# bee blower



## arkansasbee (Dec 22, 2003)

What experience have you had with the use of bee blowers to vacate bees from supers? Positive or negative, and why. What hints, techniques, and suggestions apply? What works better?


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## Oxankle (Jan 8, 2004)

Arkie:

I clear my supers with a common yard blower. Until last year I had a little Ryobi, now I have about the same thing made by Poulan. 

I stand the supers on end on a box--anything to get them a foot or so off the ground--then blow them from the top side of the super. I do not aim the blast at the ground, but straight out thru the super, blowing the bees out into the air. Most of the bees will be removed in the first few seconds. Then I go to the bottom side and blow the bees gathered in the corners and in the spaces between the end bars and the box; this takes seconds. Back to the top side and that is generally it. The bees do not get all excited about this and I generally get them all, or all but a half dozen or so. By the way; I do not get right up on the bees--I stand as far back from the super as I can and still get the bees out--in other words, as little force as possible.

Cover the super with something and you are ready for another. 
Ox

[This message has been edited by Oxankle (edited June 09, 2004).]

[This message has been edited by Oxankle (edited June 09, 2004).]


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## Hutch (Nov 24, 2003)

For as long as I can remember, it has been BEE-GO (YUCK) and a brush. This year I have been borrowing my father-in-law's leaf blower. Removing honey supers went from hours to minutes. My different bee yards are surrounded by pasture fields so there is tall grass to aim the bees in. When blowing them out, they don't seem to get upset. Not like the brush made them. I am going to try to convert a vacuum cleaner hose to the blower. This way I can leave the blower on the ground.


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## odfrank (May 13, 2002)

Have used a gas leaf blower with vaccuum hose and clevis nozzle to blow bees from about a ton of honey a year, for over thirty years. I have a sturdy lazy susan made from a drafting stool, top plank has a slot to allow super handle grip to drop into. Blower works great, noisy and obnoxious as hell. Blow all the bees somewhere you won't walk on them.


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## John Seets (Jan 9, 2003)

Another vote here for the electric bee blower. Bought a Toro (rated best in Consumer reports) from Home Depot (~$50). For outyards, an DC->AC converter on the vehicle takes care of the electric.

Does the job fast and the bees do not get POed at all.

I am not comfortable using Bee-Go or any other chemical remover because, though while efficient, it's just introducing another chemical into the hive where foodstuff is being harvested. I DO NOT know for a fact that there there is no residual and there are ALWAYS open cells of honey on frames when removed from the hives for extracting.

Thanx.


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## Guest (Jun 25, 2004)

If you feel that you must use a leaf 
blower on your bees, try blowing some 
bees from a super in a barn with a well-
swept floor, or in the field with some of
those disposable painting tarps spread
around the area where the blowing is being 
done.

The carnage that results from using
a leaf blower on bees is appalling. 
Most people never notice, as the 
grass hides the dead, and the chaos 
caused by the blower makes it hard 
to notice.

And yeah, I've got a very good blower. 
(I use it for spraying in my orchard.)
A Stihl backback unit, with adjustable
velocity and flow volume. We have tried 
a number of different settings in an 
attempt to find a set-up that does NOT 
kill so many house bees.

To each his own, but don't ask me to watch.


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## John Seets (Jan 9, 2003)

Ah. A challenge! I like that. You have talked me into it. Just before I begin the super blow, I will put either some large opaque plastic sheeting or a number of white sheets behind the supers and "take stock of the dead". I plan to start removing supers by the end of the month. I will report back here with the results. I'm guessing that the "carnage" will/would not be as extensive as you are suggesting. 

This should be interesting.

On the chemical note, I was reading in The Beekeepers Handbook that fumigant should not be used on comb honey supers because it adversely affects the flavor of the honey. To me, that translates as a residual chemical in and on the honey in extracted as well. Bad.

Thanx.

[This message has been edited by John Seets (edited July 06, 2004).]


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## bjerm2 (Jun 9, 2004)

I use a shop vac to blow out my bees. Has enough velocity and power. Plus I have access to power. Gee with all the power converters out there and a cigarette lighter you guys should have no problem using an electric shop vac with a narrow opening at the end of the hose.
Dan


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## odfrank (May 13, 2002)

I have never seen a carnage of bees when blowing. I blow onto paving and only see a few dozen after hours of blowing. Not as many as I see when the mites kick in good. How many cows a day die to supply the worldwide supply of hamburgers ?


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## John Seets (Jan 9, 2003)

This post is a followup to my previous post regarding dead bees using a leaf blower and to refute jfischers assertion that extensive bee deaths occur using these blowers.

First let me state that the blower I am using is a Toro. It was rated by Consumer's Reports as one of the best rated producing wind speeds in excess of 200 MPH.

As usual, I blew that bees out of my honey supers this year using the aforementioned blower. To be clear, I blow out the bees from the top bars of the frames toward the bottom bars. Not the other way (from bottom to top as I have seen stated elsewhere). I have to assume that more bee deaths would occur blowing bees from the bottom of the frames towards the top bars. Blowing them in this manner would essentially force the bees from a larger area into a smaller area (as in a funnel) which would result in compacting the bees resulting in more bee deaths during the process. I did not do this.

I placed a 20' x 30' silver tarp in front of the first 84 supers that I blew the bees out of. After that, I got ****** tired of dragging that tarp around and figured that this would be enough for a sample count. 

To further clarify test conditions, the day was ~84 degrees f., no wind and overcast with no rain. The supers that I counted dead bees on the tarp were for supers that had bees on all frames of the super. I did NOT count dead bees blown on to the tarp for supers with bees on LESS THAN 10 frames. Furthermore, I swept the bees up into a dustpan to collect them. When counting them, I counted BOTH thoraxes AND abdomens as separate bees where there were only parts to count.

84 full honey supers yielded a total of 714 dead bees. I feel that this number is well within acceptable limits to NOT qualify as excessive carnage and in line with my thumb-fingered manipulations during the bee blow. 714 / 84 = 8.5 dead bees per super. Not bad.

I also noted that shortly after a super blow, there were knots of disoriented bees on the tarp. However, they flew away shortly thereafter. This may have been what mister fischer saw during his use of a bee blower.

I also noticed that supers that had open cells resulted a longer time to remove the bees from these supers because some portion of the bees would crawl into the open cells making them more difficult to remove. I surmise that this may result in more bee deaths.

In conclusion, it is safe to say that using a bee blower is the best non-chemical way to remove the bees from the honey supers.

Thanx.


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## db_land (Aug 29, 2003)

How about the exhaust fumes from the gas powered leaf blowers - how do you keep it from contaminating the honey? Thanx


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## odfrank (May 13, 2002)

You blow the bees from the end of a hose. The exhaust is far away and aimed away from the supers.


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## loggermike (Jul 23, 2000)

Od,I bought a Homelite leaf blower and they had routed the exhaust into the air output,i guess to keep the noise down in Cal.But it didnt take much to modify it.I wore out an Echo blower that I liked a lot better .I only use the blower to finish off the odd super that bee-go doesnt clean out.
---Mike(post 666 -beware!)

[This message has been edited by loggermike (edited August 11, 2004).]


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

I have also blown out onto a tarp, to look at the dead bees due to my blowing few years back. For the amount of dead bees damaged bees for all the bees I blew was negligable. I have never even concerned the fact again. I am not overly agressive when blowing, but keep things snappy.


Ian


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## Guest (Aug 27, 2004)

> This post is ... to refute jfischers assertion that extensive 
> bee deaths occur using these blowers.

Sorry, but nothing was refuted, as I will point out below.

>...producing wind speeds in excess of 200 MPH.

You don't want air velocity, you want air volume.
If you MUST use a blower, and you are well away from
any neighbors who might be frightened by the cloud of
bees that you will create with a blower, get yourself 
a Stihl backpack blower, so you can adjust both air 
velocity and air volume. Professional lawn and 
tree-care guys use these, and for good reason. They 
are worth every penny, as my orchard will prove.
(I spray dormant oils every spring on my trees)

>It was rated by Consumer's Reports as one of the best 

What John neglected to consider was that Consumer Reports
tested it for what it was designed for, blowing leaves.

> I blow out the bees from the top bars of the frames toward the 
> bottom bars. 

Bees build comb with an upward slant so that nectar does not
drip out. Bees rest in cells "head in", and, if bothered, many
will climb into cells, leaving their rear ends sticking out.
Blowing from the top, especially at 200mph, will prevent these
bees from backing out of the cell, and break these bees in half. 
This is the reason that every bee book I've seen, and most educated 
beekeepers will strongly suggest blowing from the bottom of the super, 
and never the top. John's bees killed in this manner certainly may 
not have ended up on the tarp, as one must recall that half a bee will 
fall much further from the blower than a whole bee. One would expect 
that this would be a major source of yummy bee parts in one's honey. 
as half the bee would still be stuck in the cell.

> Not the other way (from bottom to top as I have seen stated elsewhere). 
> I have to assume that more bee deaths would occur blowing bees from the 
> bottom of the frames towards the top bars. 

Nope, the only reason that you blow from the top may be that your plastic
frames, if not full and not propolized, would tend to fly across the yard 
when blown from the bottom. The good news is that if the bees pay any
attention at all to these frames, they will build bridge comb and propolize 
the heck out of them, as they have neither top bars compatible with most
supers, nor are they compatible in terms of overall height. The best
compromise I could find was to cut down the frame rabbet AND cut the
bottom of a super off to match these frames, but even then, I still had
a mess.









> Blowing them in this manner would essentially force the bees from a larger 
> area into a smaller area (as in a funnel) which would result in compacting 
> the bees resulting in more bee deaths during the process. I did not do this.

This might be the case at 200 MPH. I dunno, and I doubt anyone else has ever
attempted to blow bees with a 200 MPH blower. But the cell-slant problem 
certainly does kill bees.

> I placed a 20' x 30' silver tarp in front of the first 84 supers that I blew 
> the bees out of.

At 200 MPH, one tends to see houses and trees blown more than 30 feet, 
something that one can see on the Weather Channel when they play "Storm
Stories". Bees are very lightweight, and most would be blown much further by
John's blower.

> 84 full honey supers yielded a total of 714 dead bees. 

...that John could see on the tarp. I did my test in a well-swept barn.
I know it would be a pain to clean out a barn just to test a blower, but I'll 
say it again, the carnage is extensive and repulsive. It was abhorrent to the
beekeepers who swept up and weighed/counted the bees.

> I also noted that shortly after a super blow, there were knots of disoriented 
> bees on the tarp. However, they flew away shortly thereafter. This may have 
> been what mister fischer saw during his use of a bee blower.

Nope, when you sweep up dead bees and put them in zip-lock bags and then weigh
the bags on "0.1 gram" scales because you just have too many dead bees to count,
you tend to notice if any of the bees are alive or start to move around.
These bees were well and truly dead.

> I also noticed that supers that had open cells resulted a longer time to remove 
> the bees from these supers because some portion of the bees would crawl into the 
> open cells making them more difficult to remove. I surmise that this may result 
> in more bee deaths.

Moreso when blowing from the top. 

John also said, in a prior post:

> I am not comfortable using Bee-Go 

Who would be?

> or any other chemical remover 

Let's not tar everything with the same brush as Bee-Go.

> because, though while efficient, it's just introducing another chemical into the 
> hive where foodstuff is being harvested. 

Well, Bee-Go and Honey Robber are chemicals that are not food grade, are not
food-safe, and are not even supposed to come anywhere near food for human
consumption. The EPA revoked the "exemption from the requirement for a tolerance"
for this stuff back in 1998.

That's why we invented Bee-Quick. All natural, non-chemical. We will even have
USDA Organic approval (and the big green USDA dot) by next season. The only 
difference between the "Organic" and the "Non-Organic" versions will be mere 
paperwork, but the paperwork and administrivia will be extensive enough that we 
will have to charge more for the Organic version. Using 100% organically-produced 
ingredients is easy, but doing the darned paperwork is not only time-consuming, but 
is also boring as heck.

> I DO NOT know for a fact that there is no residual 

Someone who gets a 200 MPH blower would likely also use too much repellent,
and therefore would create a potential residual problem.









> and there are ALWAYS open cells of honey on frames when removed from the 
> hives for extracting.

Funny how in all the years that the large commercial beekeepers have been using
nothing but repellents and fume boards or breeze boards, no one has ever had
a "residual problem", isn't it?

Maybe the folks that buy the stuff by the 5-gallon pail, gallon jug, and 55-gallon 
drum do some thinking about how to use it properly.


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## Oxankle (Jan 8, 2004)

J. Fischer

I think you done lost this argument in everyone's opinion except your own. 

I have blown bees for several years now and I never find any yummy bee parts in my honey. My experience is that the bees are about like shuttlecocks; they blow out a few feet and stop like a badminton bird. 

I know nothing of your hives, but in mine the bees fill out the comb so that the space at the bottom of the frame is ab out equal to that at the top, so blowing from either direction is about the same. I spin and blow from each direction so that those bees who hide in the frame rests are persuaded to leave. 

True, if there is open comb some bees will snatch a sip before being blown out, but they too leave after a bit. Only when there is brood in the comb do you have true stragglers, and even they are unharmed. 

I agree with the poster who is concerned about the exhaust routing. I don't like the idea of exhaust gases flowing over honey. I still prefer the gas blower if the exhaust is deflected. 
Ox


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## Beemaninsa (Jun 9, 2004)

J. Fischer
I think you done lost this argument in everyone's opinion except your own. 


I have to agree with Mr Fischer. I hope to never use bee go or honey robber again. Both products clear supers effectively but stink and can't be good for the honey. I have used several different leaf blowers. We now have a Kelly blower. I don't buy the argument that blowing bees is near as easy on bees as bee quick, but that is just my view point.


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## Guest (Aug 28, 2004)

> I think you done lost this argument in 
> everyone's opinion except your own. 

I have not changed the opinions of those
who refuse to consider facts, but one can
never change those opinions.

I was also not aware that you were spokesman 
for the entire group.









Thanks, I'll be sure to copy you on future postings.

> I have blown bees for several years now and 
> I never find any yummy bee parts in my honey. 

Then you are not looking in your filter, or
you are lying. No matter how one removes 
supers, one is sure to have a dead bee or two
make it into the extractor. EVERYONE can find
a dead bee part or two in their honey. That
said, you get more with a blower.

> I know nothing of your hives, but in mine the bees 
> fill out the comb so that the space at the bottom 
> of the frame is ab out equal to that at the top, 
> so blowing from either direction is about the same. 

John Seets was the one who spoke of "narrower" versus
"wider", not I. My comb is much like yours - drawn out 
even. I use 9-frame supers to insure that it gets drawn 
out where uncapping is not hampered by top bars.

> True, if there is open comb some bees will snatch a sip 
> before being blown out, but they too leave after a bit. 

Many of these bees are "leaving" into two pieces, which 
is a darned shame.

> I agree with the poster who is concerned about the exhaust 
> routing. 

Me too. If you feel you must use a blower, use one that
blows only air.


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## Alex Cantacuzene (May 29, 2003)

Hi,whatever happened to the use of bee escapes such as the Quebec model? Does it not work or is it too time consuming? I am convinced that the addtitional amount of time for a commercial operation is prohibitive, but what about us hobbiests?


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## magnet-man (Jul 10, 2004)

I use a bee escape boards but I have time and bee tight equipment. After a day I put the suppers on top of a box fan blowing up.


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## odfrank (May 13, 2002)

Escape boards - double lifting. One of my hives has 11 mediums on it.......


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## John Seets (Jan 9, 2003)

Oh, I get it now:

Beekeepers should not use bee blowers to avoid the "alledged" bee carnage.

They should buy YOUR product "Bee-Quick".

Let's see. Things on my list NOT to buy:

There's Bee-Quick.
Then there's Bee-Quick.
And oh yes, there's Bee-Quick.


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## Guest (Sep 6, 2004)

> Oh, I get it now:
> Beekeepers should not use bee blowers to 
> avoid the "alledged" bee carnage.

> They should buy YOUR product "Bee-Quick".
> Let's see. Things on my list NOT to buy:
> There's Bee-Quick.
> Then there's Bee-Quick.
> And oh yes, there's Bee-Quick.

Sorry, John, I only noticed your post today.
I thought that the horse had been beaten
well past death and into a mushy pulp, and
with it, your argument.

"Alledged"? Oh, you meant "alleged",
as in claimed. Wow, I thought we discussed
that calmly before. 

I'm surprised at the vitriolic nature of
the post, given the utter lack of any shred
of fact offered in support of the claim made.
Granted, allegations of this kind are typically 
written out in longhand in crayon over 60 or 70 
densely spaced pages, but I had hoped for at 
least speculation as to how your methodology in
doing an "open field tarp test", if it ever was 
actually ever done, might have somehow avoided 
the specific drawbacks I pointed out.

But I can offer a few points:

1) I don't care what you, or anyone else do.
I have kept bees and mentored beekeepers
long enough to realize that beekeepers are
stubborn and perverse about doing what THEY
think best, moreso in the face of clear and
compelling evidence that their approach is
suboptimal, or doing tangible harm.

2) So, to each his own. They will anyway.









3) I don't care if anyone ever buys Bee-Quick.
I don't get any of the money, the Eastern
Apicultural Society Bee Research Fund gets
all the money.

4) The tenor of the post forces me to ask if
you presently under a Court order forcing you to 
post a Warning notice in your yard, directing you
to attend Anger Management courses, expecting you
to keep a certain distance away from one or more
people, and/or requiring you to find gainful employment.

Heck, if ya woulda been nice, I woulda sent you a few bottles
to try for free. But you have clearly established yourself
as a dedicated harvesting blow hard.









nb: By "blow hard" I mean no insult, I only
attempt to define "200MPH" as overkill for
any use of a blower, which is a fine way
to harvest honey if you are far away from
civilians, and want to work harder than you
otherwise might, do more lifting than you
need to, and subject yourself to excessive
loud noise and exhaust fumes.


[This message has been edited by jfischer (edited September 06, 2004).]


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## John Seets (Jan 9, 2003)

Ref. Item 4:

Oh, I think the one "warning notice" already posted in VA is plenty.


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## Oxankle (Jan 8, 2004)

JFischer;

No bee parts at least this year. I did find one drowned bee in the filter but he flew into the extractor instead of flying to the kitchen window or the patio door. I got into the house with perhaps two dozen bees. 

I have so few hives that my experience would be a miniscule part of any study, but I still believe that a blower is a safe way to remove bees from supers. Just don't hold the blower against their little butts, hold it out a ways. Blow them up into the air, not against a wall or the ground. 

Is it possible that you are blowing a lot of already dead bees out of your supers? When I blow bees out they go out like badminton birds, catch themselves in mid-air a few feet out and fly back to the hive. 

Also, is it possible that the time when you extract can make a difference? I usually extract July 4th or later. Generally not a lot of young bees about. If there were many young non-flying bees in the supers would it be possible that more would be lost?
Oxankle


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## mark williams (Jan 19, 2003)

Sorry just noticed this post today,& didn't tie the name of jfisher until latly,that you are the same that makes Bee-Quick,I remove alot of Bees from house's & that stuff is a life saver to me,we take a smoker without the smoke place a rag in the smoker with Bee-Quick on it.puff it into cracks & places the bees hide run's them out quick.(hard to use smoke inside a customer's house),I also use it to clear honey super's .So Mr.Fisher my hats off to you for making a fine product.also a lot lighter than a bee blower,smell's good too,hehe.>>>>Mark


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## Litsinger (Jun 14, 2018)

Resurrecting an old thread to see if there is a 'best practices' approach to using a leaf blower to clear honey supers? 

Is there an approach that you have found works especially well? Thanks in advance for the input.

Russ


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## Gray Goose (Sep 4, 2018)

battery powered leaf blower.
set the super on edge on something on the ground you get dirt stirred up
blow back toward the hive, after the first one do not walk there they will be on the ground.
be aware of dust and debris.
early morning with few bees in the air works well, later you need to cover fast or robbing starts.
the supers are dripper, with an escape board and put every other super end for end, they clean it up before escaping.

works ok for a 1 trip deal, remote yard.
I prefer the trap boards/escape boards, even with the double lift.

GG


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## Roland (Dec 14, 2008)

As a youth helper to my father in his development of the bee blower, I have the following suggestions:

Most important, build a stand with a chute. Place the super on the stand in front of the hive. the bees get blown out , hit the chute, and fall in a pile in front of the hive. Not blown into the air.

Although a modern leaf blower is functional, the preferred embodiment is 5 hp with 175 MPH . The air stream, when directed at the inside of the forearm, should cause deep ripples, says the 8 yr old boy. It should take 10-15 seconds to get the bees out.

The blower was developed to avoid the chemicals used as bee repealants. Benzaldehyde, which was in use in the 60's, was found to be less than innocuous.

If you had the real McCoy, you would find it far superior to fume boards.

Rader - help me out. I have 2) JPEG files of ABJ pages, 1.6 m, 527K. How do I post them?

Crazy Roland


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## Rader Sidetrack (Nov 30, 2011)

Roland said:


> Rader - help me out. I have 2) JPEG files of ABJ pages, 1.6 m, 527K. How do I post them?


I am not aware that there are any image size limits under the current Xenforo forum software. It internally handles any resizing if needed.

So use the "Insert image" button, (or type "Control P") then follow the prompts.


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## Litsinger (Jun 14, 2018)

Gray Goose said:


> battery powered leaf blower.
> set the super on edge on something on the ground you get dirt stirred up
> blow back toward the hive, after the first one do not walk there they will be on the ground.
> be aware of dust and debris.





Roland said:


> Most important, build a stand with a chute. Place the super on the stand in front of the hive. the bees get blown out , hit the chute, and fall in a pile in front of the hive. Not blown into the air.


Thank you for the feedback, gents. I sincerely appreciate it. Good insight.


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## William Bagwell (Sep 4, 2019)

Another use for a blower is cleaning the dead bees and other debris from in front of hives. Have a few hives in the gutted remains of an old green house. Thin slab with a raised lip catches a lot of trash and have watched undertaker bees hit the lip and give up. Cheapest Black and Decker 110 volt blower I could find. Works great for this, have not tried clearing live bees yet. If you had bumped this thread a few days sooner...

Tip for anyone looking for one. No display model at Home Depot, in a box with the more expensive ones and furthest from the displays. Sneaky of them!


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## Roland (Dec 14, 2008)

Let's see how this works:
















Crazy Roland


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## Litsinger (Jun 14, 2018)

Roland said:


> Let's see how this works:


That is awesome, Roland. Are there any schematics around for the bee stand / chute?


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## Roland (Dec 14, 2008)

No, but I can measure the one we have. Not haed to guess. Add about 2: inches on all sides to a super. That is the width and depth. Make it a comfortable height. Some of use are farther from the ground than others. Mount your engine/fan. build a chute that clears it. The only improvement was to move the throttle from a lever on the side to a foot pedal.

That is the prototype shown. I have the power unit, built using a Wright chain saw engine. Production units where built by Blower Application in Milwaukee and sold by Dadant.

Crazy Roland


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## Rader Sidetrack (Nov 30, 2011)

There is apparently still a Bee Blower sold by Dadant. See:





Bee Maid Honey







www.beemaidbeesupplies.com





Note that Bee Maid is a Canadian vendor. Perhaps that explains why it did not seem to be available at Dadant's own website, although I did not spend a lot of effort trying to figure out _why_.


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## Gino45 (Apr 6, 2012)

Rader Sidetrack said:


> There is apparently still a Bee Blower sold by Dadant. See:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Electric yard eqipment is now very popular. 18 volt or 24v or 40v. These cordless blowers are the way to go due to their light weight and manueverbility. Check it out at the big box store.


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## Roland (Dec 14, 2008)

Anything short of a backpack blower is less than optimal. Is a Yugo a car?, well yes, but you must lower your expectations. 

Crazy Roland


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## Litsinger (Jun 14, 2018)

Roland said:


> No, but I can measure the one we have.


Roland:

I found this link online- does this about cover the gist?



Bee blowers


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## Gino45 (Apr 6, 2012)

Litsinger said:


> Roland:
> 
> I found this link online- does this about cover the gist?
> 
> ...


Good link...Long ago I used a Dadant blower. It was bulky but effective. The noise it made riled up the bees and made them very aggressive. I don't know how they would react now as my bees are much easier to work with than those I had back then. But I will say that using that blower required a full beesuit, gloves, and even a plaid shirt under the suit for protection. Now I use no gloves and don't need the suit.


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## Roland (Dec 14, 2008)

Litzinger - Yes, that shows all of the pieces of the puzzle, but if you look at the image I posted, ours is one complete unit, and much lighter. I can weigh ours, which is steel. An aluminum frame and chute would be even lighter.

As for protection while blowing - same as working bees, veil and bare forearms. Khaki shirt and pants, with pants tucked in the socks. We seldom get stung blowing, only when you grab a bee, and the chute delivers them to the front of the hive, so no agitation.

Crazy Roland


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## William Bagwell (Sep 4, 2019)

William Bagwell said:


> Cheapest Black and Decker 110 volt blower I could find. Works great for this, have not tried clearing live bees yet.


Update: works just fine, even on low. Only complaint is the extension cord coming unplugged.


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## Ray III (3 mo ago)

I have been blowing bees out of supers with compressed air, but it takes a lot of it. A regulator can be used if you think the force is excessive. I stand the super up on a block of firewood in front of the hive that has the least population, in hopes that lost house bees will enter that one. Then I put a stack of supers under cover for a day with a triangle escape on top to let the remaining bees out.

The previously mentioned 8 dead bees per full super of bees seems realistic. I don't like killing bees and would find another way to do it if it was harmful to them. And I have never noticed the ridiculous claim of bees being ripped in half.


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