How NOT to Remove Honeybees from a Super

Excitement in a new venture is a good thing...it helps a newbie to take their dumb mistakes in stride. As time goes by and excitement wanes, it is replaced with wisdom and satisfaction. And, the dumb mistakes become funny stories to share!

When we first got honeybees, we were excited. And, when it came time to harvest our first super of honey...we were VERY excited! The moment we had been waiting for! Except. The super we had our eyes on had several thousand honeybees living there, who were not really keen on sharing their honey. We had taken the super off the hive and had it in the yard...but how to remove the honeybees without hurting them? The WRONG answer was the gas powered leaf blower, but it was the answer we came up with, none the less. Can you imagine? Yes? Too bad we didn't! I have to say, it WAS effective at removing the bees from the honey frames in the super. But...where did the bees end up? In an unbelievably huge and angry cloud that encompassed our sizable yard, dive bombing anything that moved...and they stayed there for the rest of the day.

We never did that again...or at least, not that way! Next post I will tell you how we now remove the honeybees from the honey supers we are harvesting, as well as some of the other ways that other folks harvest their honey.