What is happening at your bait hives?

[rockdoc]

Lots of interest in my two bait hives, had about 300 bees this morning, all gone home now. Just wondered if anyone had tried squishing a spare queen inside their bait hives as an attractant along with the usual old comb and lemon grass oil. I used the method last year to mop up several hundred stragglers from a swarm in a compost bin. It seemed to work then. Any thoughts?

 

[poshpikey]

Had a swarm move in yesterday afternoon. Saw a lot of scout bees (100+) looking fairly frenzied around the entrance. An hour or two later the swarm turned up.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Lots of interest in my two bait hives, had about 300 bees this morning, all gone home now. Just wondered if anyone had tried squishing a spare queen inside their bait hives as an attractant along with the usual old comb and lemon grass oil. I used the method last year to mop up several hundred stragglers from a swarm in a compost bin. It seemed to work then. Any thoughts?

That has been mentioned as a way of finding an invisible queen in a colony.
pin a dead queen to a top bar and come back ten minutes later and your queen will be busy trying to kill her......

 

[Griffo]

I was thinking about setting up a bait hive with a phial of pheromone at the far end of my garden from the hives, because I will be away for a week exactly and although all looks OK right now, there is clearly some swarming risk. HOWEVER, instructions on the pack say a lure for your own swarms should be at least 250 yards away. Mine would be about 200 yards, so the question is, is it worth doing ?

 

[Tim.S]

One old box out with 1 black comb and a couple of foundation and some lemon grass. Loads of interest and maybe a 100 or so bees in and around it. And as per the last 2 years no swarms caught! One day I will be lucky!

 

[Roola]

Gutted, window sill bait box had fantastic interest from half 6 this morning. They've all gone. Ah well.

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

 

[JohnRoss]

Had a bait hive out since the last week in april after no intreest for a while there was suddenly lots of interest yesterday evening, 50+bees. A few bees checking it out again this morning but the weather is cooler today and rain is forcast later.

 

[Cazza]

I was thinking about setting up a bait hive with a phial of pheromone at the far end of my garden from the hives, because I will be away for a week exactly and although all looks OK right now, there is clearly some swarming risk. HOWEVER, instructions on the pack say a lure for your own swarms should be at least 250 yards away. Mine would be about 200 yards, so the question is, is it worth doing ?

Yes, I have one at 100yds which catches escapees.
Cazza