Using a Bee Escape Board

A bee escape board is the easiest and gentlest way to remove bees from the honey supers so that you can harvest honey. They are fairly simple pieces of equipment, but they don't come with instructions, so here's a quick how-to.

How-to

1. Make sure there is no brood in the honey super (this is very important as the nurse bees will not leave the brood!).

2. Remove the honey supers

3. Place the escape board with the triangle or cones DOWN.

4. Replace the honey supers above the bee escape.

5. Put the lid on, ensuring there is no way for bees to get in (close the top entrance or remove the inner cover completely).

6. Tape up any cracks between boxes.

7. Return in 2 days to remove the honey supers.

TIMING TIP: We like to put the bee escapes on when it is nice and sunny and the bees are out foraging. Then we like to pull the honey off the hives in the early morning or late afternoon before too many bees are flying so that they aren't getting into the honey as we try to move it.