Lesson 71: Getting the Bees Off the Honey Supers

Three ways to take honey without taking the bees with it

Your supers are ready (lesson 70). Now you need to take them off with as few bees in them as possible. Bees in the supers end up in your honey house, in your kitchen, or crushed in the extractor. Here are the main methods, from simplest to most equipment.

Before you start

• Pick a good day: warm, calm, with bees flying and ideally a nectar flow on, so they're busy and calm. Harvesting in a dearth invites robbing (lesson 50).
• Work quickly and cover the supers as soon as you take them off (a lid, a cloth or a sheet). Exposed honey attracts robbers from every hive nearby.
• Have empty boxes, lids and a cart ready, and somewhere bee-tight to put the honey.
• Light your smoker (lesson 32), but use as little smoke as possible on the honey so it doesn't pick up a smoky taste.

Method 1: Brushing or shaking (a few frames)

For a few frames, the simplest way: 1. Lift out a capped frame. 2. Shake it sharply in front of the hive or into the open hive so most bees drop off. 3. Brush off the rest with a soft bee brush, using quick, light strokes. (Brushing slowly irritates the bees.) 4. Put the frame straight into an empty covered box.

Good for small harvests and cut-comb frames. For many supers, it's slow and stirs up the bees.

Method 2: Bee escape board (overnight)

A bee escape is a small device that lets bees pass one way but not back. It fits into the hole in an inner cover (or a special escape board). 1. Put the escape board under the supers you want to take, above the brood boxes, with the escape pointing down into the brood area. 2. Over the next day or so, bees leave the supers to rejoin the colony below and can't get back up. 3. Take the nearly empty supers off.

Tips: make sure the supers have no cracks or holes, or robbers will get in and empty them. Don't leave the board on much longer than needed (a day or two). Escapes work poorly if there's brood in the supers (bees won't leave brood) or if the queen is up there. (Remember: moving supers or combs around can also spread small hive beetles; lesson 64.)

Method 3: Fume board with bee repellent (fast)

A fume board is a lid lined with absorbent cloth, often painted black to heat in the sun. You apply a commercial bee repellent to the cloth, replace the hive lid with the fume board, and the scent drives the bees down out of the supers, often within minutes.

• Use only products sold for this purpose, and follow the label exactly: amount, temperature range, time.
• It works best on warm, sunny days. Don't overdo it: too much or too long can drive bees out of the hive entirely, or leave a smell.
• Work one or two supers at a time.

After removal

• Keep supers covered and bee-tight until you extract.
• Extract promptly: within a day or two if you can, especially where small hive beetles are common (lesson 64). Supers left sitting also absorb moisture in humid weather.
• Stack supers on a clean surface, not on the ground (ants, beetles).

What to remember

• Harvest on a warm, calm day, ideally during a flow; cover honey at once to avoid robbing.
• Few frames: shake and brush quickly.
• Escape board: one-way exit under the supers; bees gone in a day or so; supers must be tight, no brood.
• Fume board: registered repellent per label; fast; warm, sunny days.
• Extract promptly after removal.

Quick check

1. Where does the bee escape board go?
2. Why cover supers as soon as they come off?
3. Why might a bee escape fail to clear a super?

Adapted from: Mississippi State University Extension, Beginning Beekeeping in Mississippi (P3594); Purdue Extension, Learning About Beekeeping (4-H-1057) and Advanced Beekeeping (4-H-1059); UF/IFAS Extension, Welcome to the Apiary! (4H446, 2024); Delaplane, Honey Bees and Beekeeping (UGA Bulletin 1045, rev. 2017); UGA Bee Program, Honey Bee Disorders: Small Hive Beetle.

Adapted from university Extension sources. Experienced Georgia beekeepers are reviewing these lessons. See something that doesn't match your experience? Tell us.