Bushkill Bee Vac

[Rex "Hawk" Smith]

I am one of those unfortunate souls who must have sucked up way too much honey along with the bees on my last two cutouts.  I wound up with about 3.5" of dead bees in the bottom of the collection box from yesterdays' cutout job.  (shaking my head)

A quick question, though on the cutout shim...  My current top screen is made from #8 hardware cloth.  When I got home, some of the poor bees had stuck their eyes/heads through the mesh, and could not retract from the mesh of the hardware cloth.  Is this a sign that I had too much suction?  Or should I change over to aluminum screen window mesh that has smaller openings?   What sized hardware cloth is generally (and successfully) used for the removable cutout shim?

[David McLeod]

They got to hot. Try misting them with water or give them a drawn frame with water.
I changed the hardware cloth out for a trimmed propolis trap.

[Rex "Hawk" Smith]

Thanks David - I'll do that on the next one....   (plus I've got my hose soaking in a tub of water to clean out the sticky from the inside of it)

They got to hot. Try misting them with water or give them a drawn frame with water.
I changed the hardware cloth out for a trimmed propolis trap.

[G3farms]

If the inside of your hose is sticky you were sucking up honey and nectar. I try hard not to vac too much on the face of unsealed honey comb, you will pull out the honey and nectar. Once the bees are cover in the sticky mess they will drown in it.

When they over heat they will be a black looking greasy mess from where they have puked up what was in their stomachs.

Number 8 hardware cloth (1/8" opening) works good for the cut out shim. Sounds like the openings are a bit larger than 1/8".

You only need enough suction to keep the bees in the hose, if they sound like a hand full of gravels going down the hose you will have dead bees in the bottom of the bee vac, mostly broken in half.

[Rex "Hawk" Smith]

My last 3-4 uses of the vac have been 100% successful.  I had indeed sucked up honey from a cutout - so the inside of the hose was sticky.  Once that was taken care of - I reduced the suction, and have had great success with the vac.

[PLAN-B]

I haven't played with the vac described in this blog, but made a bucket vac that took all of an hour and a half to throw together and I am pleased with it so far... Not saying its better, but for someone who might have limited woodworking tools it's a runner-up....




I know it's not your design but thanks for posting the idea Moots