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Author Topic: Bee Vac = Shop Vac  (Read 24828 times)

Offline TwT

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Bee Vac = Shop Vac
« on: May 08, 2005, 01:09:05 pm »
the bee vac i have been using is a 16 gallon shop vac but i modify it a little, here is what I do.

  I get 2 peg board hooks (that you would hand tools on) and put the between the top where the motor is (between the latches) and the tank to keep alittle space open, I stuff a big sponge in the exaust of the vac, wrap a hand towel around the cage (where the float ball is inside) and tie it with tie straps ( you know the electrical sinch straps). and when I'm through vac-ing bee's, I take the sponge out of the exaust and take the hose loose and put the sponge in the hole where the hose was. and it doesn't kill the bees or injure them but this settup does reduced the suction were the vac hose has to about touch the bee's to suck them up. I have used it on 5 removals. the last 2 removals had about 5-6 gallons of bee's ( all healthy) just thought I would share my little not homemade trick. i'm going to try to see if I can get a smooth hose ( ON THE INSIDE ) fit up to it , I seen they have some clear hose about 1 1/2" I.D. Lowes and home depot  FOR A SMOOTHER RIDE DOWN THE HOSE.  :wink:

heres the shop vac im useing




heres how I strap the towel around the suction float ball cage with electrical sinch straps




the peg board hook




I put the hook in between the latches ( between the lid and tank) see how it raises the lid to create some space.




heres the sponge I use




put the sponge in the exaust of the vac





and when im finished vacing bees, I pull the hose out and put the sponge
in the hole so the bees want crawl out the hose, and with the towel on the inside they cant come out of the exaust




my little quick way of making a bee vac without building any thing and you can put it together fast to for quick use, if your vac might be stronger or weaker, you will need to check it by useing with a few bee's and then seeing if they made the trip into the tank, if there ok , you got it right , if thier not you will need to adjust for less suction by creating more open space , like useing another peg board hook on the other side of the vac. and if there in a tree, use a vac hose for a swimming pool. since i took these pic's, I went to lowe's and bought a 15 foot piece of there clear smooth ruber tubing, 1 1/2" inch diameter, adapted it to the hose fitting that goes into the vac tank and it works just fine.
THAT's ME TO THE LEFT JUST 5 MONTHS FROM NOW!!!!!!!!

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Offline willebanks

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Bee Vac
« Reply #1 on: May 10, 2005, 09:05:34 am »
Howdy,

I just read about your bee vac and would love to build one fast as I have a swarm in one of my trees and I have tried everything to get them down!

My wife and I were planning to split one of our hives but the weather has been crappy for weeks...so the hive split itself...hench the swarm! The bloody bees are about 40 feet up and we have tried everything short of cutting the tree down to get at them...

I am not that keen on hights and it would be my luck to cut the limb off only to have the swarm and the limb fall on me while I'm 30 feet up in the tree...the vacuum is the answer...I have the plans for the bee vac that is all over the internet I just don't have the time to build it...your trick I believe is the short term solution...

Do you have any pictures you can post or email me I really need to see how you made it to understand what to do...sorry I'm a hands on type person...I'll leave my email address or you can just post them here.

Thank in advance,

Will Banks
willebanks@yahoo.com

Offline TwT

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Bee Vac = Shop Vac
« Reply #2 on: May 10, 2005, 11:44:12 am »
Will, I didnt change nothing on the shop vac, never cut holes or anything, all i did is to restrict the suction so that it wouldn't draw the bee's so fast that it would kill them, I'll try to load some pic's.
THAT's ME TO THE LEFT JUST 5 MONTHS FROM NOW!!!!!!!!

Never be afraid to try something new.
Amateurs built the ark,
Professionals built the Titanic

Offline TwT

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Bee Vac = Shop Vac
« Reply #3 on: May 10, 2005, 01:50:50 pm »
and the good thing about it when its all over I still have my shop vac!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D  :wink:
THAT's ME TO THE LEFT JUST 5 MONTHS FROM NOW!!!!!!!!

Never be afraid to try something new.
Amateurs built the ark,
Professionals built the Titanic

Offline Agility Mom

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Bee Vac = Shop Vac
« Reply #4 on: May 10, 2005, 09:44:31 pm »
This is great! The pictures make it very clear.
Judy

Offline bill

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five gal of bees
« Reply #5 on: May 19, 2005, 06:29:24 pm »
when you remove bees in this manner do you hive the bees? what are the chances of the queen being there? If not I guess you could let them raise their own. I just got a swarm that looked like maybe a gal and a half. That was twice the size of the other two swarms I have got before that is a lot of bees
billiet

Offline TwT

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Bee Vac = Shop Vac
« Reply #6 on: May 25, 2005, 10:25:34 pm »
Bill, yes I hive them, but when I do I dont check them for about 3 weeks, I get therre comb and frame them with rubber bands and always make sure I find the comb with eggs and then about 2 weeks later I find the rubber bands broke and the bees dragging them out of the hive, after about 30 days I have been going into the hive and so for I find some fresh laid eggs, havent found the queen yet in a removal, but the way 2 of them were acting after a day in there new home (1 restless the other calm) atlest one queen made it I think.
THAT's ME TO THE LEFT JUST 5 MONTHS FROM NOW!!!!!!!!

Never be afraid to try something new.
Amateurs built the ark,
Professionals built the Titanic

Offline TwT

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Bee Vac = Shop Vac
« Reply #7 on: March 08, 2006, 12:09:19 pm »
1 thing I found out is that when doing a removal, the queens usually leave the comb and they are in the bunch of bee's that are left were the hive use to be, I stile have never found the queen but the last removal I did my wife was helping me and i had done removed all the comb, she was vacing the remainder of bee's and found not 1 queen but 2, she caught both queens with queen catchers
and when I installed the bee's in the hive I just released the queens in the frames, thats the main reason you need a safe vac flow so you want kill the queens if you happen to vac them up.....
THAT's ME TO THE LEFT JUST 5 MONTHS FROM NOW!!!!!!!!

Never be afraid to try something new.
Amateurs built the ark,
Professionals built the Titanic

Offline To Bee Or Not To Bee

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Bee Vac = Shop Vac
« Reply #8 on: March 19, 2006, 10:40:03 am »
Ted
I saw your  bee vac and it got me thinking.  I looked around my shop and found a one gallon shop vac that was to weak suck up dirt well.   One man's trash is another's treasure. I took the vac heed off and mounted it on a lid of a 5 gallon plastic paint bucket with a hardware cloth cover on the underside to keep the bees from being sucked in to the motor. Then I installed a new smooth and clear hose so the bees could be seen going down.  A 1.5 inch hole was cut in the top with a cover over the hole to adjust the the amound of vacuum.  I am a newbee and looking forward to try this piece of old-new equipment

John

Offline TwT

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Bee Vac = Shop Vac
« Reply #9 on: March 19, 2006, 10:56:55 am »
John, have you tried it yet to see if it would hurt any bee's, a friend of mine made one like your talking about and on the opposite side from were the hose connects to the bucket he glue a piece of foam so the bee's would hit the foam when sucked in the bucket instead of hitting the side of the bucket, if you haven't tried it yet, just try it on some of your bee's, you want to make sure it doesn't hurt any bee's because alot of times you will not find the queen in removals and end up vacuming her up..... just some thought's...... good luck!!!
THAT's ME TO THE LEFT JUST 5 MONTHS FROM NOW!!!!!!!!

Never be afraid to try something new.
Amateurs built the ark,
Professionals built the Titanic

Offline To Bee Or Not To Bee

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Bee Vac = Shop Vac
« Reply #10 on: March 19, 2006, 07:36:13 pm »
Tedd
I am not done with the vac.  I am plaining to rap the inside and bottom in foam.  I think that's a great idea of trying on my own bees.  After I try I let you know how it went.
John

Offline super dave

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Bee Vac = Shop Vac
« Reply #11 on: March 19, 2006, 09:22:54 pm »
i've never tried it but could you plug the shop vac into a dimmer switch and slow down the speed of the vac to be easier on the bees hhhmmmmmmm deep thoughts
lets throw it in the air and see which  way it splatters

Offline fredtioga

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reducing voltage on the motor might burn it out
« Reply #12 on: April 07, 2006, 01:22:47 pm »
as it will draw more current.   That is why brown outs kill motors.

Offline heavenlyhomestead

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Re: Bee Vac = Shop Vac
« Reply #13 on: January 30, 2015, 03:15:19 pm »
I am not seeing any pictures. Can you please email one to me. I am having a hard time envisioning your setup. :embarassed:

Offline buzzbee

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Re: Bee Vac = Shop Vac
« Reply #14 on: February 08, 2015, 10:28:08 pm »
Sadly the hosting site TWT used is no longer in existence. We can  host the photos directly on Beemaster ,so hopefully this won't be as big of an issue. This was a post from 10 years ago.
 In the meantime, here are plans from Robo, one of the site admins if you care to look at his plans for a bee vac:
http://robo.bushkillfarms.com/beekeeping/bee-vac/