REGARDING           RE>End of Honey Season
 
Joel Govostes wrote, in a reply to my previous post:
"Are you using Benzaldehyde, or Butyric anhydride (Bee-Go / Honey
Robber)?  I have had mixed results, (my experience is mostly with the
former), from cleared supers - to bees hardly moving down at all - to
stupefied bees running all over in chaos.  Have you had good results
consistently, without tainting the aroma of the honey, & what is the most
effective procedure?    I was concerned at the confusion the fumes caused
sometimes.  Any info appreciated"
 
I have only used butyric anhydride (Bee-Go).  I have never had any problem
with the fumes tainting the honey, but this was a concern that prevented me
from trying fume boards for many years.  It is important to shave off any burr
comb on top of the top bars which might come anywhere close to touching the
fume board surface.  As I said earlier, the major impediment to the bees
movement away from the fumes is cool weather.  Another is excessive brace comb
filling the spaces between frame top bars.  This seems to act as a fume
barrier.  These supers (usually the top ones) have to be blown out with the
bee blower.
 
My procedure, upon reaching my yard, is to apply Bee-Go around the edges of
the fume boards and a few back and forth strokes across their centers.  I
usually use four boards, and put their interiors together while starting the
smoker and getting set up for super removal.  Upon opening the hive, I smoke
under the inner cover enough to get the bees moving downward; then I put the
board on and move to the next hive.  After the four boards are in place I
immediately go back to the first and remove the super, which rarely has any
bees remaining.  If it does, I set it on end and blow them out, then place the
super on the truck and get the one from the next hive.  Mine is a one man
operation, and the fumes empty the supers as fast as I can carry them away.
 
Ted Fischer