[JMoore]

Last night, I went to a bee tree to trap out the bees for a friend. I like Cleo Hogan's trap design, but I changed a few elements. The tree is on a fence line and has grown through the fence which keeps me from being able to wrap the tree in order to seal the bees.

Therefore I bought this roof vent flashing at Lowes for $5 to help isolate the entrance and provide a good seal to the the pipe. I applied it to the tree with staples and screws. Then I filled in the gaps with expanding foam. I also filled 3 other small entrances on the tree.

I then cut about 12" of 2" PVC, ran it from the flashing into a 2.5" hole I had cut in my hive box.

On the inside, I attached a funnel made of screen material and duct tape. Here are some pics:

TODAY, I checked it, and only a handful of bees were in the hive. And many bees were chewing through the foam--so much so that the chewing was audible.

So, a few thoughts.

1) I didn't see any bees in the PVC. Are bees adverse to walking on PVC as they are walking on duct tape?
So I shortened the pipe to about 8" and roughed up the inside. That seemed to help as bees were regularly exiting the pipe when I reconnected it.

2) I removed the screen trap. I thought it best to allow the bees to come and go freely before I begin the trapping process.

3) I re-filled any gaps in the foam.

Anything I need to re-think?

 

[djei5]

Forget the foam, use screen instead with some roofing nails. I've seen them go through foam in 24 hours. Shorten your pvc to as short as possible. If you have every access blocked off, you should fill up quick, if its a strong hive.

 

[Cleo C. Hogan Jr]

The best way to seal entrances is to apply black plastic. Here is a photo that shows how I do it.

PVC is very slick, (and I would use something else) but, I know lots of observation hives that use a 1 inch PVC pipe. In a case or two I have used a radiator hose, and a dryer hose.

And yes, keep the tube as short as you can. Let them come and go a few days before you install the cone funnel. Place a frame that has some unsealed brood on it before you install the funnel, and you should get the queen to come into your box.

cchoganjr

 

[GOHoney]

I'm working with Cleo's design also. As long as the weather permits I will be adding a frame of brood to the house I am working on tomorrow.

 

[Cleo C. Hogan Jr]

JMoore... Here is a photo of how I wrapped a tree in a fence row. This harvester is active now. I got the queen but choose not to take her and I put her back in the box.

cchoganjr

 

[JMoore]

Cleo, would you cut out the foam and start over? The landowner wants the bees gone, so it isn't a long term setup.

Thanks for the replies.

 

[Riverderwent]

The best way to seal entrances is to apply black plastic. Here is a photo that shows how I do it.

View attachment 11430


PVC is very slick, (and I would use something else) but, I know lots of observation hives that use a 1 inch PVC pipe. In a case or two I have used a radiator hose, and a dryer hose.

And yes, keep the tube as short as you can. Let them come and go a few days before you install the cone funnel. Place a frame that has some unsealed brood on it before you install the funnel, and you should get the queen to come into your box.

cchoganjr

+1 Sometimes the bees seem to eat expanding aerosol foam like candy. To connect the trapout box to the bees entrance, I use opaque pool vac hose because you can angle it and cut it very short after everything else is situated. This allows the smell of the uncapped eggs and young brood (and I like to use a capped queen cell to draw the queen) to waft into the brood chamber of the hive and draw out nurse bees and the queen. Sliding the wood tunnel or PVC deep into to the trap box loses some of the advantage of being as close as possible to the brood chamber in the tree. It can also shorten the space available for the cone. (I like a 6" to 8" screen cone in the box. I also like to put the base of the cone close to the wall of the box and to have the trap box entrance just below the base of the cone (where the bees tend to congregate). I think that this reduces the efforts of returning foragers to try to find another entrance to the original hive. To mount the box, consider using a wooden bracket with a hole in it on the back of the trap or using 2 bookshelf brackets to hold the trap next to the tree. You can either screw them in or use ratchet straps. I hope it goes well. If you use Mr. Hogan's technique for sealing off the tree with plastic and his timeline for installing the exit tube, brood, and cone, it probably will go well.

 

[Cleo C. Hogan Jr]

Cleo, would you cut out the foam and start over?

No, not if you can just cover it with black plastic. If it is a large area, cover first with screen wire, then cover with black plastic to block out the light. Seeing light is what makes the bees try to break out.

It is important to blacken out all entrances/exits. If they can see light they will try to get out.

cchoganjr

 

[JMoore]

Ok, I didn't have any black plastic, but I did have feed bags. Took a while to get the tree wrapped through the fence. Had to do a lot of cutting and taping seams. I wrapped the tree 2 days ago.
I checked today and the bees were happily using the tube entrance. I connected the hive and PVC today and left the lid off to get them acclimated to that and then in the late evening I went and closed the lid. Hopefully tomorrow the bees will be using the deep as an extension of their hive. I haven't placed the funnel on yet. Baby steps.

 

[Cleo C. Hogan Jr]

JMoore... Others... Just a note to those setting up the Swarm Harvester. When you connect the hive to your transition, don't leave the lid off. You don't want the bees to start using the open top of the hive as an entrance. You want them to use the normal entrance into the hive. They will see the light, go through the Harvester, then outside. So, when you connect hive to tree transition, let them get used to going through the hive and out/in the normal entrance.

cchoganjr

 

[JMoore]

Cleo, your advice is invaluable. Just small question here: I was under the assumption that if you modified the entrance to a hive mid-day (connect the hive to transition) you risk losing the returning foragers because they oriented to the previous hive exit/entrance from which they left. Which was the only reason I let the lid off till dusk.

Is that a worthwhile concern?

 

[Cleo C. Hogan Jr]

Regardless whether the top is on or off, any foragers that are in the field when the trap is fitted, will orient on the end of the transition. Where they have been leaving from.

Best to put box on very early in morning, at night, or during a rain storm. That way when they come out they will exit through the front and set their bearings on that spot.

With the top off they will fly down into the box, get used to it, then when you put the top on, they are lost again. Better to just let them figure it out one time. They will be disoriented for a while, but, they will figure it out.

cchoganjr

 

[jdprovence]

Try coating the inside of the pvc with bees wax.