# Hot room bee window



## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

How do you guys manage bees on your hot room window? besides brushing them,


----------



## Markt (Feb 8, 2012)

I don't have one in my hot room but would soap and water in a windex bottle do the trick?


----------



## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

I'm looking for some innovative ways of clearing the bees from the hot room, as the honey comes in so do a few bees. They will nicely leave the honey supers and drift towards the windows. I'm looking for ideas on making some kind of bee escape to self clear the bees


----------



## BMAC (Jun 23, 2009)

What about placing a piece of garden hose in a corner that to the outside with a bee escape cone attached to the outside end. That way you dont lose too much heat?


----------



## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

I use bee escapes now but they are slow and have their problems


----------



## Beeslave (Feb 6, 2009)

Take a squirrel cage style blower. On the output side build a screened catch box. At the air entrance side place a bright light bulb. During the night time hours the bees will fly to the light, the blower will suck them in and spit the bee pieces out into the catch cage. I would cover the window in the hot room and let the "bee remover device" work 24/7. 

A shop vac also works well to suck the bees off the window.


----------



## Chip Euliss (Sep 2, 2010)

I don't process my own honey but I do "stockpile" it in a building to hold it until I finish pulling the crop and transport it to a colleague who spins and barrels it for me. I got busy this year and didn't do it but, in the past, I've started a small nuc with a new queen and placed it just on the outside and at the top of the window; I braced it up high with a little wood screwed into the building but a scaffolding would work. My windows open from bottom or top, so I just crack the top of the window; the bees from inside go into the nuc and build a strong single. I keep an eye on how many bees are in the new hive and replace them with a new nuc as needed.


----------



## BMAC (Jun 23, 2009)

Beeslave said:


> Take a squirrel cage style blower. On the output side build a screened catch box. At the air entrance side place a bright light bulb. During the night time hours the bees will fly to the light, the blower will suck them in and spit the bee pieces out into the catch cage. I would cover the window in the hot room and let the "bee remover device" work 24/7.
> 
> A shop vac also works well to suck the bees off the window.


If the idea is to kill them then why not put a mosquito zapper in there and a trash can under it?

Thats what I am doing in my honey house this year. I could care less about the hot room as I am using an external 20 foot reefer box for that. No windows.


----------



## RAK (May 2, 2010)

I use a bee vac. I would imagine bee escapes are better at clearing bees with these cold nights.So far I have been blowing bees but by the time the box hits the the truck robber bees and yellow jackets are in.


----------



## danno (Dec 17, 2007)

I have a large mosquito zapper and it works great on yellow jackets. Nine out of ten killed by are yellow jackets. For the bee's I vac them into a hive body fitted with a top suction cover and a bottom with a vac hose. Morning are the best time to vac because they will cluster in the upper corners of the widows. After a couple of days I haull the whole vac out to a yard, remove the top and bottom and put the hive body on a weak colony.


----------



## Roland (Dec 14, 2008)

There are industrial bee zappers, off the top of my head, Flyintrol was the name of the ones we have used since the 60's.

crazy Roland


----------



## tarheit (Mar 26, 2003)

I've got 2 lights in my hot room. One 4' 2 bulb totally enclosed (wet location fixture to keep the bees out of it) that is used when we need to see well, and a second with a standard screw in bulb with the glass jar style cover. I'm using a CFL in it and it get left on all the time when supers are moved in the room. (It's something like this picture: http://www.uwex.edu/energy/images/jellyjarCFL.jpg)

I fitted a jar shaped screen (#8 hardware cloth) into the top hole of a 3lb package bee cage, added several sundance bee escapes to the screen on the sides of the cage, and then the cage fits over the light. I also added a hinged door to the side of the cage. The light attracts most of the bees in the room into the cage and I simply take it down and shake it out.

My hot room isn't on an exterior wall so I can't do a window with natural light or a bee escape outside (not that visitors would appreciate the extra bees hanging around at the front of the building where they park anyways). The light and cage works pretty well though and doesn't have issues with cool nights. Of course I'm also not harvesting thousands of hives so I don't need anything too big.


----------



## odfrank (May 13, 2002)

Sorry about the poor picture. Mesh bee escapes work well. I see drill bits for glass for sale. Mine are on a screen with the window opening behind them. The metal bee escapes and red cones do not work. This is thiry years of window bee escape evolution in my extracting room. The wood strip funnels work pretty well.


----------



## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

The escapes I use do not work during the robbing season as the bees for some reason know how to use both sides of it, unlike when using it inside the hive.


----------



## The Honey Householder (Nov 14, 2008)

I have a blower setup by the window and in the morning I open the window and turn it on. The bees land out on the hives out side the window and are back to work that day. That way the window is only opened for a min. and it doesn't run my AC/heat bill up.opcorn:


----------



## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

sometimes the simplest methods are best


----------



## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Have an unheated room to store newly gathered supers in. One w/out a window, but w/ a bee escape. Then move stacks of supers to the hot room the night before extracting. Most of the bees will be out of the supers.


----------



## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

I have a 50' by 45' hot room with three windows. The bees clear nicely in a day or so to where I have no bees in my boxes. The only problem is the bees gather on the windows, to where I brush them off every morning. Bees that gather on windows make a mess, I am building a window unit that will instantly clear the bees outside and collect them either in an empty super to take away or drift into a near by hive. 

The easy part is getting the bees to the window, and gathering them as they move up the window. The part that I need to figure on is how to channel them outside without allowing inside access to robber bees. I want to make a self cleaning bee window. It will save alot of messy clean up at the end of the year

love the ideas and chit chat, keep the ideas coming


----------



## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

You run that many hives to fill a room that size? I had no idea.

Why don't you block off the windows, drill a hole in the side of your building and attatch a screen come to the outside of the wall w/ a hive right next to it so the escaping bees have somewhere to go to live. That little bit of light will be all the bees need to be attracted to the escape, especially if it is on the south side of the bldg.

Or you could just vacuum them off the window every morning. Into a shop vac or bee vac.


----------



## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

I have 1000 supers waiting to be extracted at all times throughout the summer production year. The room also doubles as my wintering room during the winter. In the fall when I pull the last of the honey, I pull all the last honey all off at once so that I can quickly get my feed out. Then extract after I have my hive work caught up. 

I like having the three window system, it clears the bees like a magnet as compared to a room with little light. I do the morning sweeping, shop vac thing. It works, but its a job that gets pushed aside during busy times, and window bees make a mess. 

The problem I have with the escape method is robbing bees. They can figure out the screen. Also wasps, they will actually maneuver the escape inside and out.


----------



## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

Im thinking of building a bee vac, as the shop vac is a real bruiser on the bees. Any suggestions that would improve most of what I find on the web?


----------



## Roland (Dec 14, 2008)

Have you tried the old fashioned tin bee escapes, with the two metal flat springs inside? We have one window, cracked open a few inches, with an old bee escape sewn in the top of the screen. A frame hung outside the window seems to attract those that make it out, and can be used to stock nucs. 

Crazy Roland


----------



## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

where might a guy find those old tin bee escapes? I remember running into one 15 years back as I was getting into this business and buying up some old beekeepers misc equipment from around in the area. First time I actually seen a bee escape board, did not work very well at all. The new design is much more efficient.


----------



## Z-B (Jun 4, 2013)

Not sure if this is what you are asking for but it has worked for me twice, unfortunately i left the door open twice. so after extracting honey for a friend I roll up the big door to load out his 10 supers. go inside to grab something and wife tells me that lunch is ready. So with my expert ADD skills i think yummy! go outside 40min later to a couple thousand bees in shop on the open extractor and cappings. Suited up and tried blower and other methods. finally just shut the door then all the bees went for the lights turned them off and they went to the window. So now i know they were going for the light. Took plywood in this case and covered the window from outside. cracked the man door about 1/2" and in 30 min the bees were gone. 

Second time one of the kids left a door open but same solution worked. Maybe have something to cover up the light from windows on the outside. Blacken out the hot room and crack a window or door to show the way out. 
Later when I was in my shop with it all blacked out i thought it must look like a hive with the only light shining from the entrance.


----------



## Bill Russell (Aug 12, 2006)

I've messed with all the above. I just let the bees collect on the window until there's a big enough cluster to bother with. I then soak them down with garden hose. Brush them into plastic corrugated box(waterproof, actually an old single colony winter hive rap). Dump them in front of hive or make up new hive with caged queen and feeder. Only takes a couple of minutes and can do it wearing shorts if careful.


----------



## mgolden (Oct 26, 2011)

This is Bee VAc I just finished but haven't used yet.















Essentilly a super with ??4 frames installed and two outer covers, sized to super dimensions. Can vary the air flow bt rotating sliding plexiglass on front top opening. Hole is large enough to install a feeder jar. Need tape on seams to get enough suction.

Allows one some time to let bees settle in(screen in inlet central vac hose opening) and should be easy transfer to bottom board and top covers or whatever you desire.


----------



## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

That's awesome, thanks for those pictures! That is the perfect design. Is your hose corrugated inside or smooth?


----------



## mgolden (Oct 26, 2011)

The inlet hose is from the house central vacuum. It is fairly smooth on the inside. 

On the look out for a coupler to fit the hose end and then add ??20ft of central vac pvc piping. The coupling needs to be smooth as a sharp edge is really hard on the bees. May be able to duct tape together a piece of long narrow plastic funnel to transition from pvc pipe to central vacuum hose.

Had a 2012 experience of a swarm about 40 ft in a spruce tree!?!?!?!?


----------



## odfrank (May 13, 2002)

I use the 2 1/2" Ridgid Shop vac hoses from home depot and they are smooth enough to not damage bees. The extension pipes are handy to couple together for high up swarms. I did two this year with about five extensions and two hoses standing on a ladder. Tough on the neck and arms for a weakling like me but they got the swarms. I am now using the Bushkill top and bottom for even shaked swarms. Then I can vac up the stragglers easily.


----------



## Roland (Dec 14, 2008)

Ian, I quickly looked around the shop today, and did not find any metal queen escapes. Kelly has plastic ones, don't know how they are made. I will continue to look. Have not used them since the 60's.

Crazy Roland


----------



## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

did they work for you very well?


----------



## odfrank (May 13, 2002)

The only bee escape that I found works in my extracting room are the mesh cones.


----------



## Roland (Dec 14, 2008)

The metal bee escape sewn in the window screen seems to work. If I had to do it again, it is what I would use. I noticed that a pattern of small holes was drilled in the upper metal to make a "bright" spot at the beginning of the spring cone. I will have to ask the Bull of the Woods if he has some hidden somewhere.

Crazy Roland


----------



## Waterbird17 (Apr 30, 2012)

we turn the lights off and plug in 2 heavy duty hot flood lights, kills all the bees when they go to it


----------

