Which brush?

[Nannysbees]

Bought four brushes to use when extracting to brush off the bees, the hairs fall out by the dozen, im not sure if it's because they are cheap or just badly made. When I wash them they get worse. Any makes you recommend?

 

[warsaw_hive]

A handful of long grass is my brush.

 

[Garry R]

Used to be a goose wing feather in the distant past.

 

[Nannysbees]

Looking for a brush that doesn't moult

 

[drdrday]

Looking for a brush that doesn't moult

Pretty sure mine just came from STBK and it's never moulted. I know many don't like brushes, but I find it useful for just sweeping the last few bees from frames when I'm extracting.

 

[ericbeaumont]

Looking for a brush

Give up, and use dry cow parsley flower heads, or bracken, or anything but a brush.

Bees don't like hairy things - reminds them of animal intrusion - and get caught up and struggle. If combs are not 100% capped, the brush will soon be sticky and you'll swap it for another, until you run out of brushes.

Nature makes the best brushes: effective, free, and replaced easily.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Any makes you recommend?

none of them - whoever thought that idea up must have been sniffing petrol that day

 

[Curly green finger's]

Who did come up with the idea of using a brush?
The thing is if you have an urbane apiary there isn’t a lot of long grass or grass at all to hand, but like @ericbeaumont said use what ever you can to hand and that’s as good as it gets really

 

[pargyle]

Any long feather seems to do the job - the bees don't seem to mind a feather wafting them along - but I don't think they like the traditional bee brushes much. I still have the one I bought when I started beekeeping - realised very quickly that it didn't really work well and it just sits in my bee box ...

 

[Erichalfbee]

Bought four brushes to use when extracting to brush off the bees, the hairs fall out by the dozen, im not sure if it's because they are cheap or just badly made. When I wash them they get worse. Any makes you recommend?

Large feathers

 

[Nannysbees]

Fab advise will ditch the brush!!!

 

[Gilberdyke John]

none of them - whoever thought that idea up must have been sniffing petrol that day

There's worse things than petrol as a customs man will know.

 

[Superlativesoul]

Used to be a goose wing feather in the distant past.

I still use them, very good to use and the bees do not get caught in them clearing the frames ,pick them up every season round our local lake.
John

 

[Garry R]

I still use them, very good to use and the bees do not get caught in them clearing the frames ,pick them up every season round our local lake.
John

The whole goose or just the feathers!! I guess you grow a lot of sage and onions in the garden?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I still use them, very good to use and the bees do not get caught in them clearing the frames ,pick them up every season round our local lake.

I used to pick them off with the rifle round my neighbour's pond - not very sporting I know but they were making a heck of a mess of the pond and the surrounding grassland. Didn't make good eating though - it was like trying to carve a strip of car tyre.

 

[Superlativesoul]

I used to pick them off with the rifle round my neighbour's pond - not very sporting I know but they were making a heck of a mess of the pond and the surrounding grassland. Didn't make good eating though - it was like trying to carve a strip of car tyre.

I will bear that in mind ,wondered if they tasted nice .Cannot believe the size of quano they deposit like a small dog ,whether it's good fertiliser for the ground i do not know ,but in the old days they sent sailing ships to collect it off the cliffs .
John

 

[Garry R]

Geese defy the laws of conservation of matter - they crap more than they eat. A friend once told me that his attempt to fence them in was defeated by the entire flock crapping in one corner of the enclosure and when the pile was high enough they just walked out!!

 

[enrico]

45 year old brush from thornes still going strong. Never ever had a problem with it and bees don't mind me using it

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

.Cannot believe the size of quano they deposit like a small dog ,whether it's good fertiliser for the ground i do not know

a lot of it just sours the grazing.
Seeing the mention of Guano reminds me of years ago, being berthed on the events pontoon at Brixham which was a favourite roosting spot for shitehawks gulls and cormorants so the whole pontoon was deep in slippery smelly caca. The number 1, watching us set off for the pub decided to shout out from the wheelhouse to make us aware. Good old scouse, mindful of the delicate sensibilities of neighbouring WAFI's decided to use a posh word and shouted.
" careful boys, mind you don't slip - the pontoon is covered in iguana shite!"

 

[Midget Gem]

A handful of long grass held together by an elastic band so less moulting and so that I can find it after I've put it down in the rest of the long grass