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Queen needed for successful trapout?

2K views 8 replies 5 participants last post by  notaclue 
#1 ·
Have not done a trapout before. Have got a few calls for them and had to turn them down( due to no experience in that area ). Do you have to have a queen in your box your using? How do you get her out? Thanks
 
#4 ·
Mr Beeman... Others.... If you are just wanting to eliminate the colony, the screen cone method is probably faster and perhaps easier.

The method I developed is more for collecting starts from a feral colony and using it year after year, and for getting feral queens and the genetics that have survived one or more seasons. It is designed to get the right mix of bees for a new colony(..i.e. guard bees, cleaners, nurse bees, housekeepers, fanners, drones, etc ).During a good honey flow you can catch the queen, let the feral source make themselves a new queen, then catch her. Quit trapping as soon as the honey flow is about over, let the feral colony build back up for Winter, and trap again next year.

cchoganjr
,
 
#6 ·
Mr beeman..... I quit doing trapouts a couple of years ago, (not enough time, price of gasoline), but, I agreed to do one in the Red Cross Amish community. (It was right on the side of the road, and they were afraid the bees might spook the horses.) It is on here somewhere. I am posting photos as I go along.

I will likely go tomorrow and check on it.

cchoganjr
 
#9 ·
I have made sure that the trap has at least one capped queen cell and that has worked. I don't do trap-outs anymore unless they are low enough and I don't have to climb at all. I have a friend that I partner up with this time of year, making our wives "SCaT widows" (Swarms, Cutouts and Trap-out) until Augustish.

Just takes time and patience. I am working on a way to save the feral queen for my hives. Sometimes I get her, but usually I don't. My number one issue is making sure the hive is gone from the structure or property of the person that wants them gone.
 
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