TBH for a swarm?

[jasontatro]

Greetings all,

I am a new beekeeper this year. Will be starting 2 Langstroth's this spring, but I am very intrigued by the TBH philosophy. I had intended to round up a bunch of equipment to be prepared in the event that a swarm is made available to me this season. My question is this....would a swarm take to a TBH if it was provided? Seems like it would be a good way to get into TBH keeping without having to buy a bunch of "traditional" equipment.

Thoughts?

Thanks,

Jason

[EngineeringBeek]

Most definitely. It can be argued, but I'd think that they would be more likely to take up a new TBH than a new Lang. In the lang they have to abide by the frames, the TBH is just an empty box to them. If they like the box, they'll stay. I just finished making 15 boxes to be used as bait/swarm boxes and possibly Nucs in the future. They have eight, 19 inch top bars so they can be put into a lang if I needed (thats how all my TBH's are).

[Shapleigh's Bees]

http://www.beesource.com/forums/showpost.php?p=303251&postcount=17

Check out Tomas' stuff. He does amazing stuff in Honduras. I like how his TBH sits in the crotch of a tree better than a square box ever could. The single hole appears similar to the size and shape I've read is what bees look for in the wild.

[Michael Bush]

>would a swarm take to a TBH if it was provided?

Sure. A swarm will prefer to cluster rather than have a lot of foundation in the way.

> Seems like it would be a good way to get into TBH keeping without having to buy a bunch of "traditional" equipment.

If you can catch one, it's a great way.

[Tomas]

Here’s another photo of one of my trap hives. This is actually the way I prefer to hang these boxes.

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s313/Tomas_fotos/traphivehangingintree.jpg

Although these boxes do sit well in the crotch of a tree, if the swarm is big and strong and fill the box up fast before you can take it down, it can be a bugger to lift up out of the crotch (it can get heavy). The photo that I think Shapleigh’s Bees is referring to caused us problems and we had some comb breakage. Having to take them down at night doesn’t help anything.

Comb breakage is one of the problems with a tbh trap hive. Since the comb is new when you take it out of a tree, you have to be gentle with it. If you are rough, combs will break. A big new comb full of capped brood can be heavy and a good bump will snap it off. Take it easy if you’re transporting it in a car also.

But they work. I like this type of trap hive a lot. It’s inexpensive and easy for me to make. Just be a bit careful.

Ideally the way I like to hang them is to have it resting up against a branch and bottom not resting on anything. Here’s another photo.

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s313/Tomas_fotos/traphivehangingintree02.jpg

I have two small pieces of rope that crisscross over the top (they’re hooked to some bent over nails on the side of the box so they can be removed to get into the box.) The main support rope is tied to them, thrown over a branch above where the trap will hang and then tied off somewhere down below. This way I can just untie the box and then lower it down into the hands of someone below or until it settles onto the ground. If I’m up in the tree, I want to be able to lower it down as easily as possible and still be able to hang onto a branch. Here’s my bee partner taking down a box with bees in it.

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s313/Tomas_fotos/loweringtraphive.jpg

Also, if you can get the branches just right in the trees, the wind shouldn’t bother it too much. Otherwise I take another smaller piece of twine and tie it to the branch to keep it firm.

About ten to 12 feet up is good for me down here.

We’ve caught about a dozen swarms in our mountain locations since January. Now the swarms are starting down in the valley so hopefully we’ll get several more yet. There were some years that I caught as many as 30 or 35 swarms. You take one box down and then hang another one up. The same trees keep working year after year.

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Tom