Swarm traps.

[bakerjw]

The other day, I watched a video on youtube put together by Duck River Honey.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tK47OiXhHg

Several years back, I bought some bees from a shyster who was selling bees that he didn't have. The state got involved and it was a fiasco. I had a new hive and all I wanted was a colony of bees but was unable to obtain them at the time. Anyway, fast forward to a couple of weeks ago where there was a thread about keeping bees and it caused me to drag out my hives. In the past, we've had swarms pass through so I opted to set out a pair of 10 slot supers as swarm traps.

From the video by DRH, I liked his idea of building an empty box and placing it underneath a super that is full of frames with foundation installed. Swarms don't like tight places so that is why I am using an empty box below a super. Oftentimes when swarms set up in a typical swarm trap they start building honeycomb and it requires some work to get it integrated into standard frames. So I built 2 large empty boxes and put a 10 slot super on top of each on both ends of our property. To lure in and swarms, I'm using lemongrass oil. There are some pheromone lures on the market but not all of them that I've seen seem to be legitimate.

Typically bees swarm from April through May; however, our weather has been quite cool so I would be presuming that it might run a little later this year. With warmer weather ahead, I hope that I will catch the attention of a swarm and they'll take up housekeeping. In a worst case scenario, I'll manage to get 2 swarms and will then have to pick up some additional supers and other assorted pieces.

Pics to come later.

[MrWolf]

Sounds interesting. Keep us informed of your progress please.

[ryanmattes]

Sounds like the right approach, but it may be a bit late in the year. Like you said, though, that cold snap has everything off schedule.

Push come to shove you can order a package (10k) of bees with a mated queen delivered for around $200, or if you don't mind driving for pickup more like $140.

After all mine died in the cold snap, I got new packages from Mann Lake.
https://www.mannlakeltd.com/shop-all...omponents/bees

Mine are growing fast now. Half the frames are full of brood.

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[bakerjw]

sorry to hear that you lost your bees. Yes, I might be late in the year but one never knows.
Glad the new ones are doing well.

[Hodagtrapper]

Cool spring here too. I have out two sets of supers hoping for a swarm. Also have lemon grass oil soaked Q-tips inside as an attractant. Best of luck to you.

Chris

[Alstep]

Real bad winter for bees here. I lost all mine, and bee keeper club reports a 90% loss overall.
Prices for a package with queen are about like powder and primers!

[ryanmattes]

Real bad winter for bees here. I lost all mine, and bee keeper club reports a 90% loss overall.
Prices for a package with queen are about like powder and primers!

I bought mine early, as soon as the freeze was over. Within 24 hours after I bought them, the prices jumped 20%.

There's a beekeeping supply place about 40 minutes from me, and when I went in there last week they said all their bees are still acting weird after the freeze. They said something like 70% of their hives re-queened themselves in the past month, no idea why.

Good luck everybody. It's gonna be a weird season.

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[bakerjw]

Well... This has been unexpected.
Bees LOVE lemon grass oil...

Both of my swarm traps are seeing some bee activity. One out by our wood storage area is crawling with bees. I do not think that it is a swarm though. Just a lot of bees drawn to the scent of lemon grass oil. I'll take a peek inside after dark and possibly add another hole or 2 to make it easier to get them in and out. But, boy are they active.

[ryanmattes]

Hopefully with that much activity, at least one of them will report back a good place to call home.

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[Gator 45/70]

Well... This has been unexpected.
Bees LOVE lemon grass oil...

Both of my swarm traps are seeing some bee activity. One out by our wood storage area is crawling with bees. I do not think that it is a swarm though. Just a lot of bees drawn to the scent of lemon grass oil. I'll take a peek inside after dark and possibly add another hole or 2 to make it easier to get them in and out. But, boy are they active.

Well that certainly is good news and an interesting topic, Neighbor had a couple of hives, Don't know if they survived the big freeze.

I can truthfully say I probably know enough about bees to get the snot stung out of me, But still interesting as to how you're getting new hives started.

[bakerjw]

So... I had range duty this afternoon. As I was backing out of the driveway, I noticed that one of my hives was covered with something. On further inspection, I found this...

SUCCESS!!!! in only 4 days! It seems to be a very large swarm. The mistake that I made was putting in one smallish hole rather than a few. The bees are in the hive and were clustered around the queen this evening, so I slid the hive off of the base and lifted the top cover. I had to disturb the bees that had their legs linked together to get them moving around and to find the new openings. I am hoping that they all make their way in before nightfall.

After dark, I will try to get the assembly back together and put a spacer between the hive and the trap base. In a few days, I well remove that at night and move the entire hive onto the base board and remove the trap bottom.

[ryanmattes]

Nice catch!

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