High swarm retrieval secrets?

[Superdog]

Okay.... the swarm season has hit Northeast Wisconsin. I have had swarms before and had no problem getting them. This time, they chose the very top of a tall hickory tree. :cry: I tried taping a 5 gal pail to a pole trick, but after 30ft of pipe, I just can't control it.:scratch: 20 ft is doable, but not 30ft and thats what its going to take. I have a couple of swarm traps put up around my property and hopefully they are looking strong at those, but I would rather put them in a box than take my chances with the traps. Are there any secrets out there of how one could get the bees to move and hopefully land in a lower spot?

Any and all suggestions will be appreciated.

Mike

[Beeslave]

Bucket truck or harness and climbing spikes!:popcorn:

Its safer and cheaper to just get the easy ones and let nature do what it was doing with the hard ones.

[Bee_Sweet]

Had the same thing happen to me this year, the swarm went to the top of a tall tree and no chance of being able to grab them. So, I put a box with some empty drawn frames, drizzled honey on them and dropped some lemongrass oil around inside the box and outside on the landing. The box had a lid, was dark and cozy with some food for the new swarm ( just what they want :) ). I set that box on top of my shed 10 feet from the tree they were in.

30 min. later, I used my Bino's and looked at the box and saw some investigating going on. At 45 min. the swarm was down on the box and moving in. :applause:

It was AWESOME!!!

[Superdog]

I really like the truck with a boom idea. But I think its a bit out of the price range. :lpf: I do have traps set out already, I just don't have a strong feeling they are going to take up residence there. But we shall see.

Mike

[Oldbee]

"Someone else on this board was just explaining how he shot off the limb about 3 feet up from the bees and it worked for him. The limb (and the swarm) dropped to the ground where he had a hive body sitting and they filed right in." -Beesource.
http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=211085&highlight=shotgun+tree

"If you are located in a rural area and the branch is small enough. You could shoot the branch and sever it from tree. Watch out though a swarm that has been homeless for a week can be pretty nasty.:D " --Beesource.

[Superdog]

I am rural enough to shoot the gun.... but that hickory tree branch is about 4" thick. Gonna take a bunch of rounds. They have only been there a day so far, so as of right now, they should be pretty calm yet.

[Romahawk]

Hmmmmmm........ I always get nervous when I see or hear someone suggesting shooting at a limb to cut it off. WHAT GOES UP MUST COME DOWN.. I know it's rare and usually unheard of but stray bullets falling from the sky do and have killed people in the past. A shotgun might be OK but a rifle should be a definite No No...... :no:

[Oldbee]

I wonder [in future] if you could get a big helium filled balloon tied to a cardboard nuc box with a little comb and swarm lure inside? :)

NO I wouldn't take shooting it down seriously! :rolleyes:

[G3farms]

Shoot it down with a shotgun and some large sized shot (like no. 5 or bigger), the shot will not travel that far and will just rain down on top of anything, will not hurt it. I have trimmed many trees this way and it will work great. A 4" limb should take only one or two shots.

G3

[thesurveyor]

Better use x-full choke on the shotgun.

[devdog108]

I love this forum. There are few places a bunch of people can get on line and talk about long smoking and shotguns and shooting trees and there be NO alcohol involved.....oh i so needed this laugh and maybe a long smoke in a few

ps, dont long smoke then try and shoot the tree....ROFL

[Cedar Hill]

Agree with "Beeslave". It's safer and cheaper to get the easy ones and to let the difficult ones go. Someone once wrote in an old bee book, that beeks should get the swarms that stay near and low enough in their apiaries, and if they fly out of the area to let them go. Over time, they maintained, most of the swarms would remain near and low. Of course swarms were more plentiful then and bees didn't cost so much as now. OMTCW

[ScadsOBees]

How about the 20 ft bucket-on-a-stick trick while standing on a 10 foot ladder propped up 4 feet on the back of a pickup truck? :D

[Superdog]

The funny thing is that is just about what it would take to get to these bees. I guess I will just sit back and hope that they are in one of my traps tonight when I get home from work.

Although.... I could stop by the store and pick up a helium balloon, and try that trick... :lpf:

[G3farms]

Well I don't drink or smoke but might cuss up a blue streak every now and then (I do have four teenage daughters you see). Was born with some kind of shooting iron in my hands for sure.

Thats true you can't get all of the swarms, and there needs to be some wild ones left for the future. Just think of all those cut outs and bee trees that we would not get to do.

It is natures way of survival of the fittest and also gets the blood lines mixed and that can be a good thing.

G3

[Superdog]

Thats true you can't get all of the swarms, and there needs to be some wild ones left for the future. Just think of all those cut outs and bee trees that we would not get to do.

It is natures way of survival of the fittest and also gets the blood lines mixed and that can be a good thing.

G3[/QUOTE]

I agree... The neat thing is I caught a swarm on my property the other day, that wasn't from my hives. They were much too dark. Hardly any strips on them at all. Looks like I have some diversity of blood lines around my place already!!

[DiverDog]

10' ladder and 20' pole?? I like the shooting it down idea, let's me know that there are some other crazy rednecks out there like me, and using the internet. WOW! A 4" branch may be a bit much though. If you cant get to it with a ladder and pole you're probably gonna have to cross your fingers and hope they go for the traps. If not, think of it as paying nature back for the feral swarms you have caught in the past.

[G3farms]

REDNECK!!!!:eek:.....................well I do resemble that remark:D actually a Tennessee hill billy


A four inch branch is nothing for a shot gun, trust me on that one, 12 ga. with extra full choke and 3" shell of no. 5 shot. Some times the extra full choke might be too much and not let the pattern open just a little. well thats for another forum and I don't mean to stray off topic.

How about the helium ballons tied to a lawn chair with the hive body in your lap. :D

G3

[dug_6238]

:ot: Like Red Green always says... "If the women don't find ya' handsome, they should at least find ya' handy."

[Countryboy]

Anyone who suggests that you can shoot off a 4 inch thick branch 30 feet up in a tree has been doing too much long smoking. Even if you ring some old cardboard shells, 3 shots wouldn't do it. You might scuff the bark pretty good though. I've seen number 5 shot knock squirrels out of trees and they scamper away after being stunned for a few moments when they hit the ground.

I think the safest/easiest method is a trap with lemongrass oil and let the bees come to you.

My brother in law has done some missionary work in the bush country in Kenya, and he told me over there if they see a flying swarm they will take a hand mirror and reflect sunlight at the bees. He said the 2nd sun confuses them and they will land instantly.

[BeeOld]

Find a turkey hunter with a tight turkey choke and he can cut that limb in one shot. However I don't know how the bees will react.:applause:

[G3farms]

Well I don't know what kind of shot gun you got in Knox county Ohio, but in Knox county Tennessee 30 feet ain't squat for a shot gun. :lpf: Either that or your trees and squirels are way more tougher up north:lpf::lpf:
I have knocked crows out of trees at 50 YARDS, and no that's not any exageration.

Brother you better trade that old smoke pole in for a new one sounds like you shot the choke out of yours. (I only say old because you refered to paper shells)

Nothing personal but come on :D

Back on topic now that you mention it I have heard of the mirror trick but had forgotten it. Glad you brought that up.

[Rabbitdog]

Me thinks there is some confusion about the size of said limb. Some are thinking the limb is 4" long (basically a twig), in which case a shotgun could indeed take it out. Others (myself included) are thinking the limb is 4" in diameter (which requires a chainsaw). You mentioned hickory. If this is true, there is absolutely no way a shotgun with even 000 buck is going to cut through it. Green hickory will not part. Maybe enough shots could make it crack and bend but you'd shoot a hundred boxes and still not cut through it unless you're point blank range ......... in which case I'd still suggest a chainsaw.
Have fun!

[DiverDog]

I think it's time for someone to go out with the video camera and tape themselves shooting this 4" diameter branch from 30' and taking it down with a couple shots. It is getting interesting and now I would like to see it done.:popcorn:

[Superdog]

I will take this chance to clear up some confusion. The branch is 4" in diameter, and must be at least 15 feet long. And to tell you the truth, I really don't want to take that big of a branch out of a hickory tree in my front yard. Right now I am watching a very strong storm on the radar and it is probably hitting my house right about now. If its strong enough.... maybe it will blow them right out of the tree.. :D

[Michael Bush]

Put a well used box or boxes the right size (two mediums or one deep) on a bottom board with at least one or two frames of old comb (more won't hurt) and a cotton swab with one end dipped in lemongrass essential oil and the other dipped in queen juice (old retired queens in alcohol). Put it on the top bars, put the cover on and come back the next evening just about dark and wait for them to finish coming back. :) This works quite well quite often. I just did it Tuesday with perfect results.

[KQ6AR]

Does you're local power company have a helicopter, those guys are crazy enough to do anything.

[Beekeeper's hubby]

Double ought buck with a turkey choke would probably not break off the limb. However I'm sure it would give the limb a hard enough shake to knock the bees off. I'm not sure I would want to gather those bees after the shot though.
I've never tried it but my father told me my grandfather used to use a water pump and hose with a power nozzle to knock the bees off.

[Countryboy]

Brother you better trade that old smoke pole in for a new one sounds like you shot the choke out of yours. (I only say old because you refered to paper shells)

You can't ring plastic shells. You can ring paper. They will shoot like a slug. (And you don't shoot slugs through full choke.)

[KDM]

Take a 1/4 in. rope long enough to go over the limb and back down to the ground. Put a throwing weight on one end of the rope. Throw the rope over the limb next to the bees. Tie a frame with some unsealed brood on one end of the rope and pull it up to the swarm. secure the other end. wait a while and the bees move over to the frame of brood. lower them down. this works if they are on a limb that don't have a lot of spring to it.

[edenhillapiaries]

While not as creative as the armed swarm capture, I did catch a number of high swarms this year. As a matter of fact i kind of cursed myself this year. I had a number of long and low hanging Chinese elm limbs that were hanging out over a few of my hives. After a couple of years of looking at these and worrying about them snapping and knocking over a hive or two my friend and I removed them. I was feeling quite good about my actions until a couple of days later when I found a swarm 15+ feet up in the very same tree! I did use the bucket attached to a long pole, and even though things did not go quite as planned the swarm was captured. I agree that using a frame or two with a little honey in it helps keep a newly captured swarm around. I don't typically add more than this as I love using swarms to draw out foundation for me (which they usually do with a vengeance).

Another method I used recently to capture another high swarm from the same apiary (again no lower branches ala me) was to spread a large tarp on the ground underneath the swarm and set an empty super with bottom board attached to it. My buddy (much more comfortable on a ladder than I) climbed up and cut out any branches that were in the way with an orchard hand saw. They are really sharp and can cut through some pretty large branches. Then he started to slowly cut the branch that the swarm was on making a sort o hinge near the trunk. He slowly guided the branch towards me so I could grab it and guide it over the box. When it got to me I gave it a good shake and most of the bees went in the box. Then we removed to limb entirely and set the section they were on over the hive box. With nothing to go back up to it did not take too long for the swarm to enter the hive entirely. I have seen that removing the limb that they had been clustered on really helps when capturing a swarm that was high or in a hard to get to spot. With the queen scent on it, it help to set it by the hive you want to capture them in.

Hope this helps,
Jason

[reneal]

Well, I've sucessfully attached a couple of 10 ft lengths of plastic conduit to the end of my beevac hose & gone up about 25 ft. Seems I need to set the suction lower than normal, or you end up killing a bunch as they come down the conduit. I had one where I got most of the swarm, but some were on top of the branch, & apparently intended to stay there. I finally had to smear some honey on a frame of drawn comb & hoist that up on that 1/4 inch rope someone mentioned earlier. When they had mostly moved onto the comb I lowered it down slowly & put it into a plastic garbage sac for the trip home to reunite with all the girls I had gotten earlier with the vac.

[Mabe]

I had a swarm last month in a Jack Pine about 30 feet up. Hosed the cluster down and they dropped in clumps to the ground. Within half an hour they had dried off, recovered, and walked into the box I put next to them. Very few casualties, which was surprising because they looked like corpses soaked and laying in heaps on the ground.

mabe

[devdog108]

One of the swarms my neighbor found was about 15 feet up in a really small pine. Got the kids squirt gun, filled with 1 to 1 and squirted them down then shook the tree hard one time. Caught them in a padded box, and transferred to my hive a day or so later.