How to catch feral bees?

[Hebeegeebee]

I had a swarm leave after being hived - never again. I was exceedingly miffed. It's a queen excluder under a hive or a bit across the entrance if the swarm is in a nuc. Once they have been in for a few days then the excluder is removed.

Of course if you have a queen that can squeeze through an excluder that's another story.

 

[BKF Admin]

Of course if you have a queen that can squeeze through an excluder that's another story.

I think thats very rare because when they stop feeding the queen she slims down for flight but its the Thorax that stops her getting through the QE.

 

[jezd]

I had a swarm leave after being hived - never again. I was exceedingly miffed. It's a queen excluder under a hive or a bit across the entrance if the swarm is in a nuc. Once they have been in for a few days then the excluder is removed.

Of course if you have a queen that can squeeze through an excluder that's another story.

Not sure that is 100%, better to give em some brood on a frame from another hive that way they have a perceived investment in the new location.

JD

 

[snoop]

Bait hive

Put out 4 boxes today , with one old drawn frame in each & a few drops of lemon grass oil . Still failed to get a nuc and the beekeeping federation still hasn't supplied all the nucs it promised in 2009.

Heres hoping with the bait hives

 

[Rosti]

Snoop, if you are succesfull, do you have sufficient frames and foundation ready to given them a full compliment and take full advantage of their urge to draw comb? Have you got some form of feeding device available to keep them going until they develop critical mass - doesn't have to be flash - a frame feeder or rapid feeder would both suffice?

 

[Tom Bick]

I am going to make eight bait hives this next week from two 8x4 sheets of shuttering ply and looking forward to going fishing.

 

[jezd]

every swarm I have collected (and not known its source) has had issues, so worth requeening asap.

just my thoughts on swarms to date.

 

[SER]

I put the first of my bait hives up this afternoon.

I didn't have any old comb so put some sheets of foundation in and then tried to pick up ideas from various places. I had some wax I had melted down so the inside of the box is painted with that, I've used lemon grass oil, kept the entrance small and painted the entrance area white all of which is meant to help.

All I have to do now is keep my fingers crossed.

Si,

 

[MuswellMetro]

I am going to make eight bait hives this next week from two 8x4 sheets of shuttering ply and looking forward to going fishing.

are you putting one on your canal boat...i fancy a floating beehive

i got a baithive on my garage roof, and thinking were else i can put one that is out of the way of vandals

i tried talking to my employers ( TfL-london underground)to use a raliway embankmnet but the question failed at the first hurdle..risk assessmnet, line occupation, genral public, health and saftey.......it was an enclose piesece of land next to the railway,protected from public by high fences 400m from any house house...u

 

[Tom Bick]

are you putting one on your canal boat...i fancy a floating beehive

:u

Thats not impossible providing I move at night and more than three miles but no I am however going to make use of the canal and I know of a few hives along the way a bit cheeky but they may just swarm.

 

[snoop]

It kind if worked , a small swarm ( I suppose secondary) came to one of the boxes I put out . They filled the old comb with honey & drew out another and have that filled as well ( none of it is capped). Just enough bees to cover about one frame. I discovered tham on Sunday on my twice weekly check of the boxes, so I bought them home first thing yesterday morning ( before they started flying) & put them in a hive with feed. I reduced the hive entrance as the numbers are low

We will see how it goes with them

 

[Frithgar]

Congrats on the swarm mate, best of luck with them and hopefully you'll be able to get them up to strength for the winter.

Are you planning to requeen them? and if so, which breed are you going to try?

 

[oliver90owner]

If it is that small put in a divider to make the box smaller until they get going, enlarging slowly as the brood nest expands. A full box is too large a volume for them to keep warm. They would have been better in a nuc box. All this between your twice weekly checks! Only checking each week would have been more than enough!

If no brood, it was a cast. Don't feed too much as they need to draw comb as 'space for brood', not stores. If only one frame of bees, that may need some TLC to advance to a good sized colony by the end of the season. Good luck and happy beekeeping.

Regards, RAB

 

[snoop]

What they have drawn out so far seems to be full of uncapped honey + the drawn frame that was put in there to attract them is full of uncapped honey . There is no frames for anything to lay so I gave them undrawn foundation when I put them into the box yesterday