't like shaking excessive numbers of supers free of bees as it normally ends up with a lot of free flying bees looking to get back in to the supers. Fine for a few frames out of a super ... several supers - recipe for airborne masses of bees. I tried it taking one super off each of two hives..... never again !

 

[Erichalfbee]

There's always a way if you think about it ... I don't like shaking excessive numbers of supers free of bees as it normally ends up with a lot of free flying bees looking to get back in to the supers. Fine for a few frames out of a super ... several supers - recipe for airborne masses of bees. I tried it taking on super off each of two hives..... never again !

You won’t want a leaf blower for Christmas, then?

 

[CaptainCymru]

Hairdryer with extension lead if no leaf blower