newportbuzz
Field Bee
- Joined
- Aug 11, 2010
- Messages
- 846
- Reaction score
- 1
- Location
- newport co,mayo ireland
- Hive Type
- National
- Number of Hives
- 19 through the winter
i am getting prepared to put up bait hives for any swarms that elude me this year. I have read that swarms prefer certain cryteria which is fine ie south facing 1.5ftcube 1 inch enterance hole 5 meters over ground.
But so far i have not found anything conclusive about how far away from the original nest they are happy to settle. i am sure everyone has had a swarm that kindly just went into a empty hive only 10 feet away. but i am wondering what is NORMAL.
My understanding is that they want to go about 1 mile so that they dont compete for the same flowers and inbreed. but this is from DIGGES and might be incorrect now.
SO has anyone read any studies done on this? Any personal experiance chasing your swarm for miles ?
this is all with the aim of asking people if i can set up a bait hive on their land.
But so far i have not found anything conclusive about how far away from the original nest they are happy to settle. i am sure everyone has had a swarm that kindly just went into a empty hive only 10 feet away. but i am wondering what is NORMAL.
My understanding is that they want to go about 1 mile so that they dont compete for the same flowers and inbreed. but this is from DIGGES and might be incorrect now.
SO has anyone read any studies done on this? Any personal experiance chasing your swarm for miles ?
this is all with the aim of asking people if i can set up a bait hive on their land.