Bee Vac (RENTAL UNIT per day)

Most of the time specialized equipment isn’t needed to perform cutouts or catch a swarm. But bees occasionally get themselves into spots that are tricky to access, like in a wall cavity or high up in a tree.

A safe and simple solution for the beekeeper is to suck them up with a bee vacuum.

What are bee vacuums?

A bee vacuum is a low-powered vacuum cleaner, purpose-built for sucking up honey bees without injuring or killing them. It is useful for removing an unwanted rogue colony or a docile swarm in an awkward place.

The main purpose of a bee vac is to transfer a colony from point A to B without endangering the safety of the beekeeper or colony. It should never be to used to exterminate bees by vacuuming them up and discarding them.

A bee vacuum uses negative pressure to create suction, like a regular household vacuum. But its sucking power is much lower, meaning it couldn’t be used for everyday cleaning. The bee vac requires a delicate balance: strong enough to suck in bees, but not so powerful that the bees get injured or die.

Benefits of a bee vac

There are several benefits to using a bee vacuum that relates to efficiency and safety – both for the beekeeper and bees.

• Allows beekeepers to safely capture swarms in hard-to-reach places like recesses, chimneys, and high up tree branches.
• Unwanted hives containing potentially aggressive rogue bees can be removed with little contact.
• An efficient way to collect bees quickly and consistently.

7 tips for using a bee vacuum

1. Use protective gear to avoid bee stings, even if you don’t usually wear any. This sucking device is a threat to the colony and they may attack, especially if you experience gear malfunction.
2. Perform multiple tests to make sure everything works. Make sure you’re comfortable using the vac before doing it for real.
3. When possible, wait until nightfall as the bees will be in a relaxed state or sleeping. Ideally, you’ll be able to quickly hoover them up before they know what’s going on.
4. Have a good understanding of your hive components so that the offload is super-efficient with minimal disruption.
5. If the container gets too full they’ll overheat, so transfer them to a nuc on site.
6. Check the relief gate is open to avoid using too much suction power and killing the bees.
7. Beekeepers will often use smoke to calm the bees before using a vac. Don’t use too much as the bees may overeat the honey and regurgitate it when sucked up.