# Clearing Supers of Bees



## wishthecuttlefish (Jun 24, 2003)

Whether using a professional bee blower, or a leaf blower, what is the process for blowing the bees out of a super? Do you simply set the super on it's side and let them have it? Or is it more complicated than that?

As far as leaf blowers go, I bought one recommended by Consumer Reports for $79.00 this past fall. It also reverses as a leaf vacuum, and has an infinate variable speed dial, not just a couple settings.

Kai


----------



## Oxankle (Jan 8, 2004)

Blowing Bees:

There must be some pros here to tell us how, but all I do is stand the super on its end, preferably on a hive about two feet high. I then blow between each frame with an up and down motion, next across the ends of the bars. This always leaves a few bees hiding in, on or around end bars and the bottom side of top bars, so I turn the super around and blow from the bottom for just a second or so, spin it again and finish the job. The bees do not even get excited--to them it is just bad weather. They pick themselve up and fly back to the hive. 

I am sure that there is someone out there who can tell us of other manipulations that can be done with the blower, but I don't know any of them and have not wanted to experiment with the few hives I have. 
Ox


----------



## Oxankle (Jan 8, 2004)

Blowing Bees:

There must be some pros here to tell us how, but all I do is stand the super on its end, preferably on a hive about two feet high. I then blow between each frame with an up and down motion, next across the ends of the bars. This always leaves a few bees hiding in, on or around end bars and the bottom side of top bars, so I turn the super around and blow from the bottom for just a second or so, spin it again and finish the job. The bees do not even get excited--to them it is just bad weather. They pick themselve up and fly back to the hive. 

I am sure that there is someone out there who can tell us of other manipulations that can be done with the blower, but I don't know any of them and have not wanted to experiment with the few hives I have. 
Ox


----------



## Oxankle (Jan 8, 2004)

sorry about the double post.
Ox


----------



## odfrank (May 13, 2002)

The only special maniulation I do.... on a very hot day I stick the blower nozzle into my beesuit zipper and get a cool blast of air. I also have over the years made several lazy susans on which to turn the on end super as I blow. The best is made from a stool with a heavy duty bearing. The thin ones from ACE hardware don't stand up to the weight of full supers being dropped on them. I also sometimes use an air compressor gun, but a gas leaf slower with hose and clevis nozzle works better. The blast from the air compressor nozzle is too concentrated and kill bees. Also, try to pull your honey before robbing season starts, less bees flying back in.


----------



## Guest (Feb 17, 2004)

If you wish to use a blower, you want a
high volume of air, but not a high velocity.
This is difficult to get from a blower that
has a small motor (anything under $200.00).

Try spreading a painter's drop cloth
underfoot when you blow bees, and count the
dead bees. That alone halted my interest
in using a blower - too many casualties.
I'm a beeKEEPER, not a bee killer.

I bought a Stihl backback blower to fog my
orchard trees with dormant oil, and I have let several people use this "Rolls Royce 
of the bee blowers" to try to convince me 
that blowing was a viable approach. None
have yet convinced me.

Like nearly all of the big US beekeepers, I
use repellent, and a breeze board or, if it
is a sunny warm day, a fume board. I can
clear at least 3 times as many supers as
someone with a blower in the same time, but
this is because I cheat - I am removing one
super while two (or sometimes 3) breeze/fume
boards are on nearby hives, so the supers
come off just as fast as I can lift them and
stack them on the trailer.

Really big operators pull honey with 2-man
teams, each placing 3 or 4 fume or breeze
boards on hives, and pulling supers as fast
as they can. (Breeze Boards are now available from Brushy Mountain for those who
hate making their own gear - Steve Forest
calls them "Ventilator Fume Boards".)

If you feel that you MUST use a blower,
recall that comb slants downward, and
remember to blow only from the bottom.
Blow from the top, and any bee with its
head in a cell may be decapitated, and
will certainly be unable to back out of
the cell "against the wind".

Also, watch out for those frames that are
not filled and not propolized. They can
become airborne (at least with serious
hardware like a Stihl.) The frames that
are capped will not become airborne, but 
can have a habit of slapping together, and
crushing bees.

All in all, blowers are just too darned
noisy for me. I paid serious money to
live where I can go weeks without hearing
loud obnoxious noises, and I like the
peace and quiet of beekeeping.


----------



## Oxankle (Jan 8, 2004)

LOL, Fischer;
This is where you separate the amateurs from the pros. 

My tinkertoy blower would not decapitate a mosquito if he stuck his head in a box of razor blades, but it will blow bees out of supers. Neither does it dislodge or flap frames, but that is because I do not stick the nozzle directly against the box. 

Being an amateur and not making a living out of bees I don't feel the pressure of time the way a pro does. The blower is faster than anything I have ever used before, not having used fume boards. 

I am going to pay more attention--perhaps do the drop cloth test.

Ox


----------



## db_land (Aug 29, 2003)

Hey Ox,
What keeps the honey combs from being contaminated with gasoline-oil fumes from the leaf blower? I have an Echo backpack leaf blower. Every time I use it, I get grimy from all the smoke and fumes from it.


----------

