swarm catcher bags: rubbish/not rubbish?

[domino]

I've seen swarm catchers advertised in various places. The bags you put on the end of a pole for those swarms a little high up.

I've done something similar with a box bungeed to a pole in the past but that set up is a little flimsy.

Anyone got one, are they any good?

 

[Heather]

I have used a swimming pool cleaner scoop/bag which is on a pole. Also a frame of brood attached to a long pole. Otherwise its a climbing job.. and that negates your insurance.
For the bags you mention you need to ask the bees to be in a long narrow gathering.

 

[DulwichGnome]

I use a large water bottle with the bottom cut off and an old roller handle in the neck. The handle has a screw fitting so you can use painters extension rods. It also has a smooth surface so the bees just slid out, any thing cloth and you might have trouble getting them out.

Mike.

 

[beeno]

Hi Domino,
I have a telescopic painters extension rod which I attached a long plastic bucket to by drilling a hole in the bottom. Worked at treat, but you have to have enough clearance from twigs and branches to get the bucket right under the swarm. My thought is, would a bag not snag on branches and twigs?

 

[BKF Admin]

I use one for one reason only,you don't need to climb ladders !
How often are you tempted to go just one wrung higher for that nice big swarm ?

 

[madasafish]

An old beek uses a 8 meter fibreglass fishing rod...

 

[Swinton apiaries]

Last year I had a swarm 30ft up in a old hawthorn tree on the very edge of the tree so I use my 35 ft ladders with a brood chamber lashed to the top rungs and then sent the ladder higher than the swarm and then lowered it over the swarm the weight of the brood box pushed all the small twigs out the way did need a hand to get the ladder down thow and the end

 

[For want of a better word]

Maybe this will get poo pooed!

I was told ( I did not see it!) but in Tasmania the yellow bees that live in the warm lowlands swarm regularly and often perch high in the gum trees 30 + feet up.
A long hollow tube ( flexible plastic about 2 inches inside diameter and about 2 meters long) is swirled around to make a humming note at the frequency of note A.

The bees are so inquisitive to the extent that they all move down to a ground level perch to get a better look, and can be bagged in a pillowcase catcher easily.

I saw many marvelous things and was told many others... all should be taken with a large pinch of salt ( Best Cornish Sea Salt of course!)

Yeghes Da!

 

[MartinL]

I use one for one reason only,you don't need to climb ladders !
How often are you tempted to go just one wrung higher for that nice big swarm ?

As I'm waiting in a queue for an x-ray behind 3 A&E patients who have fallen off ladders, I'm inclined to say they're probably a very good alternative.

 

[einsteinagogo]

Last year I had a swarm 30ft up in a old hawthorn tree on the very edge of the tree so I use my 35 ft ladders with a brood chamber lashed to the top rungs and then sent the ladder higher than the swarm and then lowered it over the swarm the weight of the brood box pushed all the small twigs out the way did need a hand to get the ladder down thow and the end

I got the gardners here at work, to use a long reach (40-50ft) pruning tool, to cut the branch on a Mountain Ash, tree, where there was a swarm hanging, and I stood underneath with a box at the ready to catch them in!

(not allowed due to health and saftey to climb trees or use ladders!)

Watch by many, they through it was a circus trick! (surprised how heavy the box become!), not a single bee mortality, they I could detect, and they've become a good colony of bees!

It was a shame, nobody video-ed it for youtube!

 

[Amari]

As I'm waiting in a queue for an x-ray behind 3 A&E patients who have fallen off ladders, I'm inclined to say they're probably a very good alternative.

I have a friend who fell off a ladder astride a fence.........he spent 2/52 in hospital having his plumbing and testimonials reconnected.
Another friend/colleague fell off a ladder while attending to his holiday cottage. Sadly he had no more holidays......
That's why I think attempts to retrieve colonies from chimneys ( plenty of pics on this forum) are crazy ++++.

 

[SixFooter]

I have a friend who fell off a ladder astride a fence.........he spent 2/52 in hospital having his plumbing and testimonials reconnected.
Another friend/colleague fell off a ladder while attending to his holiday cottage. Sadly he had no more holidays......
That's why I think attempts to retrieve colonies from chimneys ( plenty of pics on this forum) are crazy ++++.

Not crazy ! Assuming you know the risks and take proper precautions, it's not crazy. Or is everything with any risk crazy?

I did a cut out another beek refused to do because it was high up. I don't think I am crazy. The refuser had a right to say no, but I have a right to say yes as long as I don't put someone else at risk.

 

[SixFooter]

I've seen swarm catchers advertised in various places. The bags you put on the end of a pole for those swarms a little high up.

I've done something similar with a box bungeed to a pole in the past but that set up is a little flimsy.

Anyone got one, are they any good?

I have the thornes one. I stuck it on a sturdy 4m decorators pole and I have used it successfully a couple of times, but only up to just above head height. I managed to get it to go around the swarm and shake the whole thing into the bag, lower it down. Close off the top, open the bag and shake the bees into a box. Very efficient. Looks professional as well imho. I am not sure how well it will work if extended to the full 4m. It gets a bit unwieldy fully extended.

 

[bee ginnner]

[ladders !
How often are you tempted to go just one wrung higher for that nice big swarm ?[/QUOTE]

Never. when i get to the top i stop for some strange reason, its the same every time....... wierd perhaps i will try it.