# Vaccumed Bees covered in Honey



## odfrank (May 13, 2002)

Possibly it was not honey but bee guts turned inside out by using to much suction, which is the main cause of bee death by amateurs doing cutouts. If you hear the bees going down the hose you are killing them.

Use a Bushkill vac in which the bees are not dumped into a pile in the bottom of a bucket. With a Bushkill vac the bees can crawl up onto combs and groom each other.

Never believe a cutout client. The bees have NEVER been there more than two weeks.


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## aunt betty (May 4, 2015)

Lets see pics of your bee vac please. Might be able to offer suggestions. Mine is home-made and uses 5-gallon buckets too. 
Which shop vac you use is important. The stanley one that is 1 gallon with 1.5 horsepower is great. 1.25 horsepower would be better but so far I have not found one.


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## Jason A (Mar 28, 2016)

Actually I had a suction modulator. I adjusted it so that it was very weak and I couldn't hear or feel the bees going through hose. I was watching the Bushkill beeVac video and the narrator even talked about a big ball of bees covered in honey.


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## jaked007 (Apr 16, 2014)

We were loosing bees like that. What we found is that if you use smoke on them they gorge themselves with honey and the Texas heat and humidity makes them disgorge the honey. We now never use smoke on a cutout and have almost no dead bees.


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## tanksbees (Jun 16, 2014)

I recently killed a swarm that way with the bushkill using too much suction - if you use a smaller nozzle you need to open the window up further. I set it to the setting I always do but added a smaller diameter extension and it was enough to kill a lot of bees.


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## Harley Craig (Sep 18, 2012)

I bet it was heat, did you shut your vac off without giving them ventilation? Killed a bunch on my first cutout doing that.


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## Mr.Beeman (May 19, 2012)

My guess is that you smoked the bees then vacuumed them. I did this once on a real mean hive. Same result. 
Now, no smoke.


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## SouthTexasJohn (Mar 16, 2015)

odfrank said:


> Never believe a cutout client. The bees have NEVER been there more than two weeks.


BINGO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## G3farms (Jun 13, 2009)

You also have to be careful not to vac out the very thin nectar from the comb, it will cover the bees also and kill them.

I second the choice on the bushkill (robo style) bee vac.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=922gkjV3iqA


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## Bobcat57 (Jun 25, 2014)

NO smoke if you use a vacuum, been there & done that !!


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## marshmasterpat (Jun 26, 2013)

Heat will do it, sadly did that on my first two. I now have 3 buckets with vents on the sides. Use one, swap out and let those cool off in the bucket, sometimes spray them with water mist through the screens. I just tape up the vent holes when I use the bucket.


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## Riverderwent (May 23, 2013)

You have heard from some serious cutout experts in this thread. No smoke; avoid vacuuming nectar; gentle vac pressure; frames with foundation in the vac; plenty of room in the vac; and shade and ventilation as soon as the vacuum is turned off. You can use a router controller from HarborFreight to moderate the vacuum pressure.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

When bees get hot they regurgitate all the honey in their stomachs. That's why I don't use a vacuum anymore...


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## odfrank (May 13, 2002)

In a Bushkill vac bees do not get overheated. They crawl up on to combs and are ventilated by the gentle draft of the vacuum. Upon completion the top of their box is 100% open screen. Bees live on combs, not piled up in the bottom of buckets.


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## sakhoney (Apr 3, 2016)

I used a vacuum 1 time - and it wasn't honey they were covered in - oh the smell


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## Riverderwent (May 23, 2013)

sakhoney said:


> I used a vacuum 1 time - and it wasn't honey they were covered in - oh the smell


What type of bee vac did you use?


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## Harley Craig (Sep 18, 2012)

Michael Bush said:


> When bees get hot they regurgitate all the honey in their stomachs. That's why I don't use a vacuum anymore...


That's kinda like burning your house down to kill a spider isn't it? If you operate a well designed vac properly the bees won't get too hot. as long as I don't screw up and leave a crevice tool stored inside my hose ( this happened once and wasn't pretty on the bees) I very seldom find more than 5-10 dead bees in the vac and I suspect those got crushed or damaged by rolling them with the hose on the comb when I'm not being careful


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## sakhoney (Apr 3, 2016)

Shop vac - 10 gallon


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## Harley Craig (Sep 18, 2012)

sakhoney said:


> Shop vac - 10 gallon


just a straight shop vac? no catch box?


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