BeeVac

[beesharp]

Thought I would share a BeeVac I made this year. I used it to transfer a
 nice hive that had taken up residence in an old, overturned washtub.
It worked great to vacuum all the bees out of the hive first, then cut the
 combs into frames. After the combs were transfered into a box, then I
 just dumped the bees into their new home and they happily took up
 residence.

http://www.sunshinehoney.com/honey/pages/beevac/beevac.htm

Just found this forum, looks great - I hope to share experience and
continue learning.
Jim

[eivindm]

besharp,

Nice pictures!  The beevac looks great.  Would love to see pictures of the beevac in action, but I guess you would have put them on the same page if you had any? I also liked the page about your swarm catching. Fun story

Welcome to the forum, by the way as the 12th member from Texas!

eivindm

[Robo]

Was that from a Craftsman vac?  If so, I had the exact same vac given to me and I was going to use it for a bee vac.  Unfortunately, one of the brushes turned out to be damaged, and it shot sparks out when it was on

So now I'm looking for another....


One suggestion, I would move the vent above the particle board/screen.  This would reduce the velocity of the air through the screen and be less damaging to the bees.  Although you have reduced the velocity in the hose, once in the bucket, the bees are exposed to the full velocity thru the screen.  Just a thought.


Nice job and thanks for sharing....

[beesharp]

Thanks for the replies and suggestions. I don't have any action shots,
but let me try to post a couple photos.

Yes, the cows finally left! The hive body on top was
topless and rotted and the bees moved into the basement washtub.


Here's the entrance to the washtub:


After flipping the washtub over to see the combs.
Thankfully the combs were straight - easy to put into frames!


Here's the "after" with the bees settling into their new home.


Jim