I've never tried the swarm traps that look like a bucket, but I've used cardboard nucs and wooden nucs and empty boxes. A well used piece of equipment works better than a new one. Swarm lure or Lemongrass oil helps. If you use a jar of alcohol to dispose of your old queens the juice makes good swarm lure. I've had better luck with them 8' or more up a tree than on the ground. I've also started putting 1/4" hardware cloth on the entrance to keep out the finches who seem to like to nest in them.
Here's a clip from a fact sheet I have been working on.
If anyone has more tips I can add, please respond.
Suggestions on how you can make your swarm traps more attractive to swarms:
Research has shown:
Ø Honeybees prefer nest cavity volumes of at least 20 liters or greater. Traps 31 liters, about the size of a medium super or greater are highly attractive.
Ø When given a choice between identical cavities, swarms will choose those which contain Nasonov pheromone.
Ø When given a choice between identical cavities, one bated with beeswax and propolis, and one with Nasonov Pheromone, the swarm will choose the cavity which contains Nasonov pheromone.
Ø Neither cavity shape, nor entrance shape is important.
Ø Traps are most effective at about 15 feet off the ground.
Ø Lures used in combination with old combs and hive residue odors such as propolis are very attractive.
Ø Entrance hole ¾ to 1 inch in size located toward the floor of the cavity is recommended.
Suggestions:
Ø If using a hive body, an entrance reducer set at the large position is recommended.
Ø Stacking more hivebodies (1 up to 4 deeps) is highly attractive.
Ø Lower trap elevations, and on the ground are fine if height cannot be attained easily.
Ø Placing some scrapings from propolis and pieces of old comb in the trap makes it more attractive.
Ø Smearing or melting beeswax inside a bait hive or swarm trap makes it more attractive.
Ø Place swarm traps near to large objects such as tree trunks, sheds, fence rows and other landmarks or objects that Serve as points of interest for scouting bees.
Ø Some beekeepers suggest swarms prefer entrance facing south, but others say it makes no difference.
Last year Tom Seeley reported that bees prefer a nest site that is:
1) 5 meters high
2) has a small entrance (about 1" dia)
3) has a south facing entrance
4) is about 40 liters in size (1 deep holds 42 liters)
5) has old comb or swarm lure
Do swarms instinctivly try to find a hive location in areas away from other beehives? I.e. is it best to place bait hives 1/2 mile or more from the nearest beeyard?
I have one particular branch on a pine tree where swarms have settled two years in a row. If I were to put a nuc box baited with lemongrass oil just below that branch, do you think I'd have a good chance of getting a swarm? It'd really be nice if they'd box themselves!
Tia:Yes it might work,But I use something bigger than a nuc.
A man told me last year that he had a tree in his back yard that a swarm landed in it every year.It was a maple I placed a swarm trap in it & got 3 swarm's.Now why they land in that tree I havn't a clue????,He has alot of trees in his yard.
Okay, Mark, I'll set up a medium instead. I thought the smaller the better (?) that's why I said nuc, but I've definitely got boxes I can put out. As a matter of fact, I've recently acquired a whole bunch of used boxes and I've got them stacked right under that tree right now. I'll just make sure the top box has a bottom board, an outer cover and the lure and I'm in business, right?
From my observations I would say that swarms cluster near their home hive (usually within a hundred yards) and then look for a new home much further away - often a mile or more. So while catching them at their temporary resting place is relatively easy by the usual methods, they may not actually set up home in a bait hive placed there. You may need to place bait hives some distance from an apiary if you want them just to move in, unattended.
I haven't tried this yet, but hanging 12"x12" boards horizontally from branches near an apiary, with their lower surfaces rubbed with wax, is supposed to attract swarms.
Buckbee is right about distance. Last year I had a swarm land under one of my bait boxes (just yards from my hives), and it took off the next day. Bees instinctively want to get far from the old hive, cause the good Lord knew that it's better that they not compete with the old hive for survival. I had other bait boxes several hundred yards away, and they had swarms stay in them.
Last year I made platforms up high in the tree... that was a pain and was dangerous. This year I tied a rope around a deep (with old comb and lemongrass oil in them), and tied a half-brick around the other end. Then I just threw the brick over a high limb, hoisted up, and tied it off. Much easier. And getting a honey-laden hive down out of a tree is no easy task... unless you can just lower it down on a rope.
My two cents... 300 yards away or farther, use lemongrass oil (or a lure), have old brood comb in it, use a deep with the screen bottom board covered up (I use screws to hold the box together), use a small entrance, put 10 foot high in tree, and the rope trick makes it safe and easy.
--Do swarms instinctivly try to find a hive location in areas away from other beehives? I.e. is it best to place bait hives 1/2 mile or more from the nearest beeyard?
Excellent question DB!
I dug up some stuff that answers your question:
"In searching for nest sites, a swarm of bees surveys an area of more than a hundred square kilometers Within this area, it is unknown how completely the bees search." .(Scott Camazine, Jennifer Finley, & P. Kirk Visscher 1996)
"The sites finally chosen by Lindauers swarms, and by 13 swarms observed by Seeley and Morse (1977) had a median distance of about 900 m, and few swarms selected sites beyond 1500 m or closer than 300 m."
"Distance from the swarm to the nest box could also affect dancing buildup, even if there were no differences in quality grading or discovery time for more distant sites, because differences in travel time could lengthen an individual bees
dancing and scouting cycle, decreasing recruitment to more distant sites. This could underlie the trend toward selection of nearby sites reported by Seeley and Morse" (1977).
Last year I had a "pile" of old cut-out comb in a box for the bees to rob out. Don't you know it, I had a swarm move into it. It was four foot off the ground and 100 yards form the yard.
I want to put some boxes to trap some swarms (I want to put one were I got some bees out of a house last year and one were I'm going to do this year) were would be the best place to put the boxes. I'm going to get some lemongrass oil like Michael Bush suggested but how much do you put in.
Any problem with wasp,baldfaced hornets or bumblebees taking over the box while it's empty waiting for a swarm?
Are these boxes something you leave up all summer, or just during a specific window of time which makes up your swarming period?
Michael, you can answer this better than most I'm sure, is Kansas City, MO to Nebraska still having swarms of bees very regularly or are the swarms you are seeing coming from you or other local beekeepers. I guess I'm asking if you are seeing any feral bees?
>Michael, you can answer this better than most I'm sure, is Kansas City, MO to Nebraska still having swarms of bees very regularly or are the swarms you are seeing coming from you or other local beekeepers. I guess I'm asking if you are seeing any feral bees?
I have captured feral swarms and also swarms that came from local hives. I've been trying to raise the ferals. They are very frugal with stores and cut back so far that the clusters look like they wouldn't make it through the winter, but they do.
The true ferals I'm finding are small (like small cell bees) and black. Distinctly different from the much larger and yellower domestic bees.
They are on small cell, so I can't say how much is the bees and how much is the small cell, but they are doing very well. The hives I've treated with Oxalic acid to see what the mite load was had 100 mites or less per hive at the end of a year of no treatments.
Do you have any packages or nucs from the wild bees that have a wild queen for sale?
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