# bee vac ??



## SunnyBee (Oct 21, 2011)

what size hose do most use, 2 1/2" ? is the shop vac type hose with ribs ok ? has any one made a bucket type vac container with a screen container to catch the bees ?


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## beehonest (Nov 3, 2011)

You will get a lot of opinions on this. I made mine it is a bucket type like the one they sell at brushy. I used the rigid bucket vac from home depot. You have to remove the cage and the ball and trim the cup around the intake that the ball is sucked into. I built my cage from screen for a bottom board conversion. It is a lot cleaner look than the brushy. Smooth hose is better but not a necessity. I worked on vacuums and installed central vacs for about 12 years. I will try to upload some picts if I can figure out how and get the time, I have a 2 year old and a 6 month old need I say more. I am great with wires and mechanics just never realy got into the tech thing.


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## Charlie B (May 20, 2011)

This one from our buddy Rick on this forum works like a charm. Over 30 vacs with hardly any dead bees. All the queens made it as well and are doing fine.

https://plus.google.com/photos/111863660513010434468/albums/5617092227698654225?banner=pwa


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## SteveBee (Jul 15, 2010)

I used a piece of pool hose for the intake. While it's corrugated on the outside, it's smoother on the inside than shop vac hose.

http://honeysunapiary.wordpress.com/tech-tools/bee-vac/


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## Bradlyowen (Apr 24, 2012)

I just built a bee vac and used for my first cut out. I used the same principle as the plans shown on this site but mine goes on your back. My way of thinking was if the bees were to be injured it would be when they were crashing through the hose. With it on my back I was able to make the hose shorter, only 6'. It is sch40 1" flexible hose (it's smooth inside and out). I Initially thought about a bucket but I'm pretty happy with what I made. I put a port on the bottom that you hook to any shop vac. I built a couple of cages so I could swap it out when it got full of bees. The cages have a removable bottom so they're easy to dump in the hive. Their held in the vac with a plexi glass cover so you can see to adjust the vacuum. Here's a few pictures...


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## stevedc (Feb 24, 2012)

hey, i built one based on the bushkill design. put 20 ft. 1" clear tubing on it, sucked up a swarm and had 4 dead bees and a good queen when thru.


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## stevedc (Feb 24, 2012)

http://s1055.photobucket.com/albums/s510/stevedc1/?action=view&current=image3.jpg


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## wildforager (Oct 4, 2011)

I picked up a bushkill vac from Robo. Its one of my best investments!


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## robherc (Mar 17, 2012)

Here's a page I started building on my vac that I designed. It's something like the bushkill in that it can be used as a temp. hive, but I personally think mine's a little gentler on the bees as they are stopping against a loose screen in mine, as opposed to solid wood or plastic. I use a 1.5" "water transfer" hose from TSC on this one, it's smooth inside & out, and comes 20' long; I've done 2 vac-outs where I found no more dead bees in the vac upon release (36hrs later) than with a "control" swarm that I hived in the vac box without sucking them up, then re-hived after the same (36hrs) duration of captivity. A word of caution: I did a third vac-out and suffered 95% losses due to my failing to give them anything to eat while they were captive for about 18hrs....PLEASE don't be as dum as I was that time, bees need food, regardless of where they are; if you don't give them back some of their comb with stored honey, DO NOT neglect the syrup sprayer (big oops)!

Hercules MarkII Bee Vac​


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## Barry (Dec 28, 1999)

Got to use my bushkill bee vac for the first time today. What a sweet design! Worked like a charm.










Used it one this:









When I got home and transfered everything over to a hive, I found about 8 bees dead, and for all I know they could have been injured or dead when I moved the hose end into the cluster against the wood. Very easy to use and very gentle on the bees. Score: 10


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## wildforager (Oct 4, 2011)

Nice work Barry! Looks like you put a good paint job on the vac too.


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## robherc (Mar 17, 2012)

Barry said:


> Got to use my bushkill bee vac for the first time today. <snip> I found about 8 bees dead, and for all I know they could have been injured or dead when I moved the hose end into the cluster against the wood.


Excellent to know, looks like my fears there were completely unfounded. I now stand corrected, and congrats on such a successful cut-out Barry 

Also, as I can't edit my earlier post...
CORRECTION: I used a 1.5" ID hose, NOT a 2.5" hose...mis-typed there, srry.


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## stevedc (Feb 24, 2012)

Great job Barry, I should paint mine. It works great but is heavy. 2x6 cause it was free! I may break down and coughup the money for proper material and build another. I had fun doing it.


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## Cox89XJ (Jun 21, 2011)

I built mine very similar to what Barry has, the bushkill. I used an old Kelly’s plastic bottom board with some modifications. The hose that sucks the bees up is a 1 1/2 inch pool vac hose. Works great.


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## Barry (Dec 28, 1999)

Checked the cutout first time today. Found some day old eggs and then . . .


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## Charlie B (May 20, 2011)

She's a beaut!


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## Intheswamp (Jul 5, 2011)

What Charlie said...she's a nice'un!!!!! 

Ed


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## Kurt S (Jul 20, 2007)

I found a nice sized plastic box and was just planning on using with a shop vac. Cut three strategic holes, screen the end, and be done. It's big enough to hold a pretty big cut-out. 
What's the concept of using the box in a box design? I'm not seeing much of an advantage.

Thanks!


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## robherc (Mar 17, 2012)

I think the main advantage sought with the box-in-box design is airflow decelerization in the inner box by having HUGE sections of screen on the sides of it, thus allowing all of the air to leave it, without needing any high flow speed. This would allow the bees a "softer landing" upon entering the vac box.

The advantages to a design like the bushkill vac, or one like mine, are that you don't have as much solar heating of your bees if you're doing an outdoors cut-out on a warm day, the brood from a cut-out can be spliced into frames, then immediately "given back" to the bees in your vac, and the vac itself can function as a temporary hive (admittedly, with the bushkill vac serving as a slightly more "permanent" hive than my own). Both of these vacs have one-direction airflow (as opposed to the often split-direction airflow in the box-in-box designs), but decelerate the air through the sheer volume and cross-sectional area of the box.

The bucket-vac beevacs' main advantage is in cost & ease of construction. I've seen many different bucket-vac designs, with some of them accomplishing deceleration better than others, and with variously good, or bad, "kill rates." Unfortunately, like box-in-box designs, no bucket-vac I've seen can function as any form of hive, nor can they accommodate brood comb. That said, they can be very inexpensive and easy to build, light, and easy to keep a "reload" empty bucket available for really huge cut-outs.


I'm sure there is plenty that I missed in that brief summation, but I hope it "touched all the bases" and proves informative for those of you who are trying to decide which type of vac will be best for you


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## stevedc (Feb 24, 2012)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjA04sbZoxg Kurt, here is the explanation.


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