Any scouts at your swarm trap?

[Do224]

You could be right and bees were scouting at both traps over a 7 day period it took the fill the traps 3 times but Seeley describes the scouts coming to a consensus before the swarm leaves the bivouac or hive. I'm pretty sure they don't change their mind mid flight.

Yeah but if two swarm traps are right next to each other (or even within a good few metres of each other) wouldn’t the consensus be for ‘that area’ rather than one or other box? I bet the waggle dance looks identical whether it relates to box A or box B if they are very close to each other.

Im not saying they change their mind mid flight…I’m saying perhaps 60% of the scouts are heading to box A and 40% are heading to box B and it just depends which scouts the queen ends up following at the last minute as to which bait hive the swarm ends up in.

I’m not saying I’m right…it’s just a theory

 

[Parsonage Bees]

After 3 weeks of variable levels of interest in my 2 bait hives, it is now completely quiet. And has been for a couple of days. ?
. . ... Ben

 

[Newbeeneil]

Yeah but if two swarm traps are right next to each other (or even within a good few metres of each other) wouldn’t the consensus be for ‘that area’ rather than one or other box? I bet the waggle dance looks identical whether it relates to box A or box B if they are very close to each other.

Im not saying they change their mind mid flight…I’m saying perhaps 60% of the scouts are heading to box A and 40% are heading to box B and it just depends which scouts the queen ends up following at the last minute as to which bait hive the swarm ends up in.

I’m not saying I’m right…it’s just a theory

I now have 3 bait boxes within 5m of each other 20, 30 and 35lt. All were being investigated today, it will be interesting to see which they go for in the end.

 

[Do224]

After 3 weeks of variable levels of interest in my 2 bait hives, it is now completely quiet. And has been for a couple of days. ?
. . ... Ben

Thats just the way it goes. Perhaps try a different location with the one that got the least interest. Somewhere quiet, above head height and south facing

 

[Sutty]

Loads of scouts in my bait hive this afternoon (got a webcam in there).
I don't think they can be from my hives -
- unless I missed a cell when I cut back to one recently, I which case there may be a swarm with a virgin queen somewhere nearby.
Anyone care to bet which it is?

 

[Sutty]

Well sure enough - got home at 8.45pm, found a smallish swarm hanging low down in my Holly tree. Only 2 hives it could be from really, I evidently missed a QC and this is the result. Hope it's the only one
I will be reuniting a few colonies ASAP.

 

[RonM]

I now have 3 bait boxes within 5m of each other 20, 30 and 35lt. All were being investigated today, it will be interesting to see which they go for in the end.

As a very curious outsider, is it not possible that a large swarm of 10,000+ bees could contain a number of queens? Would they all migrate to one box, or would different scout bees attract a preferred individual queen to their selected box? I have watched the YouTube videos were the beekeeper has caged a number of queens from a single swarm. Probably this would be a wild swarm, or from an unregulated hive.

 

[Erichalfbee]

If they were clustered separately maybe but usually they coalesce and sort one queen out.

 

[RonM]

Thanks for the reply - always wondered if commercial beekepers used a block of swarm traps!

 

[Erichalfbee]

I think commercial beekeepers just let them go.
They can’t afford to catch swarms unless they see one coming from one of their own colonies. They would all have to be quarantined

 

[RonM]

That is a very good bio-security point. Do most non-commercial beekeepers have access to a quarantine apiary? With all my good intentions of having set up a swarm trap and expecting a local beekeeper to take them off my hands, am I not asking/pressuring them to take in a possible dodgy swarm?

 

[Erichalfbee]

I’m sure they do Ron but how do you handle the situation where you have one swarm out there at the beginning of the week and another day three days later and then another. Do you have three or more?

 

[RonM]

Interesting situation then! I suppose it pays to have a good number of understanding friends and relatives with large gardens? Thanks.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Interesting situation then! I suppose it pays to have a good number of understanding friends and relatives with large gardens? Thanks.

Sorry Ron. I should have read you post properly


That is a very good bio-security point. Do most non-commercial beekeepers have access to a quarantine apiary?


I missed the non commercial bit
The answer is that most people don’t I don’t but I keep swarms in the garden and move them to the apiary quarter of a mile away in the winter

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I wonder if many 'commercial' beekeepers have quarantine apiaries (for swarms that is) or whether they have the time or the inclination to hare around the country chasing swarms.

 

[Sutty]

I wonder if many 'commercial' beekeepers have quarantine apiaries (for swarms that is) or whether they have the time or the inclination to hare around the country chasing swarms.

I'd imagine they only collect swarms that pitch within the apiaries' immediate vicinity, so they are confident it came from their hives. I spoke to one recently who went to their hives on pollination duty in April to find a swarm on the outside of a hive. I presumed from the conversation that they collected it.

 

[RonM]

Is there a 'recommended' quarantine period for captured swarms that would allow any infections, or bad traits to be sorted out? This must come with experience and I had not given this much thought when making my swarm trap! Is a collected swarm a gift or a curse for the beekeeper? This all helps to fill in the gaps of my limited knowledge.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Is there a 'recommended' quarantine period for captured swarms that would allow any infections, or bad traits to be sorted out? This must come with experience and I had not given this much thought when making my swarm trap! Is a collected swarm a gift or a curse for the beekeeper? This all helps to fill in the gaps of my limited knowledge.

A brood cycle ideally but if you consider that the general recommendation is that swarms are not fed for three days so that any disease carried in the honey is converted to comb maybe that's the job done.......Not sure

 

[Erichalfbee]

I'd imagine they only collect swarms that pitch within the apiaries' immediate vicinity, so they are confident it came from their hives. I spoke to one recently who went to their hives on pollination duty in April to find a swarm on the outside of a hive. I presumed from the conversation that they collected it.

And yet I have twice found very large prime swarms in my apiary neither from my colonies

 

[Newbeeneil]

And yet I have twice found very large prime swarms in my apiary neither from my colonies

Indeed, I put bait hives in all my apiaries to indicate if scouts from my hives are interested and if I see activity I give my hives a thorough search. I don't actually think I've caught any of my own swarms in them tho because I clip all my queens and the two swarms I've had in those boxes this year have both been prime swarms, one neatly marked!