[gwb]

Looking for opinions.
Here in southern Illinois. How late is to late for swarm trapping?

 

[GregV]

Looking for opinions.
Here in southern Illinois. How late is to late for swarm trapping?

Now is the time.
Swarms can be caught as late as August, but May/June is the prime.

 

[Hoot Owl Lane Bees]

gwb

I am a little closer to your environment and I have had swarms move in to traps as late as September.
As a rule any thing after July I feed them till it gets to cold to feed or they have 6-7 frames of stores.
They are also end up in 5 frame nucs 2 high with deep frames.
I started an OV hive last year in October for our local farm show because one of the most asked question is how does a Queen get started.
Any way, the queen lived till this spring even though she never had a chance to mate.

 

[Eikel]

Where in southern IL are you located?

Personally, I don't have a too late for swarms, however they "arrive." I try to take my losses in the fall, so any weak swarms or colonies are combined. The question is if it's your intent to overwinter any swarms you catch without combining? Then as Greg points out, you'll need time for some TLC to get them strong enough for winter.

For me, late July swarms usually seem to be weaker after swarms and likely to result in a combine or at best a nuc for winter.

The flow in my area wanes mid June, maybe into early July; your odds of trapping swarms likewise wanes; but as "they" say, never say never.

 

[Litsinger]

Looking for opinions.
Here in southern Illinois. How late is to late for swarm trapping?

gwb:

While I am not certain where exactly in Southern Illinois you are located (are you in the Southern 7?) Here in Western Kentucky swarm season is largely over for this year. That is not to say there won't be a stray swarm issue that you will be the beneficiary of (and I do not want to discourage you from trying), I just wanted to help clarify what I have seen and read about just South of you.

As points of reference the first swarm I hived last year was on April 24th and the last one was on May 19th.

This year, the first swarm was on April 4th and I assume the last one was on May 22nd.

Also, if you are significantly North of me, these dates might be off by a delayed for you by a week or more.

Best of luck to you in your trapping efforts.

Russ

 

[gwb]

Thanks everyone for your replies.
Litsinger I am 200 miles north of you.
I’m just trying to decide how late to leave my traps out.

 

[GregV]

Swarms can be caught as late as late August.

 

[AR1]

Thanks everyone for your replies.
Litsinger I am 200 miles north of you.
I’m just trying to decide how late to leave my traps out.

Or you can just leave them out. Some of mine stayed out all winter. I have mesh over the entrances to keep mice out. I like to bring them in and paint them, but don't sweat it is a few don't get done.

 

[GregV]

Or you can just leave them out. Some of mine stayed out all winter. I have mesh over the entrances to keep mice out. I like to bring them in and paint them, but don't sweat it is a few don't get done.

Exactly.
My log traps stood outside all winter - no sweat.
Went out, checked/fixed what was needed/set in fresh lure - done.
Very important - screen from the mice.

 

[Litsinger]

Exactly.
My log traps stood outside all winter - no sweat.
Went out, checked/fixed what was needed/set in fresh lure - done.
Very important - screen from the mice.

gwb:

My apologies- I in no way wanted to discourage you from leaving your traps out.

In my very humble opinion the advice that GregV and AR1 have provided is good- there is little to no risk to leaving the traps out except the prospect of theft or pest intrusion.

Also I would add that if you have drawn comb in them you might want to check periodically to make sure you don't have a wax moth infestation as they can do quite a bit of damage in a fairly short amount of time- you can probably guess how I know.

Best of luck to you in your trapping efforts.

Russ