bait hive

[whoosling]

Another basic question - what exactly is a bait hive - how do you set one up etc

 

[drstitson]

brood box sized. solid floor. small entrance hole. placed 3m or so high. containing an old frame + lure/lemongrass oil/squished queen etc.

 

[enrico]

brood box sized. solid floor. small entrance hole. placed 3m or so high. containing an old frame + lure/lemongrass oil/squished queen etc.

A bit more to that.... It is an empty hive that is going to be a good home to a passing swarm looking for somewhere to use permanently. Therefore size, position and a lure to gain their interest is important. They won't use it if it is too small, or in an unsuitable place!
E

 

[Dishmop]

They won't use it if it is too small, or in an unsuitable place!

Ungrateful sods. Some people pay loads for a shed with a bed.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Here's Tom Seeley's pamphlet on bait hives.

 

[whoosling]

Thanks everyone

 

[beekeeping4you]

A bit more to that.... It is an empty hive that is going to be a good home to a passing swarm looking for somewhere to use permanently. Therefore size, position and a lure to gain their interest is important. They won't use it if it is too small, or in an unsuitable place!

Not quite...
day1: 5 or 6 scout bees will visit the hive
day2: 8 to 10 scout bees will visit the hive
day3: 20 to 35 scout bees will visit the hive

day4: NO scout bees will visit the hive!
Day5: The swarm will move in!!!

brood box sized. solid floor. small entrance hole. placed 3m or so high. containing an old frame + lure/lemongrass oil/squished queen etc.

The above observations were made with bait hives placed 1.5m high.

Kind regards
Reiner

 

[enrico]

I was generalising for simplicity!

 

[Cellectronic]

Good and interesting varied info guys. I am close to a wild colony in the base of an an oak tree and I have set up two bait boxes , One at 2 meters up in a tree and one at ground level, both within 30 meters of the colony.It will be interesting to see what happens ! After-all if they move into the roots of an oak tree then why not a bait hive at ground level. Maybe they had no better choice at the time !! will keep you all posted.

 

[beekeeping4you]

I was generalising for simplicity!

That's alright, we all do that from time to time.

It's entertaining (and rewarding for a beginner) to watch the different types of scout bee behaviour at the entrance and to know what is behind it. (In some cases you will even observe two groups of scout bees competing meaning you could set up a second bait hive not to far away from the first...)

Kind regards,
Reiner

 

[Haughton Honey]

That's alright, we all do that from time to time.

It's entertaining (and rewarding for a beginner) to watch the different types of scout bee behaviour at the entrance and to know what is behind it. (In some cases you will even observe two groups of scout bees competing meaning you could set up a second bait hive not to far away from the first...)

Kind regards,
Reiner

Very interesting Reiner. Thank you.

 

[SixFooter]

My very unscientific experiments suggest that a piece of manky old frame works better than a lure. Drops of lemongrass oil do not seem to make a difference.

As I say, not scientific, but a 15" plywood cube as per the pamphlet with a piece of old comb inside put on top of a convenient flat roof, works a treat. They are cheap to make and easy to lift down again , so I have lots of them. I'm not optimistic about them this year and last year I only got 2 swarms, but the year before, I got so many, I took the boxes down. I left them in a stack on the patio at home for a few days and another swarm took up residence in one of them.

 

[Tom Bick]

That's alright, we all do that from time to time.

It's entertaining (and rewarding for a beginner) to watch the different types of scout bee behaviour at the entrance and to know what is behind it. (In some cases you will even observe two groups of scout bees competing meaning you could set up a second bait hive not to far away from the first...)

Kind regards,
Reiner

Yes very entertaining especially if the bait hive is positioned so it can be observed from an easy and regular observation position.

From my observation’s for every four or five separate interested scout bees I get a swarm and this can be frustrating as the interest grows over and up to six days and each day with more scout bees then nothing. This stop in interest can signal the arrival of the swarm or the beekeeper has inspected their bees and caught the bees preparing to swarm.

I have also watched what I considered two competing scout bees over one of my bait hives, fighting at the entrance ect and if I had known this can happen at the time and armed with the good tip you have mentioned I would have set up a 2nd hive. A reasonably large swarm arrived on this occasion and when I inspected a few days later the colony was small more like a large cast. This was put down to either my over imaginative imagination or a swarm containing two queens and later unknown by me one left with some of the bees but I suppose its not impossible two swarms arrived at the same time and later sorted themselves out.

 

[Jim Newmark]

The year before last I had the prime and a cast swarm land in exactly the same place before I collected them - a convenient low tree / shrub two metres up and ten metres from the hive entrance in a small and well enclosed garden. The (??parent??) hive is thriving and did not swarm last year. I have put an old super with some drawn frame where they landed and will put some lemon grass in the entrance. Has anybody got any more ideas?
How can it possibly go wrong?!

 

[m100]

day1: 5 or 6 scout bees will visit the hive
day2: 8 to 10 scout bees will visit the hive
day3: 20 to 35 scout bees will visit the hive
day4: NO scout bees will visit the hive!
Day5: The swarm will move in!!!

Seen something similar but some 'days' were a bit compressed. On the afternoon of the day before swarm arrival and in the hours immediately before arrival next day there was no activity. The bait hive was a spare nuc and sat on a garden seat.

 

[greengumbo]

I've set up a bait hive in an area with lots of existing hives nearby (nearest apiary is about 30m, next nearest that I know off is 500m).

Its as per Seeleys hive plans with some old comb and lemongrass oil squirted in the front.

Only thing is the location is not optimal according to Seeley. The entrance is about 2m off the ground and its hung on a wall facing north with the sun on it only really in the early morning.

Will that make a massive difference do you think ? I could try find a better south facing location but its unlikely to happen this year.

 

[Illo]

day1: 5 or 6 scout bees will visit the hive
day2: 8 to 10 scout bees will visit the hive
day3: 20 to 35 scout bees will visit the hive

day4: NO scout bees will visit the hive!
Day5: The swarm will move in!!!

We have a bait hive (old 14x12 BB on solid floor) on a flat roof overlooked by OH's office window. It has acted like a swarm barometer this year in exactly this way for a feral colony we know to be 30 feet up in the walls of the victorian college next door. On day 3 we saw the swarm leave its original colony (binoculars from the bathroom window...) , but didn't see where it went. No more scouts at the bait hive. Then two hours later there is a knock at the door from a chap round the corner about the swarm that has just arrived in his garden about 50 yards away. So we interrupted the process at day 4-5. The first cast issued yesterday. So two good sized swarms from this source within the week.

So although none have moved into the bait hive yet, we were pretty sure that they were about to go, and could get our skeps at the ready!

LJ