Bait hive etiquette

[scuttlefish]

Okay, now I'm miffed - some *#%t has been setting bait hives near my apiary.

Is he well out of order, or is it my own problem if I can't keep my bees from swarming?

 

[oliver90owner]

An added incentive to make sure there are no swarms from your hives?

A bait hive is only useful for collecting a swarm after the event. Possibly some hours or even days after.

A bit cheeky maybe, but that is all. Better that someone does the job of collecting them than them ending up somewhere inappropriate.

 

[Winker]

An added incentive to make sure there are no swarms from your hives?

A bait hive is only useful for collecting a swarm after the event. Possibly some hours or even days after.

A bit cheeky maybe, but that is all. Better that someone does the job of collecting them than them ending up somewhere inappropriate.

Once they have left the hive then they will look for a new home. If you cant rehome them before the fly off into the sunset tehn good luck to anyone with a bait hive near by

 

[Winker]

An added incentive to make sure there are no swarms from your hives?

A bait hive is only useful for collecting a swarm after the event. Possibly some hours or even days after.

A bit cheeky maybe, but that is all. Better that someone does the job of collecting them than them ending up somewhere inappropriate.

Once they have left the hive then they will look for a new home. If you cant rehome them before they fly off into the sunset then good luck to anyone with a bait hive near by

 

[thorn]

Okay, now I'm miffed - some *#%t has been setting bait hives near my apiary.

Is he well out of order, or is it my own problem if I can't keep my bees from swarming?

How near is "near"? Can you not also set up a bait hive in competition? Many of us less capable beekeepers do, in order to get our own swarms back.

 

[MartinL]

Okay, now I'm miffed - some *#%t has been setting bait hives near my apiary.

Doesn't sound like the actions of an i**ot!

Malevolent, scheming and miscreant genius perhaps!

Are your bees worth me spending the ferry fare?

 

[rae]

Depends how close.

We have caught none of the swarms from our apiary in the bait hives, which are about 200 yards from the existing hives. All of our swarms hang up on trees (if we are on the ball, we catch them), then vanish over the far horizon.

We catch other peoples swarms in our bait hives.

I think bees want to go a decent distance from the old site.

 

[Cazza]

If someone placed bait hives near my bees and they swarmed and settled in one, I think I would be pleased that they were safely hived and not in the neighbour's chimney!
Cazza

 

[Finno]

Unless the bait hives are located on your property, then I don't think there is much you can do about it. Worth noting that the ancient Brehon law in Ireland covered this situation very well....

"If a man found a swarm in the faithche [faha], or green surrounding and belonging to a house: one-fourth of the produce to the end of a year was due to the finder, the remaining three -fourths to the owner of the house. If he found them in a tree growing in a faithche or green: one-half produce for a year to the finder: the rest to the owner. If they were found in land which was not a green: one-third to the finder and two-thirds to the owner of the land. If found in waste land not belonging to an individual, but the common property of the tribe, bees and honey belonged to the finder, except one-ninth to the chief of the tribe. As the bees owned by an individual gathered their honey from the surrounding district, the owners of the four adjacent farms were entitled to a certain small proportion of the honey: and after the third year each was entitled to a swarm. If bees belonging to one man swarmed on the land of another, the produce was divided in certain proportions between the two."

Pat Finnegan

 

[scuttlefish]

Cheers all - I know that once I've lost a swarm it's "finder's keepers" - and once I've lost it I've lost it, whether someone else gets it or not. It just feels a bit cheeky, like RAB said (and an added incentive to improve my swarm prevention/control) - especially when it's not my neighbour's bait hive but it's in my neighbour's garden!

Pat, thanks for that post, really interesting.

 

[scuttlefish]

Doesn't sound like the actions of an i**ot!

That wasn't quite the word I was going for...

And of course my bees would be worth the ferry fare - the finest strain of north Tipperary mongrel black-ish bees there is!

 

[For want of a better word]

Unless the bait hives are located on your property, then I don't think there is much you can do about it. Worth noting that the ancient Brehon law in Ireland covered this situation very well....

Pat Finnegan

Many of us less capable beekeepers do, in order to get our own swarms back.

​

 

[scuttlefish]

Many of us less capable beekeepers do, in order to get our own swarms back.

​

I certainly will be next season - a couple dotted around the wider farm to try to catch whatever my inspections miss. Now where's my copy of that guide Seeley wrote...

 

[itma]

By the time they have gone to a bait hive (or chimney, or whatever) you have missed them twice.
Once, that the swarm wasn't prevented in the first place.
Secondly, you didn't retrieve them while they were 'hanging out' and deciding where they were going to make their new home. Swarms don't usually leave one home and go directly straight into their new home.

... it's not my neighbour's bait hive but it's in my neighbour's garden!

Unfortunately, this seems to be speaking volumes about the state of neighbourly relations. Or perhaps he is just defending his own chimneys!

 

[scuttlefish]

By the time they have gone to a bait hive (or chimney, or whatever) you have missed them twice.
Once, that the swarm wasn't prevented in the first place.
Secondly, you didn't retrieve them while they were 'hanging out' and deciding where they were going to make their new home. Swarms don't usually leave one home and go directly straight into their new home.

Unfortunately, this seems to be speaking volumes about the state of neighbourly relations. Or perhaps he is just defending his own chimneys!

I only need to miss them the first time - if they swarm in the morning then it's about eight hours before I'm going to get home from work and find out about it. But then if they get to the point of swarming then it's my own fault for not heading them off!

Fortunately it's a moot point - I haven't lost any swarms (yet) this year.

 

[For want of a better word]

Swarms don't usually leave one home and go directly straight into their new home.


Must be the weather... as one of the hives I keep... did just that...I thought it was a robbing frenzy!!! Carniolians, and gave me no indication they had any intention of swarming, hive was checked thoroughly the day before!
Annoyingly the hive they swarmed from has gone drone layer.... someone up there don't like me?

 

[flemage]

Just a question

Are you sure it's a bait hive? It could be a new beek just setting up new hive waiting for Nuc to arrive?

Just a thought

 

[Polyanwood]

How often do swarms from other apiaries swarm into you apiaries? Do people think that bees attract bees or not?

 

[BeeJayBee]

Am I the only person who wouldn't mind too much if I noticed some sort of hive in my neighbour's garden?

 

[Outlander]

Okay, now I'm miffed - some *#%t has been setting bait hives near my apiary.

Is he well out of order, or is it my own problem if I can't keep my bees from swarming?

All part of the game some very experienced beek said to me with a big smile on his face after I told him the area that I caught a large swarm with this years queen.. He Said "I bet I know who's they were, well all part of the game"

Nice game I thought and would like to play more.