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Started a trapout today

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U

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Discussion Starter · #1 · (Edited)
M

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#6 ·
Good job Beeman, you got some great pics. Did you get enough bees to start a nuc? Looks like they were going in OK?
 
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U

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Discussion Starter · #7 ·
Don't know. Nuc has 5 frames of brood comb. Several have some pollen and one has some pollen and a little honey.

I didn't put brood in the nuc. Want to make sure that they haven't found a way in/out of the hive around the trap. Especially since I used gator tape instead of mesh and staples. Staple gun quit working. Got to get another one.

Bees are very persistant. They will keep trying to get back in the hive and leave no possibility untried. I have had several trapouts that I thought I was never going to get sealed. The bees were coming out of a tree at the ground level. Once I am sure, then I will add a frame of brood with eggs.
 
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Discussion Starter · #9 ·
I have had a lot of problems with this trapout. These girls have continued to find ways back into the tree. I thought I had it sealed up earlier and put in some brood w/eggs only to have them die. Last time I checked they were getting back into the tree and had WM larva and SHBs. Took out those 3 brood frames and put them in the freezer and didn't replace them.

Needed to check to ensure that I now have them trapped out. But I didn't have a chance before leaving for SC and the beach. So if they are now trapped out they have 2 frames to work on but my experience has been that while they will stay in the nuc they will not do much unless they have brood. So I guess I will see when I get back home. I am at the beach right now and will return home next Wed.

Will give an update them.

I also have 2 other trapouts going. The one in town is still getting back into the underside of the bay window. I missed one spot when I caulked up the area between the brick and wood of the baywindow.

Closed up the box on it till I can get back to keep the WM and SHBs out.

The other TO is in another town a good ways off. They are in the 8-frame box and there is now a queen. But I am sure I needed to add another box or swap out the current box with a new one to start another hive as this is a huge colony in this tree.

Will check all 3 and give an update as soon as possible.
 
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Discussion Starter · #10 ·
Got to all the trapouts today. The one that started this thread was the second visit.

Bee found a small entrance back to the tree. But there was plenty of bees on the outside of the tree, in the tree and in the cone. Checked the nuc and found it full of bees. Added 2 more frames and sealed up that last entrance. Need to now go back and take a frame of brood/eggs. When I left the bees were faning with their butts high. Nice site.

First TO visit this AM I completely caulked the underside of the bay window where it rests on the brick. There is no way they can get back in now. Opened the nuc up and will check back soon.

Last TO visit was to the best TO so far this year. When I last checked it around 3 weeks ago it was busting with bees and had raised a queen which I saw. Figured that they would be honey bound because this is the best nectar flow in some years (I have been told) so I took an extra high and a medium (only have 4 frames). To my surprise, the bees had found a small entrance (which I sealed) and the 8 frame box was decimated with WMs, WMLs, and WM cocoons. Every frame. Ended up taking out every frame and destroying all of the comb. Also using my trusty maxant tool, I smashed, squished, scraped, and chopped every larva and cocoon I could find. Saw the queen on one of the frames. I laid it down gently against the others I had already taken out. By the time I got to that frame the queen was no where to be found. So I guess I am having to start over. Just put 3 good frames in the box so that the bees would be able to protect all of the frames. Plenty of bees were going in the box when I left and plenty of bees on the inside and outside of the tree. Can't figure out what happened to the queen. If she was on the ground, I should have seen her with a ball of workers.

Liked to not have made it to the last TO. Pick up died. Have no idea how I am going to get it back home and repaired as it is 25 miles away. Had to cancel the start of a cutout this evening and also visit another home in Nashville that wants me to do a cutout. This hurts because I have 4 trapouts waiting on me (including the one I was going to visit today).
 
U

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Discussion Starter · #13 ·
7/14/2010

Checked trapout in tree on Thompson Rd. Large amount of bees in tree, trap, and in the nuc. Still some capped brood and a few larva that haven't been capped. Last time I checked there were 4 or 5 queen cells. This time I only found 1 opened queen cell and 1 uncapped queen cell (with larva). The other queen cells were gone. Bees putting in pollen and some nectar/honey but not really making any new comb. Hopefully queen will be back and laying when I check again. Will bring a second 5-frame high nuc box to add to the current box. Once the queen is back and laying good, I will remove her and 5 of the frames leaving just 5 frames with some eggs to start the process over again of making another queen. Decided I will do this as long as there are a lot of bees still in the tree.

Trapout under bay window. Bees have found a way back in again. Very frustrating. Hopefully I have sealed up the last of the ways back in. Will check back soon.

Trapout in tree on Laird Ct. Have not been back since I replaced the 8-frame nuc that was eat up with SHB and WM with a 5-frame nuc. Plan to check it out tomorrow.
 
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#15 ·
Ken,

Just curious, do you think you got the queens on your trap outs, or do you think they just raised their own? Also, how often do you go by and check on your trap outs? How often do you add a frame of brood?

I have a trap out in progress, but it was mainly a dry run trial for a learning experience at a friends house for some bees in a brick pillar. I have not had time to go make the adjustments I need to do. Since the people are friends of mine and they are in no hurry to have them out of there, they don't really mind that the bees (and the nuc) are there.

C2
 
V

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#16 ·
Hey USC, greetings and congrats from SC Ky. You are sure raking in the bees of late. Have you ever seen or heard of the swarm harvest/bee trap invented by Cleo (Wimpy) Hogan, whom resides at Park City Ky, and Florida. Not saying your trap doesn't work, but his is enginered from years of experience. Kelleys sells it for I think $65.00. It is a bargain if you do many trapouts. Mr. Hogan is our proverbial trapout expert, and as nice a beeman as you will ever find. If you are interested pm me and I will give you his phone # and let him explain it to you. Again congrats on your success. Oh, and yes those look like the mother lode of drones. Bet there were numerous Queen cells in the tree.
 
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#20 ·
Ok. I think I have an old catalog from Kelleys. I will check later. I seen the trap in June for the first time. It has a lot of woodwork that goes into it. I'm surprised it doesn't cost more. Mr. Hogan explained how it worked. Made sense to me.
 
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USCBeeMan
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