The most important point is to avoid any breaking any comb, because the bees will be blown against the exposed honey and there they will stick! The honey will also be blown in a very fine spray and this will cover bees and equipment (such as a chute). This will also encourage robbing.

To avoid these problems, I try to ensure that all supers are cracked apart on the visit prior to the harvest so that the bees clean up any brace comb and loose honey before my visit to collect the supers; odd bits of brace comb between the supers can be removed with the hive tool and placed on the crown board and bees will come up through the feed hole, remove the honey and leave dry wax.

I would strongly advise against removing, or even disturbing, any of the frames prior to blowing for two reasons: firstly, because any damage to the comb - perhaps by breaking brace comb - will lead to the problems outlined above and, secondly, because the very powerful air stream can easily blow frames out of the super when stood on end.

Start by smoking from the top to drive bees down - this will leave fewer bees to blow out. I do not use a chute or stand, but work in one of two ways to suit the conditions:

If the bees are in a good mood, I often simply stand behind the hive, slide the super forward slightly and lift the front so that it is stood on end with the frames vertical and the top bars towards me. I blow out most of the bees and then stand it on its other end with the bottom bars towards me and blow out the rest. The super is then removed and the next one cleared in the same way.

However, if we are just at the end of a flow, it can be difficult to keep the bees down working this way, so I then remove the supers and place them on an upturned roof either beside or about 4' in front of the hive, put the crown board back on the hive and then clear the supers. If there is robbing then it may be best to clear one hive at a time, otherwise the supers can be removed from a number of hives before starting blowing - this has the advantage that many bees will leave the supers and return to the hive before you start blowing, or will cluster below the lowest super from where they are easily dislodged.

I always try to blow bees up into the air rather than into the ground or straight at the hive - I want them to live a bit longer!

It is important to blow from the top of the super first - combs are often thicker at the top and blowing from the bottom first will wedge lumps of bees between the combs.

It is much easier to blow bees off sealed honey as they have less footholds.

The blower nozzle should be waggled from side to side, rather than simply directing a steady stream of air at the bees - this catches them off their guard and they lose their grip. (I once had a bee in the car which I allowed to crawl on to my finger and then put my hand out of the window to get rid of it; to my surprise, it simply held tight - we were travelling at 70 mph at the time!)

Position the blower motor as far as possible from the hives; the bees hate the vibration and are also very sensitive to the high voltage to the sparking plug - they will sting the rubber cap on it and, if there are enough of them, may even stall the engine by forming a bridge between the plug cap and the earth lever used to stop the engine.

It is not necessary to remove every last bee, especially if working at an out-apiary. Flying bees will often land back on the supers when you have finished blowing, but this does not matter as they will leave later; however, it is important to dislodge young bees that will not be inclined to fly. I stack supers on the trailer as I work, covering them loosely if there is any robbing and then, when I have finished, drive a couple of hundred yards away and stop for a few minutes; covers are removed and most the bees left in the supers fly back to the apiary. Sometimes it is worth driving a bit further and then stopping again.