Question about bee-vac

[gardeningfireman]

I am building a bee-vac. Budget is tight. Clear, smooth 1.25" hose is expensive ($2.50/ft) and also very stiff. I picked up a drain hose with the ribs(corrugated) for about $10. It is a 24 ft pump hose and is a lot more flexible than the smooth hose. Question; Will the corrugations kill too many of the bees, or does it not make much of a difference?
I also am going to put some padding on the sloped bottom board to cushion the bees' landing in the box.
Thanks!

[iddee]

I use the hose that came with the vac. If I need more, I use a number of hard, smooth, tapered extensions I have picked up at yard sales. Only the first few feet need to be flexible.

[Robo]

I know the common talking point is corrugated hose kills bees, but I disagree.  Personally I think the diameter of the hose is more important.  The larger the diameter, they less collisions on the way through the hose.   I use 2 1/2 inch corrugated shop vac hose almost exclusively with little to no bee casualties.   I also believe amount of suction is the bigger threat that hose material.   I adjust the suction to be just strong enough to pull the bees off the comb with a little coaxing.  The higher the suction, the faster the bees move through the hose and the harder the stop at the end.

I also use a 25ft of 1 1/2 corrugated pool hose for really high swarm.   Other than clogging easier,  I haven't noticed a higher mortality.   My personal choice is 2 1/2 corrugated shop vac hose.

I answered a similar question the other day -> http://robo.bushkillfarms.com/bushkill-bee-vac/

[Scadsobees]

I use 1.5 inch corrugated pool hose.  But the corrugations on the inside are pretty flat, so it works well.  Not zero mortality, but the queen survived the rollercoaster ride last time anyway.

I agree, it isn't the ride that is so deadly, it is the stop at the end.

[kedgel]

Dittos to the above.  I use the big hose off my HD shop-vac with an adapter to step down to the smaller hose that came with my dinky shopvac.  The hose from the little one was too short, so I borrow my hose from my big shopvac.  My bee-vac has an adjustment so that the bees don't get pulverized by too much vacuum.  Lower vacuum means the bees will likely log-jam in the hose, rather than get killed on the way down.  If I take my time and don't "bite off more than the hose can chew" I avoid clogs and don't kill bees.  I have done several cut-outs with mine and haven't killed any bees to speak of.  I built mine from plans I got free from www.beesource.com.  I used scrap lumber I had around the house and the vac was cheap.  I think I had about $35 in mine.

Kelly

[marksmith]

I built an offshoot of Robo's vac. (I have a rim going around the top and bottom to capture the top/bottom of the hive to add some stability when its strapped and full of angry bees)

I used 1.25" pool hose from Lowes. Cost is 12 bucks for 20'.  Its currogated, but the inside is fairly smooth.


All total I have about 50 bucks in mine.

[gardeningfireman]

Sounds like most have pretty much the same setup. Hopefully, I will get to try it out soon! :-D