How late do you run swarm traps?

This season I will run them till September.

Will they build up winter stores in that time tomcat or will you add them to another hive?

"How late do you run swarm traps?"
We're still getting swarms in traps. Consider not using drawn comb this late if there are wax moths in your region.

frankthomas said:

Will they build up winter stores in that time tomcat or will you add them to another hive?

Click to expand...

Yes if we have a good flow of golden rod. And I may have to request them and feed them.

I'll be leaving at least one trap out until the beginning of september.

I have 30-40 traps out for the last 3 years.

Last year I caught 20, most were caught in May and Jun, then it drops off to 1 or 2 from July to Sept. Those late swarms are often smaller, some the size of a baseball. Just not enough time to get them to size for the winter. The smaller the hive the more you have to mess with it. Most of my winter losses are those late swarms.

July - Sept wax moths increase every day until a freeze, I treat with BT but have some pollen left in some comb and the wax moths get one or two of my traps.

For those reasons I will be pulling my traps in July. I will still leave a few around my apiary.