Logistics of clearing bees from many hives

[Beefriendly]

I use a mixture of methods depending on circumstances. Basically brushing if in a rush at out apiaries, rhombus clearer boards......which I find good....BUT...they do not work well in hot weather....even though you give them empty supers to move into..

 

[madasafish]

https://theapiarist.org/clearer-boards/ is worth a read.

I have three clearer boards, remove and extract three supers at a time only. In one day.That's about 45 kg of honey which fills the settling tanks of my 4 frame extractor . It's also enough lifting for my ageing body to cope with..I just place the three supers stacked in the garage, (each marked with hive no.) weigh each before, extract one, remove and reweigh so yield per hive recorded and then supers replaced on same hive.

No disease issues/risks. Keeps it simple (8 hives, 1 x 4 frame tangential extractor). Hard work last year.

 

[mjt68]

Yes a tried and advised version of beewuick.
Warm metal cover.........used a fan to drive fumes downward. 15 mins later still full of bees.
If you need a warm day....too unreliable. Used fan as saw some American's use A drain pipe to direct wind onto cloth with mixture.

I use beequick according to instructions. Best results when sun's cracking the flags, leave board out to heat up first. In crap weather brushing or triangle clearer.

 

[Beefriendly]

I use beequick according to instructions. Best results when sun's cracking the flags, leave board out to heat up first. In crap weather brushing or triangle clearer.

So a method that can rarely be used in the usual UK climate....last year excepted.

 

[theeggman]

Rhombus escapes - even the out apiaries, with a bit of thought, rather than being two trips, clear the furthest apiary first, then, on the way home with a full load of supers, put the boards on the next, second furthest apiary

I use Polyhives version of the rhombos escapes (search the forum for Polyhives cleared boards).
It means 2 visits (or you use a system as JBM between apiaries) but they do what they say on the posts.

 

[simonforeman]

I may of missed the answer to the question I'm going to ask..... when extracting OSR honey can you use a rombus clearing board for 2-3 supers, will they still be warm enough over this board to extract the next day?

 

[madasafish]

I may of missed the answer to the question I'm going to ask..... when extracting OSR honey can you use a rombus clearing board for 2-3 supers, will they still be warm enough over this board to extract the next day?

yes

 

[Gilberdyke John]

I once asked Murray MacGregor about clearing supers when he mentioned fume boards. He told me it works just fine. If it's ok for someone on his scale I'm not inclined to argue.

 

[Curly green fingers]

Quick blast with a leaf blower will clear most of the bees... then stick the open filled supers on the Defenders roof rack and drive home.... any bees left will be blown away... and bees will not keep up if you can get to 35mph!!! Useful if you can get some help loading the supers on and off at each end.... straight into the extraction facility especially with OSR!
Thats what I does... can not be messing with poncy hair spray and costly clearing sprays!

Chons da

Sounds like a comedy sketch with music in the back ground double time.
Op I use rhombus clearer boards tried brushing bee's it's ok if there a smallish colony but don't bother if there a double brood what a stink .