For us here in the Midwest,  with SHB  Escape boards can be a problem.  The moment you remove the bee patrol,  the clock starts.  72 hours max,  48 is risky,  so if it takes a day  then that’s a day less you have before you get them extracted. 

I added a dehumidifier room this year,  bringing the humnidity below 30% seems to stall them,  unless there is any brood,  at that point its 36 hours before you seem them hatching.

Fume boards work okay,  as long as you have good sun,  or add a PVC elbow to direct a little air. The fan style seem to work okay


I tried the backpack blower,  the sucked.  Lifting and flipping supers while wearing a backpack makes one feel like an astronaut,  and no relief from the load or heat.  

I just tip the super in front of the hive and use a light weight Stihl blower.  Takes about 1 seconds a hive.  After using all sorts of methods and chemicals,  the blower is super simple and fast,  and weather is not an issue,  nor moving around fume boards or multiple moves of supers.


Just my method.

Charles

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