# Honey Removal



## Timber (Jun 15, 2003)

As I'm not considering the use of fuming boards with the Honey Robber product. As the liquid is shipped as a hazardous material. I'm looking into how to extract the bees from the supers fast and stay in the natural organic tune. 

I've ran across the "new" Fischer's Bee Quick stating a natural product.
Thoughts? 

Timber


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## mxwynn (Jul 31, 2005)

I have 7 hives and use bee escapes. No harsh chemicals there, always reusable, but they do require a little more time to remove your supers.


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## BeesNBunnies (Aug 15, 2005)

You might want to try a blower. I've never tried this myself but I plan to if I ever get some honey to harvest. I'll be using a blower designed for drying dogs(used to be a dog groomer). I also plan to do some experimenting with light....ie....a bright light above with maybe a dark box underneath so that they will run towards the dark box. Don't know if it'll work or not but that is one of the great things about beekeeping....experimenting!


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## WayneH (Apr 29, 2005)

Timber said:


> As I'm not considering the use of fuming boards with the Honey Robber product. As the liquid is shipped as a hazardous material. I'm looking into how to extract the bees from the supers fast and stay in the natural organic tune.
> 
> I've ran across the "new" Fischer's Bee Quick stating a natural product.
> Thoughts?
> ...


Umm. I just shake the bees off of the frames then use a bee brush to get the rest off of each frame. Then I put the frames of honey into an empty super that has a bottom nailed to it and a piece of ply wood for a top. When that box is full, I should have an new empty super to place on top of the first.

Using chemicals and other equipment just eats into your wallet.

Well, that's my opinion and you can take it for what it cost you. I just don't see any reason to add extra chemicals and cost to an already tight budget.

Wayne


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## foxtrapper (Dec 23, 2003)

Honey robber is also shipped non-hazardous, depending on who's doing the shipping. No need to get high and mighty about being superior for not using it. Most products are technically hazardous, including many organics.

That said, I've had less than impressive results with Honey robber. 

I've done frame by frame removals with a brush. Tedious but effective. What I don't like about this is the frames are now lose in the box, and rattle and bang around, creating leaks. But, it does work.

I've also used the blower. In fact, that's what I've used the past two years now. Again, it's not as perfect as described. Bees do a remarkable job of hanging on. But, it does get most of the bees out pretty quickly. Added bonus, it leaves the frames undisturbed in the box.

Pickup truck with a tonneu cover, or perhaps a station wagon work well for putting the frames and boxes into while keeping bees out. 

This year I tried white garbage bags, and was pretty pleased with it. Blow the bees out of the super, and drop a bag down over it. Carry it over to the truck. As an added bonus, once I drove away, the bees would come out of the bagged supers and fly away. That was a first. Normally my truck looks like a hive is living in it with all the bees flying around it. This year, there were no bees. The plastic bag also lends itself well to taping shut for longer term storage.


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## WayneH (Apr 29, 2005)

I'm sorry if I came off with a "superior" attitude, it's not how it was meant. I only have a five or six hives at any given time so you operation may be bigger than mine. For as few hives as I have, I just can't justify buying chemicals or extra equipment for something that I can do with a $2.00 brush and a little extra time.


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## Timber (Jun 15, 2003)

Thanks for the replies

WayneH I'm thinking in the same lines as you. But when I use escapes, five days later there's still bees in the super not as many as started out. Also there's a handful of dead bees on top of the intercover. I do place them with "this side up". I have couple of them and use them couple times getting the same results, I don't think this is to be normal.

Timber


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## John Schneider (Sep 9, 2005)

Sorry...I didn't carefully read the replies, so I am not sure if this was mentioned or not...By far the easiest method that I know of is to take the full supers and stand them on their sides on top of the hives. The bees will vacate the supers within an hour or two and then you can take the supers full of honey and empty of bees to your processing room. I used this method for the first time yesterday and it worked perfectly. Next year, when I need to replace supers with empty comb for a second extraction, I will just set the full supers on a piece of plywood on the ground beside the hives and put new empty supers in their place on top of the brood boxes. I have seen entire bee yards with dozen of hives using this technique.


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## terry stewart (Jun 12, 2005)

just use a brush its one of the best ways try to stay away from all of the chemicals


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