Successful bait hives this season

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dickbowyer

House Bee
***
Joined
May 3, 2010
Messages
315
Reaction score
3
Location
W Sussex, UK
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
Some hives and a few nucs
I thought it would be interesting if Beeks with successful bait hives this year posted their particular details (recipes) to give everyone a flavour. So here are mine:

Box: National Brood plus super
Frames: Undrawn brood, old comb super
Entrance: reduced with entrance block
Attractant: Swarm lure
Facing: South
Position: In Apiary, 12 feet from feral colony
Area: Rural Garden
Height off ground: 18 inches
Type: Prime
Date: 6/7/10
 
I had a very large prime swarm move into a Dartington long hive which had been used by a ever decreasing sized colony over winter which became to small to keep it in. So I transferred the colony into a nuc and moved the hive away from my other hives and left two 14x12 frames which had been drawn out but had little to no stores left on them in the hive with a small entrance.

I think the reason it was successful was the size of the internal space and the hot weather with a gentle breeze which allowed the used hive and wax aroma to dift in the breeze.

Dartington - Double length national hive
DARKBEE1.JPG


Dark bees
DARKBEE.JPG
 
Two bait hives failed to attract anything, but my frame store nuc on an out apiary atracted a swarm from a feral colony where the entrance was not fully closed.

14x12 ply 5 frame Nuc with 2 x 14x12 frames and foundation and 2 x bs brood and foundation..

Got really annoyed with that, so I have left them to their own devices, I suppose I had better do something with them now.
 
I set up 4 15 inch cube plywood boxes as per an article I saw on the internet. Each had a swarm lure inside and a bit of old comb. I also set up a top-bar version with bars smeared with lemon grass oil paste. None were successful.
 
I setup one national brood with three undrawn frames and some old wax brace comb I had cut off and a swarm lure.

I faced the hive southwards in my garden about 4 ft from the floor and was successful.

I attracted a caste that is doing very well although only 6 frames at the moment.
 
bait hives set up in 5 locations.

5 swarms caught (although 1 swarm caught twice in completely different locations... caught them, lost them, caught them then lost them again! :mad:)

one in a barn (there was a swarm there a few years ago) - no luck

one on a hedgerow under a tree - caught 1 swarm

one 5 metres up in a tree - only there for two weeks. caught 1 swarm

one 3 metres up in a tree - no luck

one 3 metres up in my garden tree - caught 3 swarms

all green and 40 litres in size, fluoresent yellow cover on the door (also with UV pen scribbled around the door). located in the shade, 1 drawn comb, 1 undrawn comb with lemon grass oil around the entrance once a week (but not religiously)
 
I set three national brood boxes with a couple of old used combs in, one on the shed,one on the roof of my kennels and one in some woodland close by.
The two in the garden had small swarms move in and stay but the one in the woods had a huge amount of bees present for a couple of days they decided the neighbourhood was not for them and moved on.
 
Three National boxes set out in three different places at 3ft above the ground each with one old frame, acid fumigated and aired, new foundation and/or starter strips, plus lemongrass oil on a top bar replaced a couple of times:

- one in my apiary (and 1 km from another apiary): nothing

- one in a village where I've caught swarms before and in a spot that once had bees: nothing

- one in my garden: bingo! Two waves of bees visiting, and one cast took up residence and stayed.

But locally many (most?) colonies were lost overwinter and the survivors were weak, so it was a poor year for swarms.

G.
 
six set up , four had no interst shown the one picked up a small swarm that died off and second swarm has no chance of surviving the winter as it is very small, it will be just left to its own devices and we will see what happens.

just a small note from the four hives of bees i was given back that i had in quarenteen two have suffered fron chalk brood and the other two are not doing any thing mush, i will leave them where they are for the winter to see if they survive and i am awaiting some test results
 
Set up 5 bait hives with 5 takes (the same one re-set 5 times):

Box: 14x12
Floor: solid, old, mankey - well lived in!
Uppers: std crown (feeding hole covered) + std roof
Frames: x5 drawn brood (pre-used) outer 2 x 14/12, inner 3 std nat brood, positioned centrally in box
Entrance: full width, no block
Attractant: Swarm lure plus lemon grass oil (1 drop to top of middle frame)
Facing: South
Aspect: early sun but lost it by 3pm (in shadow). All activity was during the 'sun-lit' period.
Position: back garden some 2.5 miles from my apiary (where me/family could keep an eye on it)
Area: Light rural, edge of a village, surrounded by mixed arable / woodland
Height off ground: 18 inches
Types: 4 prime, 1 secondary
Dates: over a period 15 May to 21 June (I then stopped baiting)

Interesting, only one other local beek to my knowledge, he only lost 1 swarm, I didn't lose any swarms. 2 local known ferral long standing colonies, could not trace back to source on any of the 5 I 'housed'
 
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I had a very large prime swarm move into a Dartington long hive which had been used by a ever decreasing sized colony over winter which became to small to keep it in. So I transferred the colony into a nuc and moved the hive away from my other hives and left two 14x12 frames which had been drawn out but had little to no stores left on them in the hive with a small entrance.

I think the reason it was successful was the size of the internal space and the hot weather with a gentle breeze which allowed the used hive and wax aroma to dift in the breeze.

Mike, do you know what your bees are? They look a lot like ours, dark.
 
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