Swarm trap

[steve1958]

Saw this on Ebay.
Someone selling swarm traps for £25
1 cardboard box, 1 old frame, and a swarm lure

 

[Erichalfbee]

Nothing surprises me any more

 

[hemo]

Good grief, I need to get on the band wagon and raid my stores shed any one else .

BlackMountainHoney someone from there posts on here don't they ?
A business opportunity not to be missed.....

 

[drdrday]

I can see them doing well.
Most people looking to start beekeeping want to try and get free bees before resorting to buying them. And the first thing a search for how to set up a bait box brings up is the value of old comb. You can buy as much swarm lure as you like, but old comb is the one thing a wannabe beek just doesn't have. I'm sure most would speculate a few quid on a 'bait box kit' with old comb in preference to forking out a couple of hundred on a nuc.

 

[RichardK]

I can see them doing well.
Most people looking to start beekeeping want to try and get free bees before resorting to buying them. And the first thing a search for how to set up a bait box brings up is the value of old comb. You can buy as much swarm lure as you like, but old comb is the one thing a wannabe beek just doesn't have. I'm sure most would speculate a few quid on a 'bait box kit' with old comb in preference to forking out a couple of hundred on a nuc.

Too right - back in April I was actively trying to find someone selling old comb to include in the bait hives. I'd have given it a go.

 

[drdrday]

Too right - back in April I was actively trying to find someone selling old comb to include in the bait hives. I'd have given it a go.

Would have done the same myself four years ago. Instead I just had a couple of different types of lures and over two seasons didn't get a sniff of a swarm. This year with a couple of old brood combs I got three swarms in one weekend. Bees are a lot like money... you need some to make some.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Frames of manky old comb of dubious provenance being posted out all over the country. Sounds to me like a recipe for disaster. Or 'How to trigger your own epizootic.'

 

[RichardK]

Frames of manky old comb of dubious provenance being posted out all over the country. Sounds to me like a recipe for disaster. Or 'How to trigger your own epizootic.'

I'm sure your right, but as a beginner using YouTube as a source of information the key thing everybody says is that you must, must, must have old comb - invaluable. And of course as a beginner you don't normally have that. Hence I would have been sorely tempted. I couldn't find any though, and was successful without it anyhow. So no epizootic my way! (epizootic...I had to look that word up.....thanks for teaching me something new!)

 

[bobba]

They have actually sold some too:

3***3	£24.99	1	9 Jun 2021 at 11:12:11PM BST
g***o	£24.99	1	2 Jun 2021 at 5:04:04PM BST
l***t	£24.99	1	2 Jun 2021 at 3:20:13PM BST
b***m	£24.99	1	20 May 2021 at 1:56:52PM BST
y***t	£24.99	1	14 May 2021 at 5:37:40PM BST
u***c	£24.99	1	10 May 2021 at 2:59:16PM BST
c***c	£24.99	1	10 May 2021 at 11:06:15AM BST
a***n	£24.99	1	13 Apr 2021 at 1:09:51PM BST
l***n	£24.99	1	5 Apr 2021 at 8:57:31AM BST
2***a	£24.99	1	29 Mar 2021 at 9:07:39PM BST
o***k	£24.99	1	8 Mar 2021 at 12:27:26PM GMT
o***h	£24.99	1	3 Mar 2021 at 3:36:50PM GMT
1***o	£24.99	1	14 Feb 2021 at 6:54:26PM GMT

I expect hes is banking at least £15 per sale after after costs. Not a bad way to dispose of old frames!

But as JBM points out, it could be a recipe for disaster.

But look at the shear volume of old bee keeping equipment that gets traded in general. Used items are constantly posted all over the place. People drive a long way to buy bees, or even get then posted too.

I think so long as they are from the UK the risk is not too bad, but bringing them in from overseas should definitely be restricted.

 

[Erichalfbee]

My God!
I am absolutely gobsmacked at the number of obviously inexperienced folk blindly stumbling into beekeeping without a clue.

 

[drdrday]

My God!
I am absolutely gobsmacked at the number of obviously inexperienced folk blindly stumbling into beekeeping without a clue.

Doesn't mean they don't have a clue. Maybe a bit naive if they haven't considered the risks of comb of unknown origin, but you certainly can't say whether or not they've done any research. We simply don't know.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Doesn't mean they don't have a clue. Maybe a bit naive if they haven't considered the risks of comb of unknown origin, but you certainly can't say whether or not they've done any research. We simply don't know.

It was a generalisation....not pertaining particularly to bobbas post

 

[Ystranc]

Having just sold three WBC`s full of clean drawn comb I'm currently feeling like a bit of a tit....throw in a few cardboard boxes and the guy that bought them could make a mint.
I haven't left myself short of drawn comb and to be truthful it would have been difficult to store all those extra frames safely away from wax moth but still.....

 

[Ystranc]

Doesn't mean they don't have a clue. Maybe a bit naive if they haven't considered the risks of comb of unknown origin, but you certainly can't say whether or not they've done any research. We simply don't know.

If its a swarm trap then the bees themselves are of unknown origin so this isn't something I would freak out about... I would simply quarantine them from my existing bees until I had a good understanding of what the health of the new colony was like.

NB. A cardboard box with drawn comb is like a mouse/badger/fox magnet.

 

[user 20297]

Frames of manky old comb of dubious provenance being posted out all over the country. Sounds to me like a recipe for disaster. Or 'How to trigger your own epizootic.'

......not much different to the frames used in the nuc of bees which started me in beekeeping. It was from a well known supplier who was in the news quite a lot, earlier this year. I guess that they were upcycling their rejects judging by the dark colour. They've been upcycled again this year and used in my bait hives.