Author Topic: First cut out (Read 17514 times)

skeeterhawk1960 · « **on:** March 13, 2014, 09:25:01 pm »

Well I tried my first cutout today. Got there kinda early. It was in the 40s. Tore out the plywood under the eve to expose the colony. Of course I was on a ladder.
My buddy had gave me his old shop vac because it didn`t suck strong enough. I thought that might be the ticket. I fashioned me a sling and carried the shop vac up the ladder and started vacuuming away. I tore the wood down without my jacket and veil. Had on just a pair of cloth gloves. First one got me in the temple and several on the hands. I swapped gloves and put on my jacket and veil. No more stings. I was really proud of myself. I don`t have any bees of my own. I have never opened a hive or worked with any bees whatsoever. So all I know is what I have learned off of this puter. Oh yea, I did use my brand spanking new smoker for the first time. Come to think of it, everything thing was brand spankin` new. Anyway, this person had bees there before, so there was plenty of old comb and very little new comb. Anyway I`m happy as can be until,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,I went to dump my first bunch of bees into my holding box andddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd, guess what I found. Not one single live bee in about 3lbs of bees. I was terribly terribly sick and disgusted with myself.
Well I`m just a poor ole country boy, I`ve had two heart attacks, several stents, diabetes, and I live on prozac. The kicker is I`m only 53, anyway not trying to bore ya`ll with my problems. Long story short, I live from dollar to dollar. I`m trying for my disability. I`ve got 18 months in it right now. You know if you have worked all your life and paid taxes and served your country in the military, you are pretty much forgot.
I`m getting of topic. Sorry Admin.
Long story short. I am really tight for money. I didn`t charge the lady anything because they looked to be in the same shape as me. There was still over half the bees there and I had to do something. A good friend of mine helped me out. I went to Lowe`s and bought a bucket and some fittings and 24 ft of sump pump hose and fashioned me, an inline bucket with a way to cut the pressure down. I went back about 4 this afternoon and tried it again. My bucket worked almost perfect. Got the rest of the bees. The few that was left were acting lost, so I am hoping I got the queen on the second try. I think so, because they were balling up in a pretty good size wad and all of a sudden, they quit wadding up and starting acting lost. I packed up, the lady handed me some dollars and everything is good. Oh by the way, no dead bees the second go round or very few. I wound up with half a 5 gallon bucket of bees even after I killed all those this morning.. I am a happy newbeek.

G3farms · « **Reply #1 on:** March 13, 2014, 10:03:07 pm »

No need to be sad, me and a buddy of mine did the same thing in the early 80's.

A bee vac is the way to go for what I call "crowd control", moving the bees out of the way so you can work.

Here is a video explaining how the robo bee vac works and if you are handy with a table saw they are not that hard to make. I have been using this one for years and it works GREAT!!

LazyBkpr · « **Reply #2 on:** March 13, 2014, 10:16:13 pm »

My first attempt killed a LOT of bees too.. what a sticky nasty heartbreaking mess... First lesson learned, not enough suction is JUUUST about right..
Glad you saved the ones you did. It's a good start. Keep your head up. Next time you will do even better, and the time after that, and the time after that.... Good thing about bees is that they get into places people don't want them

skeeterhawk1960 · « **Reply #3 on:** March 13, 2014, 10:28:36 pm »

I appreciate it ya`ll. It makes me feel a little better anyway.
I forgot to say in my post that it took me all day to do the cutout. That was building my bucket included.
I got home after dark. I can only go about 5 or 10 minutes at a time and then I have to rest a little and blow alot. Not much blood flow will mess a man up.
I did it regardless and I learned ALOT. I`m proud of my bucket set up and now I`ve got 24 ft of hose so no more taking the vac up the ladder. All in all, it has been a long, tiring, educational, but a really good day. Thanks again ya`ll. Harper

blueblood · « **Reply #4 on:** March 13, 2014, 11:28:50 pm »

Glad your day ended better than it started. We have all been there in way way or another. I built my vacuum using G's video he posted for you. I paused the video and then went to the work shop and repeated that several times until it was done. I estimated the dimensions by looking at the his hands and other things in the video relation to the vac box.

LazyBkpr · « **Reply #5 on:** March 13, 2014, 11:48:00 pm »

Thats one of the nice things about working bees. You can take a leisurely pace, and take breaks when necessary. This is always a welcome relief after dealing with my wife all day.. taking the garbage out or doing the dishes is an EMERGENCY to her.. while I see no harm in waiting a week or so...

I built my vac on mostly ideas of what I wanted after using other vacs and watching some vids. Feel free to check it out if you wish. I will be posting some vids of it being used next month. I already have three cut outs scheduled, and possibly two more after I go look at them. Hang in there! your doin fine!

http://outyard.weebly.com/bee-vac.html
Link to Robo's site at the bottom of my page.

skeeterhawk1960 · « **Reply #6 on:** March 14, 2014, 12:18:55 am »

I really appreciate it ya`ll. Thanks for the link Lazy and thanks for the vid G3. Thanks for the kind words ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!

Perry · « **Reply #7 on:** March 14, 2014, 08:20:27 am »

Hey Harper:
Like everyone else, we have all had that experience at one time or another. My first cut-out was without a bee-vac, and was an almost day long learning adventure as well, and yes, there were plenty of corpses at the end of it. But, the colony survived, and that's what's most important isn't it? They were doomed if I hadn't tried.
Building a bee-vac does not have to be an expensive thing, an almost throw away deep box and you're halfway there. Mine is based on Robo's design (before I knew you could buy one)

I am pretty much the same age as you are, and let me tell you, you have just discovered one of the greatest hobbies you could find.
When I open up a hive, everything around me disappears, time stops, and the moment is all that really matters. It is probably one of the greatest escapes I know of.
You will find that out shortly.

skeeterhawk1960 · « **Reply #8 on:** March 14, 2014, 10:22:17 am »

Thanks Perry. I am already starting to feel what you are talking about.

Jen · « **Reply #9 on:** March 14, 2014, 12:42:29 pm »

Perry ""When I open up a hive, everything around me disappears, time stops, and the moment is all that really matters. It is probably one of the greatest escapes I know of.""

BINGO!

skeeterhawk1960 · « **Reply #10 on:** March 15, 2014, 12:59:41 pm »

My bees seem to be doing ok. They are hauling out a good number of dead. I hope I have enough left to survive.

skeeterhawk1960 · « **Reply #11 on:** March 15, 2014, 02:44:01 pm »

I was sitting watching my bees at 1:00 pm today. There was hardly no bee activity at all. All of a sudden they started humming real loud and started boiling out the entrance. They were absconding. My first bees ever and they were leaving.
They landed in an oak tree not far away about 30 ft up. The bottom of the limb they were on was close enough that I could get a saw to it. I sawed off the limb which let the bees to the ground. I trimmed up the limb they were on and lopped it off and carried them back to the hive and shook them back in the hive.
Somebody talk to me tell me something or is this normal. Here is a pic, up in the oak tree. You can see the swarm just left of the sun:

skeeterhawk1960 · « **Reply #12 on:** March 15, 2014, 03:31:37 pm »

They just swarmed again into the same oak tree almost where they were at before. I cut that limb down and got them again. What do I need to do?

? Somebody, Anybody. pic:

skeeterhawk1960 · « **Reply #13 on:** March 15, 2014, 03:52:06 pm »

Just laid a limb over the entrance.
They were only like 80 ft from the hive.
Gonna try that and see what happens.

Slowmodem · « **Reply #14 on:** March 15, 2014, 04:20:09 pm »

Are you sure they're absconding instead of swarming?

skeeterhawk1960 · « **Reply #15 on:** March 15, 2014, 04:38:13 pm »

I just put them in the hive Wednesday. They were absconding, I think is the word, because there were no bees left in the hive, when I put them back in two different times.

kebee · « **Reply #16 on:** March 15, 2014, 05:43:56 pm »

Put a queen excluder on the bottom board and than the hive above it, they will not leave without the queen.

Ken

skeeterhawk1960 · « **Reply #17 on:** March 15, 2014, 06:00:27 pm »

Thanks Ken.
I`ve got them in a top bar hive. I know I could make one buuuuttttt.

riverbee · « **Reply #18 on:** March 15, 2014, 07:00:38 pm »

skeeter, if they have left twice, for some reason they are not liking their new environment of your top bar maybe. could be anything, do you have any drawn comb in your top bar? freshly painted, smell, etc, just throwing out ideas. also, you could try to find the queen and cage her. the bees won't leave without her.

LazyBkpr · « **Reply #19 on:** March 15, 2014, 07:22:46 pm »

Have you got a feeder on the hive? Maybe try to make it more inviting to them.