Are you willing to take the odfrank swarm catching challenge?

[beyondthesidewalks]

Now that hurts being as yur Giants beat my Rangers in the classic two years ago.

[Charlie B]

Ok, you're really not going to like this but that was a glorious day indeed for me and my buddies watching our brave boys in orange beat a tough team like the Rangers. (Especially with both Bush's in the stands).

Fast forward to 2012 Superbowl where those heathen New Yorkers beat our beloved 49'ers.

We'll get'em next year!

[Gypsi]

Charlie,
I took down a bee tree yesterday. Got buckets of old brood comb.
Never mind those rangers.

[Charlie B]

Nice, was there a live colony in the tree? With old brood comb, you're going to have plenty of bees this year!

[Gypsi]

2 weeks ago there was a live colony. Not a dead bee to be seen, they absconded to someone's attic more than likely, in a wealthy wooded area. Which will probably be good for my bank account. But I do have about 10 gallons worth of brood comb to build more traps.

It's all good - no one got hurt, very educational, and I'm gonna catch more swarms!

Gypsi

[CaBees]

Lucky you Gypsi but you have to be fast, no? Don't you only have a certain amount of time to use those? Do you use them just as a lure or are you hoping they will actually hatch out and create a queen (is that possible)? Sorry, newbie is showing thru...

I have just 2 traps out from this weekend.....both near bee colonies in oak trees. I got my lemongrass oil so was able to bait the nucs. I have an empty deep with frames waiting to put them in. But it got me to thinking....if I catch a swarm I know to plug the holes and drive them home...is it going to work out ok to put them in the deep next to my existing hive? Do I need to move it further away? If I catch a swarm in my 5 frame nuc can I keep them in it for a while? Do I need to feed these bees? I realized I don't know what to do after I catch them!!!

OH, and it turned cold last night! Don't know about SF but up in Novato we had frost! Yet all the cherry trees, mulberry, manzanita, dafodils etc are all in bloom. I managed to move my hive to upgrade my set up, open it and give it more room and not get stung. Moved it at night, then in the a.m. when it started warming up opened it, they were all in bed by 7pm. I hope it was not too much stress...

[Gypsi]

No CA, there is NOTHING there to hatch. I am assuming the hive was flooded out, brood chambers were below ground, we went over a year without a SIGNIFICANT rainfalls, so they were fine last year. The bees absconded, and cleaned every comb when they left. Not a dead bee, no honey, some comb fresh, some old and dry, couple of capped chambers in the whole lot, and they don't look lively. I have not opened up the upper trunk to see what is there away from the edge, but everything the saw cut through is just empty comb. So I can use them at my leisure, as swarm traps. Could spray them with BT, But old brood comb just doesn't seem to attract moths the way nice fresh wax does, so I don't think I'll waste the effort. LGO and in the traps it goes. I'd feed if there isn't flow, but in spring, you probably have flow.

Gypsi

[odfrank]

The perfect bait hive to steal Charlie's Swarms:

http://youtu.be/CfSAgtjLNVI

[Gypsi]

Nice video!

[beyondthesidewalks]

Odfrank, is that made from some old wine crates?

[odfrank]

Yes, I went through a wine case bait hive phase. The right kind of wine case fits bee frames real well. They don't weather real well but will give you a few years.

[Gypsi]

Charlie had better look out!

I think I need to focus my bee-trapping on areas remote from my house and bee yard. Because I have stuff in bloom, and while I've seen bees elsewhere on nice days, none around here since they visited my neighbor's soda cans almost a month ago. Based on my beetree experience (no bees), I'm thinking the nice winter was hard on feral colonies, they went into a warm winter with few stores.

[beyondthesidewalks]

My dad was a restaurant/bar/lounge owner and we always had wooden cases from Drambuie and Grand Marnier around our house. They probably just use cardboard these days but I've often thought if I had all of those old wooded cases now. I'd know what to do with them.

[Charlie B]

Uh oh, some of my girls are Italians. Not fair with the wine boxes OD. Anyone in the bay area have a place for extra hives to hide out for a while?

[odfrank]

Uh oh, some of my girls are Italians. Not fair with the wine boxes OD. Anyone in the bay area have a place for extra hives to hide out for a while?

I have a few sites you are welcome to use.

[L. M. Reese]

I got all my swarm traps out today. 12 coats nucs so let the games begin.

[BayHighlandBees]

I added some old propolis to my bait hives today. It wasn't much but when I used the blow torch to melt it, you could smell propolis in the front yard, the backyard, inside the house so I can see why its an attractant. I have some fruit trees nearby that are starting to flower and I'm starting to getting some bee traffic, so I'm thinking this week will be the week.

[Charlie B]

so I'm thinking this week will be the week.

You shouldn't have much trouble attracting some of OD's bees there in San Mateo. They're all looking for a better home than those embarrassing hive boxes he makes out of T-111 siding.

[odfrank]

I I'm starting to getting some bee traffic, so I'm thinking this week will be the week.

You are like a kid in a candy shop. I show in 2009, 7 in March, 21 in April, 13 in May, six in June, 1 in July. I show Bunker Hill on 4/10. Is the traffic in your bait hives or on the trees?

[odfrank]

[QUOTE=Charlie B; those embarrassing hive boxes he makes out of T-111 siding. [/QUOTE]

That siding matches hundreds of homes in my neighborhood and the bees love them and so do the neighors. They beg me to borrow some paint to match their house and place my bait in their yard. The address numbers were my finest moment. I should have been an artist or architect like my mother told me.