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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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Subject:
From:
Layne Westover <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Mon, 26 Aug 2002 10:10:33 -0500
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In a very high temperature situation (Texas in the middle of the summer) I worry that if I use a bee
escape and there are then no bees on the comb to keep it cool that if I leave it on too long, the
temperature may become so high that the wax might start melting and honey dripping.  This would
be an especially bad thing if you are trying to get bees out of a Ross Rounds or comb honey
super because then you would have "leaky" combs in your comb honey (at least that is my
worry).

I therefore read with interest about the use of leaf blowers and bee blowers to more quickly and
effectively remove the bees since I would prefer not to use chemicals to do it.

I recalled that once or twice in my back yard I used my vacuum cleaner and hooked up the hose to
the exhaust to operate it as a blower (necessity is the mother of all inventions--apologies to
Saddam) and that worked fine, but some of my bees are in "out apiaries" where there is no access
to electricity.

So I went to a "Super Saturday" sale (coincidentally it was on Saturday) this weekend and a gas
powered blower caught my attention.  Having been suckered by the discussion on BEE-L, I
asked "the boss" and she gave me her permission, so I am now the proud owner of a leaf/bee
blower.  I used it the same day to quickly remove bees from a super.  Having read all the cautions
about protecting the intake so as to not have chopped bees, I was worried at first, but I did not
have that problem in this case (maybe because I put a piece of window screen over the intake?).
I never did figure out how to control the blowing speed (air velocity), so I just used it at the speed
it ran when I got it started.  Worked fine.  Now to go to the out apiary where I have the comb
honey super on the mean hive.  A bee brush is about useless in a situation like that.  With the
help of my new gas powered leaf blower though, it should be a blast! (of air, of course).

Layne Westover, College Station, Texas, U.S.A.

P.S.  My friend "Bubba" told me that although he does not have a leaf blower, he has a
cannister of compressed air he said he would try and let me know how it worked.   Today he
asked me if a putty knife was the best tool to use to remove smashed bees from the side of
a bee hive, and did I know of a good place to buy some "extra" frames.  :)

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