# My First Cut-Out: Lessons Learned



## bibbster (Jun 10, 2016)

So what did I learn? 

While I did receive half a dozen stings to my hands and one to my leg, it was lots of fun.
Use a bee vac if you can.
Take the family, they'll have more fun than they think.
The next cut-out will most likely not bee this easy.


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## Wetsu151 (Apr 20, 2016)

That looks like fun, you will like that bee vac, I made one and its soooooooo nice
Cool you got the family to help


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## bibbster (Jun 10, 2016)

Thanks, Wetsu151, it was lots of fun, stings and all.

A quick test with the vac at one of my hives proved successful, but today will be the 'proof is in the pudding' test day. We'll see how it goes. More pics on the way soon!


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## Riverderwent (May 23, 2013)

bibbster said:


> Thanks, Wetsu151, it was lots of fun, stings and all.
> 
> A quick test with the vac at one of my hives proved successful, but today will be the 'proof is in the pudding' test day. We'll see how it goes. More pics on the way soon!


I would keep the vacuum very gentle; don't use smoke when you're vacuuming. Don't let the bees get hot in the box.


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## bibbster (Jun 10, 2016)

David, thank you for the tips. I'm making a checklist and I'll add those to it. I have a terrible memory and when I'm in the thick of things seem to forget everything that I know.

In my testing I sucked up a few bees with no ill effects and have three holes in the cover of my vac to help regulate suction, but I'll definitely monitor it during the process. I hate roller coasters and I'm sure the bees aren't big fans of wild rides either.

I've learned that smoke just makes bees take flight more than anything else. Bees in the air equals bees that can land on me and sting me. As far as I'm concerned, I think I am done with smoking them at all except to clear them from comb or get them out of the way of the lid or something.

I'll post pics of my vac later, but with the way it is made, I can open up vent/suction control holes in the top and the outlet to the vacuum serves as ventilation as well. That coupled with being in the shade should help.


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## Mr.Beeman (May 19, 2012)

Sounds like you have things started in the right direction. Smoke only as a last resort. Smoked bees will gorge themselves on honey and puke it back up on themselves on the ride home. Most often this does them in. Don't ask......

Check out my youtube vid on my beevac design. It works quite well for different situations. 

HONEY B GUYS


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## bibbster (Jun 10, 2016)

Mr. Beeman, thanks for the information. I'll definitely check out your video. After using my vac in a real bee situation, there are a couple things I need to improve/change, but it did work well enough for a first go.

Well, it went pretty well. The pictures tell the story of what I found when I arrived yesterday afternoon. The picture I don't have is when I got home and transferred the two mediums on that inverted run down top to a bottom board. Upon sliding the hive off the 'bottom' onto a bottom board, SHB larvae by the hundreds. Ugh. That is what took out one of my TBH recently. I surely did NOT need that. My hope was to combine these with my other hive that is low in numbers. I'll let them settle in for a few days and go from there.

At any rate, there was a good 3+ lbs of bees in the vac catch box (I meant to weigh it for an exact amount but forgot in all of the excitement), and then probably a pound or so in the hive. I put a queen excluder between the screened bottom board and the bottom most medium to keep the queen around. Hopefully they will chase all the larvae that I didn't kill to the bottom screened board. We'll see what happens I guess.

Overall, a fun process. The vac worked well and I didn't see any dead bees in the catch box so I'd say it was a successful removal.


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