Practical beekeeping - how to make a bee evacuator

Isiaka A Salawu, PFHG, Federal Government Girls’ College, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria

Keywords: honey bee management, Nigeria, West Africa

In BfDJ 93 Isiaka Salawu described his method of making protective headgear for beekeepers. Here he describes another piece of equipment - the bee evacuator.

A bee evacuator is designed to collect bees from a location where their presence poses a problem to humans and the bees. This could be in house walls, tree holes, ceilings in houses and other locations regularly occupied by bees.

Isiaka Salawu and his bee evacuator

PHOTOS © ISIAKA A SALAWU

Advantages

A bee evacuator offers these advantages:

1. Prompt evacuation of bees from environments where they may be regarded as a threat to humans. 2. An evacuation method which does not destroy the bees or their nest.

3. Evacuated bee colonies can be used as foundation stock for starting or increasing beekeeping, or sold to another beekeeper.

4. A service can be offered to individuals and organisations on a fee paying basis.

Materials

3 mm iron rods or flat bars

1 m nylon net

Use of an oxy-acetylene or electric welder

Procedure

STEP I: Take the light iron rods or flat bars to the welder and cut them into four groups as follows:

• 4-6 pieces 30 cm in length

• 4-6 pieces 10 cm in length

• 2 pieces 220 cm in length

• 1 piece 22 cm in length

STEP 2: The pieces of 220 cm rod or flat bar should be turned into circular rings 30 cm in diameter. Using the rings to form the two ends of a cylindrical frame, weld the 6 pieces of 30 cm rods or flat bars at regular intervals (about 5 cm) to each other. Equal numbers of rods and flat bars should be used, that is 2 iron rods with 2 flat bars or 3 iron rods with 3 flat bars. This will ensure rigidity of the evacuator.

STEP 3: Weld the other 6 pieces of 10 cm rods or flat bars at the top end of the cylinder. An equal number of rods and flat bars again must be used.

STEP 4: Bend the rods or flat bars inwards to make a ring 3 cm in diameter at the extreme end.

STEP 5: Weld the extreme end of the 10 cm rods or flat bars in Step 4 to the 3 cm diameter ring to create the mouth of the evacuator.

Note: In this design, the iron rods and flat bars were used in the ratio of 2:2.

The metal frame for the bee evacuator

STEP 6

Sew the nylon in two pieces:

• One as a cylindrical sack 32 cm in diameter and 22 cm long.

• One in a funnel shape 32 cm in diameter at base and 5 cm at the extreme end.

Two pieces of nylon net are required

STEP 7

• Slide the metallic cylinder into the net sack.

• Superimpose the funnel shaped net ensuring that the base overlaps.

• Sew the two pieces together at the join.

The completed bee evacuator

How to use the evacuator

Preliminary activities

1. Advise your clients to be calm and that the bees are their friends. They must not attempt to destroy them with insecticides or fire.

2. Study the bees to ascertain how long they have been at the location.

3. Check whether the bees are using more than one outlet (entry and exit points) and seal all except the most prominent: it is better if there is just one opening.

4. Once you have confirmed that the bees can use only one entrance and exit point the evacuation must be carried out in the evening when most of the foraging worker bees will have returned to the location.

Evacuation exercise

1. You will need an assistant dressed in a protective suit.

2. Use a smoker to puff smoke on to the bees at the outlet.

3. Ask your assistant to place the mouth of the evacuator over the outlet.

4. Make a small hole in line with the outlet at the rear of the wall or tree (you may prefer to wear a protective suit for this).

5. Using a smoker, puff smoke into the wall or tree through the new hole.

Observation

The bees will try to escape through their familiar exit leading them into the evacuator. Once all the bees are in the evacuator your assistant should carry off the evacuator, sealing the mouth with the extra fold of netting to prevent the bees from escaping.

Transferring bees into a hive

Using a hand sprayer, spray the bees in the evacuator with fresh clean water until their wings are too wet for them to flap. At this juncture, the bees should be transferred into a hive which then can be taken to a suitable location for management.

Facts about swarming

• Swarming bees rarely sting.

• Prior to swarming, bees eat a lot of honey to sustain them through the journey. The engorgement of their abdomen caused by the honey makes it difficult for the bees to assume a stinging posture.

• When a colony alights on a wall or tree trunk in a residential area it is usually only a temporary stop-over. As soon as scout bees return with a report on a suitable location, the colony will move on.

• The colony could be sprayed with fresh, cool water, and then brushed into a hive or other container and appropriately re-housed in an apiary or given or sold to a beekeeper.

Never kill a bee

Bees are the symbol of survival of the human race, helping to guarantee food security and sustaining our good health.

The bee evacuator in action

Amendment

The corrected reference for the article published on page 3 of BfD Journal 98 is:

KEBEDE,A.; EJIGU,K.; TASSEW,A. (2011) Dividing honey bee colonies in Ethiopia. Bees for Development Journal 98: 3.