maximising swarm capture rate

[drstitson]

aside from the "sensible" evidence from Seeley etc. re bait hive construction and positioning anyone have any serious experience/data re. use of swarm lures/attractants or using dowsing to position bait hives?

 

[VEG]

dowsing ahhhh come on get serious

 

[Rosti]

Conducted a 3 way trial last summer. 3 baits, next to each other, all 14x12, all approx 350mm off ground, all with my favoured 4x drawn-ex-brood frame config with gaps. 1x 'plain'; 1x'th0rnes' swarm attractant; 1x lemon grass.

Swarm attractant seemed to make no odds 1 take like the plain bait. Lemon grass x3 takes.

Only diff was the plain faced SE, the other 2 faced SW, Draw what conclusion you will, but I am not bothering with a swarm lure this year .....

 

[TOBY-3652]

all 3 swarms ive had out of old hives. attracted with the oldest moth eaten crappiest comb youve aver seen. i took all bees out and shook them in a new box with new foundation

 

[DarynWebb]

Can you use to much lemon grass oil?

 

[VEG]

Couple of drops is plenty you will be able to smell it from several yards away

 

[DarynWebb]

Couple of drops is plenty you will be able to smell it from several yards away

yes It's very strong stuff I love the smell of it and swarm lures remind me of parma violet sweets

 

[enrico]

Make sure it doesn't leak in your pocket unless you want a pocket full of bees every time you go near the hives...... Another learning curve!!!

 

[Excession]

dowsing ahhhh come on get serious

Better off getting a psychic to predict where the next swarm is!!!

Or if you want to 'strengthen' the lemon grass you could use homeopathy and dilute it 1 part to 300,000,000,000.

 

[SixFooter]

I use 15" cubes made from ply with 1 1/2 " dia hole and put them on top of sheds, garages etc. I put a piece of comb (~ 1/2 brood frame) in each one. Last year, each one was successful once. My 2 favourite colonies were acquired this way. Dead easy!

 

[Gower]

Sixfooter,

did you use any form of lure in your "cubes" to achieve this success rate - or lemongrass oil perhaps?

cheers.

 

[Martin G]

Lemon lure

I found somewhere an idea to combine some rendered comd with lemongrass oil spread on the bait hive, so I'm giving that a go. The idea is that the scent of the oil wil last longer and also it's combined with the scent of the wax.

Has anyone tried something similar in the past?

Martin