Plastic garbage can trap
Has anybody ever used one of those plastic [heavy duty] garbage containers for a swarm trap? I have seen some [3-6] at the recycling center where I am. Some of them are still nice and a forest green color; very light in weight and have a nice cover to shed rain. They aren't too thick of course for a swarm to survive a WI. winter. They appear to be about 35-45 gallon in size and FREE for the taking. What do you think?
35-45 gallons is pretty big if you ask me. My swarm boxes are about .8 cubic feet which makes them about 6 gallons.Originally Posted by Oldbee
I am thinking that a lawn and leaf bag is about 33 to 35 gallons. What I am interested in is whether the bees would be willing use it as swarm trap, not "knowing" of course that they couldn't survive a WI. winter.
hmmmm
That is a big cavity, but I had two swarms move into tall stacks of empty supers, but they had supers stacked in them vertically also. The cans are free, why not try? I caught four this year in Styrofoam fish shipping crates. I screwed boards in them so I could hang frames, dripped in melted wax and propolis, dosed them with lemon grass oil. One caught a second, soon after I moved the frames into a bee hive and reloaded it.
"hmmmm,..... that is a big cavity".
Yes, I know it's a fairly big cavity but it's free. Maybe I will look for a "smaller" variety; they have them too! As long as the bees don't know that the plastic is thin and they could NOT survive the winter here in it, I guess I will try it.
Also, if you don't have all the "equipment" ready for a swarm, like a hive body, bottom board, top cover, a few frames drawn out, etc., can you just try to get the bees/swarm into the garbage can and transfer them a few days later?
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