BeeJayBee
Queen Bee
#7 .....
Oops! I suppose it would have helped to read the whole thread instead of just the last few posts.
#7 .....
Both my hives come from bait hives (one colony was combined with a cutout from the same property).
I'm planning on putting lots up come spring. South facing, high up in a tree 12-20 ft I think is the advice, old comb and lemon grass oil.
The bait hive I put up was in a pine tree. Have a feeling they like that tree.
I wonder if you may be on to something there as I collected two swarms from a pine tree last year? Lucky for me the tree belongs to my parents so I might well stick a bait hive up in it this spring!
I've not been able to find a UK supplier of Sonotubes ... I can see lots of uses for them and over there they appear to be sold (very cheaply) by just about every hardware store - very useful bit of kit !
They are called piling tubes a company in Essex sell the cardboard tubes
I was going to start a new thread, but spotted this. I'm probably jumping the gun a little given I'm far up North. But here's bait-hive No. 2 for this year, close to my bees and house. It's an Abelo BS deep, with a mucky, old drawn frame and a part drawn one from last year. The rest is filled with another nine frames with horizontal wires and starter strips of foundation.
I have another location in mind for number 3.......
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Mine went up today too. I want them up as much as an early warning system for potential swarms from my hives as much as to actually catch swarms (which I always assume I won't!). Same approach as you - one old comb, the rest foundationless/strips. Your tree location is good I think.
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I would not want to risk life and limb trying to get some of those down. I know Seeley says they prefer 5+ m above ground, but I value my bones. I place mine on the edge of my shed roofs, but find they use boxes on the ground just as much. It is a long time since we had bears in the UK
I read somewhere the other day, where Seeley said he doesn't put them up as high any more, being concerned about injury falling from ladders. I think he said only a metre or so up now.I would not want to risk life and limb trying to get some of those down. I know Seeley says they prefer 5+ m above ground, but I value my bones. I place mine on the edge of my shed roofs, but find they use boxes on the ground just as much. It is a long time since we had bears in the UK
I read somewhere the other day, where Seeley said he doesn't put them up as high any more, being concerned about injury falling from ladders. I think he said only a metre or so up now.
I would not want to risk life and limb trying to get some of those down. I know Seeley says they prefer 5+ m above ground, but I value my bones. I place mine on the edge of my shed roofs, but find they use boxes on the ground just as much. It is a long time since we had bears in the UK
Relating to that, if you let a swarm settle for a few days how do they respond if their ultimate resting place is on a stand within a couple of metres of the base of their capture location?
Why not just plonk a box on that then ?I've put one of them on a tree which is multistemmed. It has a sort of pedestal because of the way it grew and the ground slopes away. The result is that it's quite high, from a bee's point of view, but I don't need ladders.
The one on the pine tree just required me to be three steps up a ladder. But if it works and the box feels heavy, I have a lightweight scaffold tower, permanently erected nearby.
Taking your point, the next three bait-hives I'm planning are going on the tin roof of an old shed, on a platform which used to support a raised summer-house and another on the side of an old timber garage just above a proposed site for a hive in my neighbour's rural garden.
Relating to that, if you let a swarm settle for a few days how do they respond if their ultimate resting place is on a stand within a couple of metres of the base of their capture location?
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