Make your own vacuum swarm remover

Years ago I saw a heavy wooden swarm collecting device made from a brood box and a lot of extra wood, plus a vacuum cleaner. Having discussed its use with the owner I decided it was far too cumbersome to be really practical in difficult situations. I came up with a simpler device that you can carry up a ladder in one hand. Here it is.

The cutting list consists of:_

• One large plastic tub with lid – my tubs are about 35cm tall and 30 cm in diameter at the top.
• One small plastic tub with lid, mine is about 20cm by 20cm.
• One small vacuum cleaner – I use a vintage Dustette model inherited from my mother –in –law, minus its dust bag. A cordless vac would be OK if its suction was strong enough but most sorts have very awkward shaped ends that are hard to attach to the apparatus securely. Ordinary house cylinder vacs are usually too powerful and mash the bees.
• Hose from a modern cylinder vacuum cleaner (the Dustette has no hose)
• Disc of plywood cut to fit inside the top opening of the big tub and with  two holes in it, a small one for the vac. hose and a big one for the base of the smaller plastic tub. (See picture to make this clear). It must be a little smaller than the lid or the tub will not close properly.

	The lid sandwich before screwing together. In fact the green mesh was put inside the blue tub.
	Underside of the sandwich. The four pegs are on the ends of the screws, rather like lock nuts. note space round the wood disc so that the lid fits on a big tub (not shown)
	Closer view to show assembly of the sandwich.

• Ring of plywood to fit snug inside the smaller tub, with a large central hole in it.
• Piece of mesh to stop bees at the lid level in the big tub. I used plastic meant for a varroa floor. Cloth would do but might not last long.
• A few screws for making the lid sandwich.
• Spare big tubs with perforated lids to swap when full and carry away the bees. I made the holes in the lids using a small soldering iron as a hot drill.

How it works

Twigs are put in the big tub so the bees have something to cluster on.

The air is sucked out of the top small tub through a hole in its lid by the vacuum cleaner.

This in turn sucks air up through the bee-proof mesh out of the big tub below.

The bees are drawn in through the hose which enters the big tub alongside the small tub base, which is off centre on the big tub lid,

Any where that leaks is sealed up with sticky tape or by stuffing in J cloths or foam.

A U shaped cut about 3cm wide and 3cm long is made in the side of the top small tub. This acts as a suction regulator and bleeds in air so that the bees are not catapulted to their deaths by entering at too high a speed. And a hole in the top lid is cut to take the suction end of the vacuum cleaner tightly.

Assembly is fairly simple too.

First you cut the two wood discs so that you can screw through the bigger plastic lid and make a sandwich with the mesh sheet in the bottom of the top tub:-   wood / mesh / bottom of small tub / big lid / wood.  Put in several strategically placed screws to hold big lid firmly onto bottom of little tub with the mesh firmly gripped. 

Now attach the sucker up hose to the hole in the lid sandwich, making sure it’s a good fit and air doesn’t leak in around it.

Keep the metal straight bits of the hose as they are very useful for getting bees out of remote corners or picking them off combs.

That’s it. Nothing else to do but plug in and suck up bees. You can have a look at the bees by opening the top tub and looking down through the mesh – they can’t get out and don’t seem to realise that the hose is an exit.

When you think there are enough bees in the tub or all have been sucked up, give the tub a thump so they drop down and quickly change the lid for one with air holes. Then you can put the vac onto a second tub and collect more bees.  I made my air holes with a soldering iron.
    
I can't remember how many times other people have come to borrow this device.
By the way, give the hose a regular wash through as it sometimes gets clogged with honey on messier jobs and then bees stick to it.

HOME FOR SOLITARY BEES IN YOUR GARDEN

In a few minutes of spare time you can make your garden a much better environment for solitary bees, adding interest and improving pollination with no further effort.

Look out your electric drill and a wide selection of drill bits, of several sizes and as long as you can find. You also need a fence post, tree stump, bit of waste timber, log or whatever else you can find, in which to drill holes.

Fix your wood where it is protected from the weather if possible (mine is under the eaves of my shed) and drill as many holes as you can, of as many different sizes as you can, approximately horizontally or sloping slightly upwards inside so any rainwater runs out, not in.

That's it. Wait for the bees to find the holes. Different kinds like different sizes. You will see female bees entering and leaving until they have filled the hole with eggs and food, when the entrance will be sealed up, with mud usually, but also with cut leaves.

No danger of stings, no maintenance, just leave it there. In spring new bees will emerge and do it all over again.  You may even spot parasitic species that lay eggs in other bees' nests.

Another way of doing much the same thing is to cut bamboo or drinking straws to length, pack them into tin cans or jars and hang these under the eaves horizontally.  The advantage for study is that the tubes can be taken out and inspected.