# Bushkill vac questions?



## Beehaive (Apr 22, 2012)

I am doing my first cutout this weekend with a Bushkill beevac an was wondering if people put all the frames into the supers while vacuuming the bees or maybe take a few out or maybe none at all?
Another question is the corregated hose, I know many people suggest to use a smooth hose, does the regular hose work alright as long as you be mindful of the the pressure, the smooth hoses I have seen are very stiff. Any tips or suggestions are greatly welcomed.


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## My-smokepole (Apr 14, 2008)

I leave it full of frames. I never had a problem with rib hose. One thing I have done to my vac is to run some weather strip around the two halves of the boxes. To incurse the vacum pressure. 
David.


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## ken rice (Apr 28, 2010)

Another suggestion, Start with suction regulator all th way open. Adjust to just enough to lift bees into hose. This will keep you from killing a lot of bees with too much pressure. Take your time and don't try to rush to the end.


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## D Semple (Jun 18, 2010)

My experience is that frames do indeed cause the bees to get all balled up right at the bottom, causing your hose to get clogged at the the low pressures. For cutouts I put an empty medium box on the bottom underneath a box with frames to prevent this. Just remember to pull the empty box off the bottom within 3 days. 

I don't vacuum swarms as a rule, but if you do use your Bushkill vac for that either skip the empty box on the bottom entirely, or use nothing but an empty box and then shake the bees out into a regular hive SOON just like you would if you had collected the swarm in a carboard box.

As far as the hose goes, wide and smooth interior helps a bunch. You also want to try and prevent sharp bends from forming in the hose while vacuuming. I use the 2 1/4" shop vac hose, a lot of removers like the 1 1/2" pool hose. Biggest thing is to avoid vacuuming honey/nectar or bees sticky with honey.

Don


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## D Semple (Jun 18, 2010)

Beehaive said:


> I am doing my first cutout this weekend


I hope for the bees sake your removal is in Florida.


Don


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## shannonswyatt (May 7, 2012)

D Semple said:


> I hope for the bees sake your removal is in Florida.
> 
> 
> Don


I was thinking the same thing. It says that Beehaive is in Newport News. If the cutout is in Virginia you can pretty much kiss that hive goodbye.


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