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Author Topic: Bee-Quick Removals  (Read 8505 times)

Offline gardeningfireman

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Bee-Quick Removals
« on: June 13, 2012, 04:58:02 pm »
I did a removal recently where a swarm moved into a two story stone facade pillar the day before. The entrance was near the top where the wiring for a light came out(it was not completed yet). The bottom of the pillar was about three inches above ground, and open. I remembered Scott and Peggy were able to smoke some bees out, but I was pressed for time that day. I used Bee-Quick and it drove the bees right out. A bunch of bees gathered on the gutter, so I brushed them into a bucket and dumped them into a hive. The bees moved to the hive with no hesitation. I soaked down the entrances into the pillar and sealed them. When I went back after dark, the majority of the bees were on the outside of the box and underneath it (screen bottom board)! It took about an hour, but I got about 3/4  of them inside, and trapped the rest between the bottom screen and removable board for the ride home. On Thursday, the 14th, I am going to try the same technique with a colony that set up in the trunk of a tree about a week or so ago. The entrance is about 4 feet off the ground. I will set up like a trap out with the cone and bait hive. Then I will drill a hole opposite and higher than the entrance and spray Bee-Quick in. The homeowners need the bees gone quick because of grandchildren who are deathly afraid of bees. When the bees are out, I will seal up the tree. If I don't get the queen, I will probably just combine them with one of my nucs.

Offline iddee

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Re: Bee-Quick Removals
« Reply #1 on: June 13, 2012, 06:16:05 pm »
One day after move in equals NO BROOD. Bee quick works.

One week after move in equals BROOD. Bee quick won't work so well.

You will just be grabbing a handful of bees and exterminating the remainder of the colony by sealing them in.
"Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me . . . Anything can happen, child. Anything can be"

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Offline JP

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Re: Bee-Quick Removals
« Reply #2 on: June 13, 2012, 10:11:25 pm »
If they haven't had good resources you might be able to drive them out but as Iddee mentions be prepared that the majority will not want to abandon brood. The concern I would have is with the fact that you truly don't know how long they've been there. Repellants work best as mentioned when they have just moved in very recently.

BTW, I am not a big fan of sbbs & even less so when running bees into new set ups with them as you discovered they will cluster underneath. Not so bad in the bee yard when you can afford the time it takes for them to finally go inside, bad on site when you have to get them into your vehicle by a reasonable hour.


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Offline gardeningfireman

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Re: Bee-Quick Removals
« Reply #3 on: June 14, 2012, 08:58:50 am »
Thanks for the info! I agree 100% about the SBBs and transporting them! Chalk another one up to experiences to remember.  I did (do) have some doubts about driving the bees out of the tree, but the owners do NOT want the tree cut down, and need the bees out NOW. It is right by the driveway and barn in a very high child traffic area. I figured it is worth a shot. Regardless, it is better than exterminating all of them.

Offline JP

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Re: Bee-Quick Removals
« Reply #4 on: June 14, 2012, 07:24:52 pm »
The truth unfortunately is that if you cannot get enough bees out and a queen or resources for them to make a queen coupled with enough bees to support their rebirth you aren't saving the genetics of this hive, thus you aren't saving the colony. If you want to feel somewhat better about the situation, try running what you can out and combine them with another colony.


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Offline gardeningfireman

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Re: Bee-Quick Removals
« Reply #5 on: June 14, 2012, 09:54:14 pm »
I set it up today as a regular trapout with two frames of eggs and brood. Then I drilled a couple holes into the tree to the cavity to help drive them out with bee-quick and smoke. I told the homeowner that it needs to stay there for at least a few days and I will come back several times to smoke and bee-quick them some more. If they build queen cells in the nuc, then I know the queen didn't come out (not really confident about that anyway). Maybe I can talk the homeowner into letting me cut the tree down and do a removal. It is the center trunk of a cluster of honey locust and looks like it will be dead in a couple years anyway. Before you ask, yes, I did cover the holes I drilled so the bees don't go back in! :-D

Offline SkepWrangler

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Re: Bee-Quick Removals
« Reply #6 on: June 26, 2012, 12:10:56 pm »
Question about drilling holes to drive them out with bee quick and smoke:
Would there be some advantage in drilling the holes, applying the bee quick/etc, then "covering" the holes with trap-out cones so that any bees which might exit this way would be denied re-entry?  Would this enable the subsequent wetting and re-wetting of a bee quick wick in such a hole, for example by spraying through the mesh cone with supplemental amounts of bee quick from time to time?  The reason I ask is because you cited the desire to get them out pronto, notwithstanding the probability that they have brood in the trunk.
I have a similar situation at the moment.
Thanks!

Offline BeeMaster2

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Re: Bee-Quick Removals
« Reply #7 on: June 26, 2012, 12:47:04 pm »
Keep in mind that bee quick is poison, benzaldehyde. If you are spraying it into the hive, you are probably kill a lot of bees. It was designed to be sprayed on a cloth covered board placed on the hive to drive them away from the board. Just something to keep in mind.
Jim
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Offline duck

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Re: Bee-Quick Removals
« Reply #8 on: June 29, 2012, 12:29:37 am »
i dont think fischers is benzldehyde?

Offline calrow99

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Re: Bee-Quick Removals
« Reply #9 on: June 29, 2012, 01:01:22 am »
I just bought some for cutouts and hive work  -  it works great and smells like a women's perfume......

Calrow99

//


Cut and past from Bee Quick website

What's In Bee-Quick?

That would be telling, wouldn't it?  Colonel Saunders never listed his 11 secret herbs and spices, and we are not going to reveal our formula of oils and herbal extracts, either.

If anyone has any concern about Bee-Quick's ingredients, note that the bottling plant that we use bottles nothing else but food for human consumption. They cannot have any unsafe or non-food-grade materials to come anywhere near their shiny bottling equipment.  The USDA inspects them on a regular basis, and they are not about to risk their multi-million-dollar business over a mere sideline like our product.


What About the EPA? Is Bee-Quick "Legal"?    It sure is. 

We aren't crazy, or nearly as stupid as we look, so we sought approval from the EPA, FDA, the USDA, and even the CIA.  They told us that Bee-Quick was not a pesticide, which seemed obvious to us.  They showed us The US Code, section 152.8, which says:

"A substance or article is not a pesticide, because it is not intended
for use against "pests''... ...if it is...
...(d) A product intended to force bees from hives for the collection of honey crops"

We asked them "but what if someone wants to insist that Bee-Quick MUST be a 'pesticide' of some sort?"
They smiled a condescending smile, and showed us another US Code section, Title 40, Part 180.1164, which
says:
        "...(d) Any edible food commodity... which is used as a pesticide is exempted from
        the requirement of a tolerance when used in accordance with good agricultural
        practices in or on all food commodities."


Offline SkepWrangler

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Re: Bee-Quick Removals
« Reply #10 on: June 29, 2012, 02:17:58 am »
i dont think Fischer's is benzaldehyde?
I don't know whether Fischer's Bee Quick contains any benzaldehyde, but I do know that FCC grade benzaldehyde can be purchased.  What is FCC?  Food Chemicals Codex. please see http://www.usp.org/food-ingredients/food-chemicals-codex
Also, what are other names for benzaldehyde?
here is a link to a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for benzaldehyde: http://fscimage.fishersci.com/msds/02590.htm
I note the other names are: Benzenecarboxaldehyde; artificial almond oil; benzene carbaldehyde; benzoic aldehyde
So I think that if benzaldehyde induces bees to leave supers and is approved for such a use (which FCC grade benzaldehyde clearly would qualify for) we shouldn't be surprised to find it in such a product.
I like the triangular escape board for honey supers, seems to work flawlessly.
Not sure about Bee-Quick for use in cut-outs...I don't have enough experience with it to say one way or another.

Offline BeeMaster2

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Re: Bee-Quick Removals
« Reply #11 on: June 29, 2012, 12:48:55 pm »
This is from section 3 of the MSDA:
EMERGENCY OVERVIEW
Appearance: yellow liquid. Flash Point: 64 deg C. Combustible liquid and vapor. Harmful if swallowed. Causes digestive and respiratory tract irritation. Causes eye and skin irritation. May cause central nervous system depression. May cause kidney damage. Warning!
Target Organs: Kidneys, central nervous system.

Potential Health Effects
Eye: Causes eye irritation.
Skin: Causes skin irritation.
Ingestion: Harmful if swallowed. May cause gastrointestinal irritation with nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. May cause central nervous system depression, characterized by excitement, followed by headache, dizziness, drowsiness, and nausea. Advanced stages may cause collapse, unconsciousness, coma and possible death due to respiratory failure.
Inhalation: Inhalation of high concentrations may cause central nervous system effects characterized by nausea, headache, dizziness, unconsciousness and coma. May cause respiratory tract irritation. May cause narcotic effects in high concentration.
Chronic: Prolonged or repeated skin contact may cause dermatitis. May cause kidney injury.

Does this sound like something that is totally safe?
Jim

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Offline gardeningfireman

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Re: Bee-Quick Removals
« Reply #12 on: June 30, 2012, 11:39:27 pm »
Been on vacation and just got back tonight. The homeowner decided that it was no problem leaving the trapout in place for a while. Before I left, the nuc was pretty full. The holes I drilled into the tree were to spray Bee-Quick and smoke into. I put plugs in them. The spray soaked the wood, but I don't think it went all the way to the comb in the cavity. Have a lot of catching up to do. One hive has a poor queen, one nuc was queenless (put a comb of eggs in before vacation), four trapouts to check on, four removals to do, another trapout to start (same house where I already have one), plus eight hives to check, honey to harvest and bottle, etc. Whew, I'm gonna need another vacation after doing all that ! :-D

Offline SkepWrangler

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Re: Bee-Quick Removals
« Reply #13 on: June 30, 2012, 11:43:51 pm »
If anybody has tried SuperBoost (or other pheromones or mixes of pheromones) in a trap-out as a means of inducing the trapped-out bees to get busy on the comb supplied in the box, please let me know.
Skepwrangler

Offline buzzbee

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Re: Bee-Quick Removals
« Reply #14 on: July 01, 2012, 12:07:46 pm »
Drinking water in excess is harmful. Most of this is safe in proper usage and amounts. that is why instructions are included.
http://voices.yahoo.com/water-intoxication-much-water-too-much-201296.html
This stuff probably reacts with bees differently than humans.

I don't think he was going to personally inhale a large quantity himself or ingest it.