> In my year 25 experience, removing (Robbing) honey has always been a
> chore.
>
> In the past I have tried everything from brushing the individual
> frames to using my scuba tank's pressurized air to blow the bees out
> of the supers.
<snip>
> I have tried Fume boards with mixed success.  S. Calif. sun gets
> really hot.  Putting a fume board on hive with 4 supers and a queen
> excluder can really send a hive into a frenzy and drive the bees
> right out of the front entrance.
>
> Plus the idea of using another chemical in my hives flies against my
> approach to drug free beekeeping and untainted honey.
 
<snip>
 
I have to agree.
 
We've had a report on BEE-L recently of escape boards failing to
work.  I've never experiencedany problems whatsoever (as long as I
got the boards right side up) , and have to attribute the problem
to using them on overly crowded hives or at a time when the bees were
not mobile (clustered?).
 
Fume Boards
 
The chemicals available for fume boards these days are butyric
anhydride and benzaldehyde -- at least in North America.  Carbolic
acid was previously used for many years without problems, but is no
longer permitted, even though, apparently it is amjor ingredient in
cough drops.
 
Benzaldehyde is 'artificail oil of almonds', and has a most pleasant
smell.  In concentration, I doubt you would want to breathe it all
day or wear it on your skin, but it seems pretty benign.
Unfortunately it does not work reliably  in many differnt
conditions and we gave up on  it  long ago.
 
Butyric anhydride (Bee Go or Honey Robber) is a really pungent
material.  I will not allow it in my building -- even for a minute,
in case it spills.  Boxes removed with it smell like dog feces long
after and any honey house where they are extracted smells bad.  The
user soon gets used to the smell, and only visitors notice it, but
it gets in your hair and your clothes.  Honey Robber has a cherry
oversmell, but as one commercial beekeeper says: " the only
difference is that it smells like _cherry flavoured_ dog shit".
 
In the field, butyric anhydride works *almost* as well as carbolic
used to, however I personally am choked by the fumes no matter where I
stand.  It's not the smell, but the fumes actually hurt my bronchia.
 
(If I were a hobyist, and not selling to any large market, frankly I'd
get  some carbolic and use it.  It's the best.  But do not
use it if you are selling honey).
 
Using fume board chemicals requires at least average intelligence
and careful handling);  never place the open container on top of a
beehive that is open -- it might tip.  Apply the chemical sparingly
and make sure that it is on the cloth and soaked in, not sitting in
drops on the wood, waiting to drip on your top bars as soon as you
invert the board.  Use smoke to start the bees, and of course, make
sure the bees are not in a cluster, but moving freely in the hive
and responsive to smoke.
 
 
Bee Escapes
 
All in all, for comb honey production, we found the triangle bee
escapes to be reliable and had the advantage of leaving the burr comb
in the supers clean and non-drippy.
 
In a hurry, we have used fume boards, but a bee blower --with or without
abandonment (tipping) was the fastest.
 
Abandonment (Tipping)
 
The abandonment method also leaves the burr comb free of dripping
honey, and having a  blower allows one to take the boxes within the
hour in case robbing is likely, or an extra trip would be required.
 
Abandonment is the very best method, but it is an expert method and
requires some considerable expertise.  It is not normally suitable
for most beginner or intermediate beekeepers because they cannot
recognise the difference between bees leaving, and robbing bees, and
cannot understand the conditions -- seasonal, and weather related
--that determine exactly how the procedure must be accomplished
(there are many tricks).
 
Having said that, however, a knowlegeable commercial operator can
look out the window in the morning and send a crew of trained
labourers out to tip without too many worries.
 
Tipping can be used in both flow and robbing conditions without loss or
contamination of honey, and with minimum disturbance to the bees.  It
is our primary means of removing honey, but we always carry a blower.
 
Blowers
 
Blowers come in may guises, from the home vacuum cleaner in reverse
mode  to the Huskvarna and Stihl two stroke 'big mothers' that aproach
200 MPH air speeds.  We use the latter, but seldom turn them up all
the way.  The top speeds are for partly empty combs on cool days --
days when the bees should actually be left alone, but there are a
few boxes that have to be cleaned out and we are 60 miles from
home on a Friday afternoon.
 
We don't turn them up because if we do, the bees are blown up in our
faces instead of thu the top bars, and there is a risk of damaging
bees with too much force.
 
BTW, we blow from the bottom of the box to the top, since the frames
can be moved easily by their bottoms -- like leafing thru a book.
 
Under some circumstances, we blow down through a box that is still
on the hive before removing it.  Temperature must be considered when
doing this.
 
Leaf blowers are a cheap and ubiquitous alternative to specialised
bee blowers.  They are adequate for most (95% of all) jobs, and we
carry one as back up blower for when our main blowers fail.  They are
not as rugged as the big ones, but they do last well -- even being
trucked around the country.
 
I like to put 15 feet of 2-1/2 inch hose on my blowers and set them
far from the bees --  and me.  If they are close to the hives, bees
can get into the air intakes and gum everything up (we screen the
intakes and the motors).  If they are near me, I go nuts from the
noise, and my helpers get tired of being shouted at (over the racket).
 
My son wears the Stihl like a knapsack -- it is designed for that --
and uses the trigger to  rev it only when needed.  So, as you can see
there are different tastes in this.
 
A blower is very useful if you misjudge how fast the bees will
abandon your boxes and they are still full of bees when you are ready
to load, or if there is a patch of brood in a super, and the bees
have not left.
 
Well, I'm out of time.  I hope this clarifies some of the choices
available.
 
Regards
 
Allen
 
W. Allen Dick, Beekeeper                                         VE6CFK
RR#1, Swalwell, Alberta  Canada T0M 1Y0
Internet:[log in to unmask] & [log in to unmask]
Honey. Bees, & Art <http://www.internode.net/~allend/>