best swarm lure

[Teemore]

Tom Seeley quotes the optimal 200m distance that RAB has referred to above. He delivered a couple of fantastic lectures at the INIB Conference last year (and at a few other events) and he also commented that swarms seem to perfer to cluster/adopt a new home which is at height.
From memory he was talking about 12' to 15' up and this advice has a strong correlation with swarms I have seen and been told about. If you sift through the forum you will realise that a swarm can decide to take up home wherever it damn well pleases and that could be anywhere from a picnic bench to a tree top....
As has been mentioned, a bait hive will benefit from being made up of old, used equipment that you are confident is disease free. Dave Cushman's site also has a few nice tips on bait hives and the use of foundation strips.

 

[Nellie]

Entirely anecdotal but I had a swarm take up residence in an empty( no frames) national Nuc, packing it full, sat between two bustling 14x12s in my apiary. Another two decided to hang from a tree a couple of feet away from a bait hive just outside the apiary and a fourth that decided maybe the bait hive was a nice place to live after all. None of those came from within the apiary.

 

[SixFooter]

Last year I had what could be called 100% success in that each bait box caught one swarm. I made 15" cubes out of plywood with a 1 1/2 dia entrance and put half an old comb inside each. Then I placed them on shed roof,garage roof,allotment shed roof, friend's garage roof etc. Every one attracted a swarm. It didnt seem to matter which way the entrance faced and I just put the entrance where I could see it from the ground. However, I didnt put any of the boxes in full sun. None of them caught 2 swarms, so I wondered if the alarm pheromone lingers after hiving the swarm.

 

[beesknee]

dowsing

Anybody tried dowsing?!

Yeh but could only find water and hives that had been pi**ed in

 

[Beeline]

How much to use per hive

If using Lemon Grass as a lure how much do you use in each hive. I'm making 3no. bait hives. A popular size for this lemon grass oil seems to be 10ml. Is that enough to bait these 3no. hives?

 

[oliver90owner]

A popular size for this lemon grass oil seems to be 10ml. Is that enough to bait these 3no. hives?

How many years do you propose using these bait hives?

RAB

 

[Beeline]

In response to your query RAB - I would like to continue using these bait hives every year. I'm happy to buy 10ml each year at £4 a bottle, if that does 3 hives, unless of course someone has a source where I can buy a larger bottle at a better price.

 

[The Cumbrian]

I wait to stand corrected but I think he is implying that 10ml will dose the hives for a number of years.

 

[Cazza]

If using Lemon Grass as a lure how much do you use in each hive. I'm making 3no. bait hives. A popular size for this lemon grass oil seems to be 10ml. Is that enough to bait these 3no. hives?

Lemongrass oil is very strongly scented stuff. You should only need to sprinkle drops in the bait hives so a small bottle will last several years.
Cazza

 

[For want of a better word]

10ml each year at £4 a bottle........OUCH who made that Channel?

I have a bottle 100 ml of Cymbopogon citratus in front of me now that I paid less than a fiver for...Fragrance & Essential oils HX7 5TT... but it is only a small part of Granddad's infallible bait sausage recipe......

 

[Poly Hive]

FWIW all the swarms I have taken over the last few years have either self hived at ground level or been no higher than 10ft. *shrug*

Last year the baited National hive with the lemongrass oil was completely ignored by two swarms that then hived themselves in poly nucs. *shrug*

PH

 

[For want of a better word]

FWIW all the swarms I have taken over the last few years have either self hived at ground level or been no higher than 10ft. *shrug*

Last year the baited National hive with the lemongrass oil was completely ignored by two swarms that then hived themselves in poly nucs. *shrug*

PH

PH has a magic bee charm !

 

[bee ginnner]

FWIW all the swarms I have taken over the last few years have either self hived at ground level or been no higher than 10ft. *shrug*

Last year the baited National hive with the lemongrass oil was completely ignored by two swarms that then hived themselves in poly nucs. *shrug*

PH

is that a nervous reaction from using the forum so much.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I've said it before and Luminos agrees we need a couple of shrug smilies (one British and one Gallic!)

 

[Beeline]

I've said it before and Luminos agrees we need a couple of shrug smilies (one British and one Gallic!)

Yeah and a Garlic shrug smilie for those of us living here in France.

 

[Beeline]

Duplicated post above.

 

[Luminos]

Yeah and a Garlic shrug smilie for those of us living here in France.

 

[masterBK]

I use bait hives in my garden (my own apiary is 3 miles away) and catch about 5 swarms a year this way. I use smelly old comb and a top entrance (more likely to enter top entrance). I notice the scout bees checking the bait hives out several days before they arrive. The old comb also acts as a bait for greater wax moth so the comb needs to be frozen every so often to kill them. I wait until the first lot of brood is sealed before moving them onto clean comb and destroy this sealed brood as it will contain most of the varroa mites than came with the swarm. Also all swarms are treated with oxalic acid 3 days after arrival and I count the drop on insert under mesh floor. Swarms in my experience carry a mite load of about 80 to 120 mites.