Shake box - how to get the bees to go down

[Jen]

Shake box? is that the right term?

I'm still de-queening. Finishing up the second deep today. The weather isn't cooperating, 40's and 50's, so we are doing this in the garage, bees all over the place.

First we examine the frames to find the queen. Then, even if we do find her, we then put the bees into a shake box, which is two hive bodies with an excluder in between just in case a queen has hatched from the brush, it's happened before.

My problem is that the bees won't go down. They stay on the walls of the top hive box. I use a spatula and gently keep scraping them down onto the excluder. They don't like that.

So we empty all the frames into the top hive, put a flashlight in it and a lid that is halfway on, this encourages the bees from the ceiling and lightbulbs to gravitate to the light. We do this at night. It works! But the next morning all the bees are balled up under the lid, and even if I scrape them off they don't go thru. One time they did go thru after 4 days. I don't have four days! New queens are waiting.

Does anyone else experience this same situation?

[blueblood]

Have you tried putting the box they like on top after shaking the bees in the other one.  Put the excluder between them and let them go up like they want to, leaving the queenie below.  Maybe I am missing something?  I am a guy and pay half attention at times....

[iddee]

SMOKE....

[Jen]

Hi Iddee - Smoke doesn't work... I smoked and smoked them, Thanks tho.


Hi Blue - Now that is definately a consideration! Hubby and I already have a plan. You're the Bomb Blue! I really need to get this project done. Hubby is threatening to hurl me off of the nearest cliff if I don't get these bees out of his garage pronto

ps. he's really a nice guy 

[efmesch]

Blueblood makes the most sense---after all, if you can't beat them, join them.
In general, working bees at night is a bad choice of action.  You need light and it comes from above and that's where the bees tend to go.

[iddee]

If you had smoke in your back yard, you would go inside or to the front yard. If your whole county was smoked, you would stay where you were and endure it. A small puff every minute or so and you can see them march. Fill the box with smoke and they just sit. They have no place to go. Herd them, don't suffocate them.

[Jen]

Thanks Ef! Blue's idea really helped here. We just got done reconfiguring this idea, And we put a 15 watt light bulb in the top deep to help draw them.

We didn't have much choice on when to do the whole de-queening project. Evenings were what was at hand. It's been an adventure to say the least ~

[Lburou]

My experience with light bulbs and bees in a dark room is hard to forget.  I will never forget the smell of all those roasted bees.  You won't either.  Our garage still smelled that way two years later when we moved.

There is a lot to be gained by trying it again outside in the daylight with smoke as iddee suggested.  I hope your new plan works out for you.   

[Jen]

Lburou- I'm not able to do that because the temps are 40's - 50's, and very gusty winds.

It's a 15 watt light bulb, I can keep my hand wrapped around it forever and it's very comfortable

[blueblood]

Besides, if it were hot, you could build a little shield around the bulb with #8 mesh screen if ya had it.

[LazyBkpr]

Dont worry about the temps.  Open the garage door to block the wind. Put the shaker box over the hive box with their brood frames below it. They will go down into their box if herded with a little smoke as Iddee said. Fill the box with smoke and they will want to get out instead of in.  If their frames are below the shaker they will be much happier about going down to them.
   The cool temperatures make it a pain but you have to get it done, so you do the best you can with what you have.

[Jen]

Hiya Scott - Thanks! We're getting there ~ like I said, it's a Murphy weekend.

[tefer2]

Jen, here is a tip for you. Go around the inside of the shaker box with a couple of lines of duct tape.
Place them right next to other. For some dumb reason, bees don't like to walk across duct tape.
That at least keeps them from crawling out of the box.
Herd them on down using your smoker. You don't have to burn the wings off them, just use more smoke to direct them where you want.

[Jen]

Hi Tef ~ Hu! That is very interesting, putting this one in my files. Thanks!

[tecumseh]

doing this inside does present some curious problems < the sunlight makes them want to to up and away and you want them to go down. 

outside the garage..... food frames below and lots of bees stacked on top + just a bit of smoke and the girls do go downward.... sound to me like some kind of cover to block the light at the top of the set up MIGHT help.  and once you get the bees in the top box bump or bounce the entire set up on the concrete to get the bees crawling upward back down on the excluder screen.

[pistolpete]

If you have to de-queen a two box hive, put an excluder between the two boxes a few days ahead of time.   Then the box with eggs has the queen and you have a lot less looking to do.

[riverbee]

"If you have to de-queen a two box hive, put an excluder between the two boxes a few days ahead of time.   Then the box with eggs has the queen and you have a lot less looking to do."

pete, this is jen's swarmy hive, she doesn't want the egg situation and did use an excluder, post #1, in part:

"First we examine the frames to find the queen. Then, even if we do find her, we then put the bees into a shake box, which is two hive bodies with an excluder in between just in case a queen has hatched from the brush, it's happened before.

My problem is that the bees won't go down. They stay on the walls of the top hive box. I use a spatula and gently keep scraping them down onto the excluder. They don't like that.

So we empty all the frames into the top hive, put a flashlight in it and a lid that is halfway on, this encourages the bees from the ceiling and lightbulbs to gravitate to the light. We do this at night. It works! But the next morning all the bees are balled up under the lid, and even if I scrape them off they don't go thru. One time they did go thru after 4 days. I don't have four days! New queens are waiting."

[apisbees]

If it was me I would shake the bees into the box place the empty frames on top over a queen excluder and place the new queen in her cage between the center frames. If there is a second queen she will be in a clump of bees under the excluder. The bees will go up thru the excluder to car for any brood or the queen.

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