To prepare for honey harvest, the biggest dilemma for a new beekeeper is: how do I get to my honey without the bees? There are several ways to remove bees from a honey super, but a lot of methods often involve in the moment action (brushing bees from frames, using a smoker, etc). One way to proactively remove honeybees from honey supers is by placing either a bee escape board or a fume board the day before harvesting.
A fume board works by being placed on the top of the hive after being sprayed with some form of bee repellant. It will push the bees further into the colony, sending them down into the brood box, clearing the honey super of as many bees as possible.
A bee escape board works by being placed between the brood and the honey super, acting as a divider. The escape board is solid wood except for a maze that has an opening in the middle. This opening allows bees to crawl down from the honey super into the brood box, but they cannot go from the brood box to the honey super. A lot of beekeepers have a lot of success with being able to just pop the honey super off and taking it for extraction.
It is up to you and your beekeeping goals if you should use one, however a lot of beekeepers find them helpful when preparing for honey harvest.
