# Fischer's Bee Quick



## Michael Palmer

*Re: Fischers honey be gone or bee be gone or somesuch*

Fischer's Bee Quick? Didn't work for me.


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## Max Morgan

*Re: Fischers honey be gone or bee be gone or somesuch*

I've been using Fisher's Bee Quick for bee removals/cutouts and absolutely love it. Unfortunately, it is very expensive to use. Although I haven't used it, I notice that Honey-B- Gone is about $25/gallon cheaper. Have any of you out there used it for removals or cutouts? If so, what are your impressions?


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## b2bnz

*Re: Fischers honey be gone or bee be gone or somesuch*

I use Fishers Bee Quick and have found it excellent. I get the best results when I use both the fume board and a little bit of the smoker to drive them out of the honey super. The only time that it has been a bit slow is when you have brood in the honey super as well. The bees will not leave the brood unless you physically brush them off. Bur if it is a brood free, honey only super it works a treat.


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## AstroBee

*Re: Fischers honey be gone or bee be gone or somesuch*

Tried Fischer's Bee Quick for the first time this past Spring and it worked fantastic. Very quick (about 2 to 3 minutes) and nearly complete abandonment. Highly recommend the product. I used the fume boards currently sold by Mann Lake.


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## winevines

*Re: Fischers honey be gone or bee be gone or somesuch*



Michael Palmer said:


> Fischer's Bee Quick? Didn't work for me.


I can see why it might not work so well after years of loving this method. Also possibly an economy of scale issue. Works great with a few colonies and when the sun is out- not so well when it is cloudy or the mornings are cool as it was much of this summer or if it is drizzling or you have 20 plus colonies to clear..... We used it supplemented with a blower this year. May try the wretched bee go next.


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## deknow

*Re: Fischers honey be gone or bee be gone or somesuch*

Given that the contents of the bottle are proprietary (you don't know what is in it), burning it in a smoker to harvest honey seems reckless at best. What are you burning and what are the metabolites of doing so?



b2bnz said:


> I use Fishers Bee Quick and have found it excellent. I get the best results when I use both the fume board and a little bit of the smoker to drive them out of the honey super. The only time that it has been a bit slow is when you have brood in the honey super as well. The bees will not leave the brood unless you physically brush them off. Bur if it is a brood free, honey only super it works a treat.


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## deknow

*Re: Fischers honey be gone or bee be gone or somesuch*

Considering who makes the stuff, it might work better if you add a $30 ****tail to what comes in the bottle...and threaten to sue the bees if they don't do what you want.

Deknow


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## Intheswamp

*Re: Fischers honey be gone or bee be gone or somesuch*

I'm wondering if it has something to do with the shelf life of Bee Quick. Three years ago was my first honey harvest. As a newbie I wanted something that didn't stink being as I'd read so many comments of the wonderful aroma of some of the other bee moving concoctions.

When I used it that first time I was thoroughly impressed. I have a wood-rimmed fume board with a sheet metal surface on top, painting flat black and with felt attached on the bottom side. As soon as I put my fume board on top of the hive the bees made a roar that reached a crescendo and subsided in the span of maybe 15-20 seconds. Leaving the board on for the time stated on the label there were maybe a half dozen bees in the top super when I removed it. The next super down was almost empty of bees, but not quiet. The lower supers were easily cleared by setting the fume board on top without without adding more BQ.

The following year the bottle of BQ worked well again, though I recall the "roar" wasn't as pronounced on my hives.

This year was very questionable in the effectiveness of my bottle of BQ. I used it on more hives that in previous harvests and I don't believe I heard a single hive "roar". Though I could tell many had moved off of the combs, there were still lots of bees left in the supers that required the smoker and a brush to finish moving the bees off the combs.

I'm beginning to think that there is an organic ingredient that has gradually degraded. I'm at eight colonies right now and from three harvests I've only used about half a bottle of an 8oz bottle over these three harvests so the cost-factor for me isn't really an issue if you average it out. But...if the product degrades in a year or two then I'll have to consider other options of either using a different product, go the almond extract, or simply by a new batch of BQ each year or at least every other year. The problem with buying more BQ, though, and if it is a shelf-life issue, is that how do you know the bottle you buy hasn't already been sitting on the shelf a year or two. inch:

bevy's honeybees, I may just try your recipe next year!

Best wishes,
Ed


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## waynesgarden

*Re: Fischers honey be gone or bee be gone or somesuch*



deknow said:


> ....burning it in a smoker to harvest honey seems reckless at best.


Dean, I read the post as meaning he used it on the fume board and also used a smoker (assuming with normal burning materials.) Maybe I'm wrong?




deknow said:


> ....Considering who makes the stuff, it might work better if you add a $30 ****tail to what comes in the bottle...and threaten to sue the bees...


I'm guessing there's some funny history here that I'm unaware of.

I used it in the past and it was a bit slow motivating the bees to leave. I used the last of a 2 year old bottle a few weeks ago on a few hives and it seemed to still be effective, though again, it took a little time. I didn't record the temps but it likely wasn't over 80 F. I used it in a home made fume board ( Piece of flannel sheet stapled to 2" shim with a metal cover painted black.) There was a bit of residual odor for a while in the supers after pulling and since I was going to be extracting in the kitchen in a few days, I was happy with the acceptable odor which dissipated in a day or so.

Wayne.


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## TWall

*Re: Fischers honey be gone or bee be gone or somesuch*

I have found it needs to be warm to hot weather and sunny to be effective. Warm and cloudy is much leff effective. Any brood in the super less effective yet.

This winter I am going to build a couple 'wind boxes' to see if it will increase the effectiveness. It is basically a small super with a top nailed to it. In the center of the top is a 4 inch pvc elbow. In the center of the box is a lightweight fabric that you can spray the bee-quick, or other product onto. The box is painted black. The elbow can be turned into the wind so it blows the fumes down.

Jim Lyon posted pictures in another thread, I don't remembe which one.

Tom


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## Vance G

*Re: Fischers honey be gone or bee be gone or somesuch*

I used the stuff on a mid ninety day with no wind and a bright sun. I put it on a proven fume pad and laid it on the hive and NOTHING much happened. Used Bee GO which admittedly needs stored in an outbuilding, the next day and bees came boiling out the bottom entrance. I do not want to pour bee go on my clothing or use so much that it drips in the honey but it is clearly an effective product while the fischers whatever does not work on a good day. If you want to slowly and gently remove the bees put on bee excluders and wait a few days.


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## AstroBee

*Re: Fischers honey be gone or bee be gone or somesuch*



Intheswamp said:


> I'm wondering if it has something to do with the shelf life of Bee Quick.
> Ed


Ed,

You may be on to something. I recall old discussions with Jim Fischer where he mentioned that BQ had a highly volatile ingredient. Perhaps this ingredient isn't fully contained in the provided container and over time slowly escapes. The bottle I used this spring was brand new. I used it on two separate occasions, the first was good and hot, close to 90. The second was much milder at about 78 and not too sunny. The product worked exceptionally well in both situations.


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## sqkcrk

*Re: Fischers honey be gone or bee be gone or somesuch*



deknow said:


> Considering who makes the stuff, it might work better if you add a $30 ****tail to what comes in the bottle...and threaten to sue the bees if they don't do what you want.
> 
> Deknow


And this didn't get Deleted? Huh.


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## deknow

*Re: Fischers honey be gone or bee be gone or somesuch*

To paraphrase Roger Rabbit:
'Because it was funny.'


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## sqkcrk

*Re: Fischers honey be gone or bee be gone or somesuch*

Oh. Do you suppose James Fischer thinks so?


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## deknow

*Re: Fischers honey be gone or bee be gone or somesuch*

Mark, Jim writes extensively about fancy drinks at fancy bars, has threatened to sue me, my publisher, the organic list, bee-l, and I expect some of the other well known lists/forums. He has lied blatantly and publicly time and time again regarding me and many other members of beesource.

If someone from a company being rude on the phone is relevant to the product (it is), then the inexplicably toxic actions of the person with their name on the bottle are certainly relevant. I was being funny about it to keep myself and others amused. Honestly, the subject doesn't deserve the time it would take to lay out the very well documented history (like the archives of the organic list that were deleted under threat of legal action from Jim......he demanded that his own, unedited posts and replies to them and any mention of his name be deleted from the archives). Nothing like a scientist with a mission to revise history.


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## AstroBee

*Re: Fischers honey be gone or bee be gone or somesuch*

...and none of post 17 is relevant to the focus of this thread. Sounds more like dirty laundry to me.


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## AstroBee

*Re: Fischers honey be gone or bee be gone or somesuch*

I used BQ again yesterday. I pulled 9 boxes using the same product that I bought earlier in the season. It worked perfectly. This time I'd say about 1 minute and the bees were out. It was close to 90F and mostly sunny.


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## Intheswamp

*Re: Fischers honey be gone or bee be gone or somesuch*

Tends to make me think it is definitely a shelf-life to BQ. It would be nice if the bottles had a date code on them. What you experienced is what I experienced three years ago with my bottle. This year when I placed the fume board on the first hive I grew concerned when I didn't hear even a faint roar...I was worried that it wasn't going to work. This was in ~90F weather with full sunshine. It did move bees off the comb, but I still had to brush and smoke the supers. I left the fume board on for 5-6 minutes. In the past it would cause some bees to gather on the porch and the front of the hive, which it still did...it just didn't do a really good job of moving the bees off the honey combs. I will be trying something else next year as with my few hives I don't need a lot of whatever I use...

Ed


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## jrhoto

*Re: Fischers honey be gone or bee be gone or somesuch*

It's a great product that works welland smells good,i have used it for years and will continue to use it as long as i beekeep.

poor valley bee farm


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## clyderoad

*Re: Fischers honey be gone or bee be gone or somesuch*

bee quick works for me and it works well. 
I tend to agree that older left over from the previous season bee quick is not as fast acting as a newly purchased bottle, but it's still effective.


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## KQ6AR

*Re: Fischers honey be gone or bee be gone or somesuch*

Been using it about 6 years. You need warm sunny weather for the fume board to gas the product.
Very Happy with the product.


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## Mr.Beeman

*Re: Fischers honey be gone or bee be gone or somesuch*

I also use the FBQ for beekeeping, but for removals only. I found that two bottles is just about what I use in a typical season of removals. For those of you that it didn't work for, send it my way. lol
The reason and the ONLY REASON that I use it is that it smells pleasant to my clients and it works well. It's much more pleasant than the other removal sprays.
Jim.... I need 4 bottles for this coming season.


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## HarryVanderpool

*Re: Fischers honey be gone or bee be gone or somesuch*

One reason people have problems with Bee Quick is that they have faulty fume boards.
I have seen a couple of bee supply houses selling "fume boards" with a glossy white lid!!!!!
Why would you make a lid that needs to absorb sun for heat with a reflective surface??!!!
If you have one of those, get yourself a rattle-can of flat black paint and spray the entire outer surface.
Then let us know how things go....


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## Michael Palmer

*Re: Fischers honey be gone or bee be gone or somesuch*

Yeah, well even with a black fume board, BQ is slow to work. Clears the first super okay, but has difficulties with the rest of the stack...at least in my experience. I suppose using a breeze board as Jim F recommends would help, but I don't want to lug around breeze boards. 8 flat fume boards take up enough space on my truck. I'd rather just use Bee-Go and smell like puke.


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