Is it worth setting swarm traps?

[For want of a better word]

Apologies to the op .
I think keep the air freshener for freshening the air .
I'm a news paper man any preference local or national

Financial Times as it used to be printed on unbleached paper.........

 

[Wingy]

I’ve already got mine set up. A Langstroth BB with 2 frames of comb at each end and 6 frames with starter strips in the middle. It’s at the mother in laws so just wait for a phone call when / if a swarm moves in.
I know it’s early but I got my first bees by means of a swarm on my allotment. I cleaned up an old hive and placed it out roughly where I wanted it, the. Just left it. The bees moved in that summer

 

[Curly green fingers]

Financial Times as it used to be printed on unbleached paper.........

What back in the 1920s
Sorry I'm being ageest .
Didn't they use lead in ink back then or was that paint.

 

[Newbeeneil]

I’ve already got mine set up.

Same here, several of my hives have 7-8 combs of brood and will be very full of brood when they hatch so if it remains very mild with no frosts I think we will have some early swarms.
I have 10 bait hives that will be spread around my apiaries and friends gardens.
Only 2 set up and primed but I will set others up over the next few weeks as I check on my out apiaries.

 

[Ian123]

If any end up with an abundance of swarms theres some good ideas for comb honey production in 1 of Richard Taylors books....I removed nucs/small non production hives of a stand before and in their place chucked 2 good size swarms into a super this gets a q-excluder top and bottom and a couple of section/round boxes on top....works a treat if there is a flow on. Bottom excluder is removed after 24-48 hrs. Also thins the numbers in the nucs so you dont end up with them overflowing...after honey/sections removed then simply add a new brood above super and feed them up. You basicaly end up producing a super workforce with swarn vigour

 

[Poly Hive]

The critical issue there is "if there is a flow on".

I work for CC all the time and TBH A normal colony will build comb surprisingly well.

When I used wired frames on the heather I used to put CC frames in between the normal ones for CC heather combs.

The Ross Rounds or Cobana sections did though need a powerful colony to make them, and more to the point to finish them.

PH

 

[MartinL]

Always worth setting bait boxes, especially early in the season as you get the best increase.
+ If it all kicks off early more of us will be caught out when nucs runout of space!

 

[Millet]

Always worth setting bait boxes, especially early in the season as you get the best increase.
+ If it all kicks off early more of us will be caught out when nucs runout of space!

I have one doing just that at the moment in a single national box.. but i'm 50/50 whether to slide another box underneath them or not.. this weird weather has me in a kerfuffle ..

 

[citrus]

I find the essential oil works well coupled with some nice old comb. Lemongrass oil.

PH

So add in lemongrass oil ..... then wait ... but then after a few weeks/months ... do you need to add more oil - does it diffuse away ?

 

[Poly Hive]

Yes.

Oh and snow here this morning.

PH

 

[citrus]

bait hives = insurance policy

the apiarist did a nice blog on this the other week and I liked this point that you can bait your own hives as an insurance policy !

https://theapiarist.org/bait-hives/

I will definitely do this this year ...

And thanks to one poster for this link

https://ecommons.cornell.edu/bitstr...ves for Honey Bees.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y

interesting they don't recommend old comb

 

[masterBK]

They don't recommend old comb because of the risk of disease and wax moths.
Obviously you wouldn't use comb if you thought it was contaminated with disease spores etc. Wax moth isn't a problem if every week or so you freeze the bait comb overnight (you could spray them with Certan but that costs money and living in Yorkshire that is not even considered). I have never really had any problems using old comb in bait hives in the last 50+ years and it works a treat. I have never had EFB or AFB in any of my colonies but I get Nosema occasionally in the odd colony and will burn the grotty combs and sterilise the good ones with 80% acetic before reusing them. Once you have caught a swarm in a bait hive you can almost immediately replace the old comb and provide them with frames of foundation (and at the same time put excluder between BC and floor to stop them absconding) and after a few days (to allow them use up any stores they bring with them and reduce risk of EFB) you can feed a gallon of syrrup to get them to draw it out.

 

[citrus]

They don't recommend old comb because of the risk of disease and wax moths.
Obviously you wouldn't use comb if you thought it was contaminated with disease spores etc. Wax moth isn't a problem if every week or so you freeze the bait comb overnight (you could spray them with Certan but that costs money and living in Yorkshire that is not even considered). I have never really had any problems using old comb in bait hives in the last 50+ years and it works a treat. I have never had EFB or AFB in any of my colonies but I get Nosema occasionally in the odd colony and will burn the grotty combs and sterilise the good ones with 80% acetic before reusing them. Once you have caught a swarm in a bait hive you can almost immediately replace the old comb and provide them with frames of foundation (and at the same time put excluder between BC and floor to stop them absconding) and after a few days (to allow them use up any stores they bring with them and reduce risk of EFB) you can feed a gallon of syrrup to get them to draw it out.

Yeah big fan of certan so would be giving the comb a spray before it went back out

excuse my ignorance but does BC mean there ...

'(and at the same time put excluder between BC and floor to stop them absconding'

 

[madasafish]

Yeah big fan of certan so would be giving the comb a spray before it went back out

excuse my ignorance but does BC mean there ...

'(and at the same time put excluder between BC and floor to stop them absconding'

Broood Chamber

 

[citrus]

Broood Chamber

cool gotcha so floor -> excluder -> Brood Box -> crownboard -> roof

 

[masterBK]

I don't leave the excluder there for more than a few days otherwise a virgin queen in a secondary swarm (and some such swarms can be quite large and easily mistaken for a prime one) can't get out to mate!

 

[citrus]

will have to knock up a national box out of ply or something cheap as a swarm box and stick it at head height in our garden

do you folks just use a tatty old wooden hive instead ?

(I only have <=3yr old paynes hives so going to have to make something )

not going to follow all their recommendations

https://ecommons.cornell.edu/bitstr...ves for Honey Bees.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y

so will go for head height, shaded but visible, south facing , box 40 litre capacity with lemongrass , some foundationless frames and some old comb

 

[Poly Hive]

Don't bother with head height. If the scouts have found it they have found it and I have watched a swarm debate over two hives until the decision was made and they poured into the chosen one. Both at ground level.

Whilst not wanting to generalise from the particular I have never raised a bait hive and pretty much every year get one or two arriving by themselves.

PH

 

[citrus]

Don't bother with head height. If the scouts have found it they have found it and I have watched a swarm debate over two hives until the decision was made and they poured into the chosen one. Both at ground level.

Whilst not wanting to generalise from the particular I have never raised a bait hive and pretty much every year get one or two arriving by themselves.

PH

nice one ... the apiarist blog says the same ... and makes my life more easily so thanks for that.


Being new and foolish ... one of my hives have generally swamed to the nearest apple tree branch which is anywhere from 10 to 25m away.

I am hoping bait'ing my own hives will give me some insurance .. but from what I read maybe having bees is a lure to other local colonies anyway and as I get better at management I wont need that insurance and they can be true bait hives

 

[Poly Hive]

Start thinking about your swarm procedure NOW. Decide on a plan and stick to it, learn it so when you see a grub in a cup you KNOW what you are going to do and HAVE the kit to hand. Then relax, it's sorted for another year.

PH