What's in your swarm kit?

[alldigging]

What have you got in your swarm bag?
What's the most useful thing you've got in it?

 

[dpearce4]

A big sense of humour when your on the 10th call out for bumblebees from the BBKA website for the week.

Honestly they looked like the honey bees in the pic!!!!!

 

[psafloyd]

A big sense of humour when your on the 10th call out for bumblebees from the BBKA website for the week.

Honestly they looked like the honey bees in the pic!!!!!

You could try: "No problem, love/mate. That's £30 for the call out and you still have to deal with the bumblebees."

 

[dpearce4]

No problem, love. That's £30 for the call out and you still have to deal with the bumblebees.

not allowed with bbka rules.

 

[Heather]

Patience!

Ladder & secateurs. A box with closing flaps, and a big sheet to wrap it in when in the car.
I use an empty super to wedge over the box to secure the sheet and give weight to the base of the swarm box when travelling.

Bee suit on, but hood down when travelling just in case some idiot hits me on journey home.

 

[Itchy]

Duct tape, swarm box, sheet, secateurs, bee suit, sense of humour, patience

 

[itma]

Poly nuc as a 'skep', and leave the bees to colonise the frames for a couple of days before moving (if appropriate) to a full hive and feeding. No need 'running them in' or shaking out a cardboard box.
6x 14x12 frames has been plenty big enough for any swarm I've taken.
A strip of foam to prevent bees joining the taken swarm from 'undershooting' the nuc entrance (not a nice surprise to pick it up at dusk to discover rather a lot of bees on the underside of the OMF …)

Secateurs? Ratchet secateurs! Maximising the one-handed cutting capacity reduces the ladder skills necessary for survival. Mine came from Wilkinsons but similar have been seen in Lidl and recently in Aldi (for about a fiver).

Water mister - to reduce chance of absconding after I've arrived on site!

Loo air freshener, to mask the pheromones on the clustering point, and prevent stray bees and returning scouts from loitering on and around the branch or whatever. They will then investigate the area and encounter the Nasonov odours coming from the nuc entrance.

 

[REDWOOD]

Duct tape, swarm box, sheet, secateurs, bee suit, sense of humour, patience

That's about it for me too.

 

[Mr C]

View attachment 10111

I love to use my skep

 

[hedgehog66]

Water spray
Collecting swarm yesterday at 21 degrees
Kept spraying my face through veil to keep cool whilst wating for the girls to go in hive
Also good to warn off pingers and followers

 

[Peterxix]

All of the thing that have been suggested, But also a 1 to 1 Sugar syrup mix in a Spray Bottle, I always use one to Spray the Swarm cluster if they are are hanging on the branch of a Tree, then the Bees are that busy feeding on the syrup when you shake them into a Box they just drop into the Box and don't tend to fly as much.
Also I have a Spray Bottle with Vinegar in i spray it on the Branch where the Cluster has been it masks any Pheromone that as been left by the Queen, so any flying bees tend to go into the Box that is on the Ground Sheet.

 

[beeno]

Hi all,
I have a bought swarm box which ensures good ventilation. As well as that, the little darlings cannot chew their way out and it is set up with five frames to be put into full box or other nuc box with little disturbance to the bees. Well, worth the money!

 

[psafloyd]

Before long it will be half made skeps and cardboard boxes –-lots of them...
-

 

[psafloyd]

View attachment 10111

I love to use my skep

Bees do love skeps.

 

[madasafish]

Smoker, sheet, Felco secateurs (none of your cheap rubbish, saw, loppers, knife, correx nuc#, gaffer tape..First Aid kit.. Straps to hold down nuc in boot. Usual antihistamine cream .

And for afters.. gin..

# plus large cardboard box for big swarms (says he hopefully)

 

[poshpikey]

Just bought a second hand cherry picker!

 

[Worldsend]

I've got a very nice wicker laundry bin very cheap from charity shop -looks like a posh skep


and cardboard box in case I get second call!!

 

[BeeJayBee]

I've got a very nice wicker laundry bin very cheap from charity shop -looks like a posh skep

I have a very nice wicker waste paper basket, it's easier to pick up than a skep because there's a rim near the base.

 

[itma]

I was called to take on a late-season swarm that another beek had collected but "had no equipment for" and were still in his skep/wicker basket.
I turned up with a 14x12 nuc box.
Since there was barely an Apidea-ful of bees I took them away in the skep.

My problem was that I couldn't shake the things out of his ruddy wicker basket - every single bee had a firm hold of the fibrous basket!

I put some fondant in the Apidea (with one pre-drawn mini-frame) and then put the Apidea into the wicker basket, facing in. And they went inside, by themselves.


Its much easier to get bees out of a cardboard box than a fibrous basket/skep.