I have read the ads for Swarm Commander and wonder, does it really work?
Has anyone used it?
Has anyone used it?
Swarm commander: Does It Really Work?
marant
301 - 311 of 311 Posts
I set out my first bait hive/swarm trap last weekend. Gave it a smear on the frames and entrance with LGO and 1 spray of SC. Warmer weather has me thinking early swarming. Got sent to the Swamp on Tuesday and won't be able to check on the trap until Friday eveving. Hope to see a scout or two when I get back. Will be setting traps in earnest starting next weekend. Hope this stuff delivers.
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18 Posts
Riverhawk - congratulations on great success.
I'd love to hear your preferences for application of Swarm Commander. How do you apply it to your traps (direct spray, in ziploc, inside/entrance/outside, etc.), how frequently, number of sprays/volume, etc.
I'd love to hear your preferences for application of Swarm Commander. How do you apply it to your traps (direct spray, in ziploc, inside/entrance/outside, etc.), how frequently, number of sprays/volume, etc.
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723 Posts
I use mostly 2 large inverted tree pots with a medium frame with old wax in it as traps. See much more success with these than with the wood boxes that I have made or converted to traps. I follow the directions on the bottle. A squirt or two directly into the entrance and a squirt or two on the outside near the opening. I refresh every 7-10 days. I have used a cotton ball for the inside. Two squirts on the cotton ball and just drop it in the hole.
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7,662 Posts
>Gave it a smear on the frames and entrance with LGO and 1 spray of SC.
When I did that last year I had three that hung on the entrance and would not enter. I am not using both LGO & SCL together again. It is very inconvenient to have to go down and shake them in. Less is more in the case of lures.
When I did that last year I had three that hung on the entrance and would not enter. I am not using both LGO & SCL together again. It is very inconvenient to have to go down and shake them in. Less is more in the case of lures.
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8 Posts
Totally , been using it for years - stuff is magic
I have read posts on this for a few years........So there are a lot of options....
I used plastic 20-25 gallon totes as swarm traps. I only had them out one year and caught one swarm that year, with a swarm finding one of those traps in my barn last early May. There are some video's out there on how to make these style traps. I also have some old deeps that I have placed for swarm traps. I usually have 4 old brood combs in them. The plastic traps got Swarm commander application. I also use slow release capsules with lemongrass oil in some.
As I have mostly gotten to the sunset phase as far as ladders...I am thinking about building some lightweight boxes. The plan is to get some 8 ft. 2x4's and attach a board at 90 degrees to the end making a shelf with a brace. This way I can use 2 ratchet straps to fix it to a tree trunk. and a shot strap to hold the trap on the stand. If I am strategic with placement I can simply back the pickup truck to the swarm trap and plug the entrance after dark and remove the caught swarm. The trap will be bigger than a NUC. I hate to miss a large swarm that passes on a mini house. I will melt some wax and propolis and paint the inside of new traps. They will have the same 4 old frames. These can be frames that are destined for the melt pot. They don't have to be pretty. I also usually have one frame with some honey in it. Alternately you can drizzle some honey one a few frames. Yes the hornets might find it first but also some robber or scout bee might find it. Roll the dice. Check your traps as often as you can during prime swarm season. You might just spot a hanging swarm cluster.
Placement is important somewhat. Placing traps where you see field bees commonly is probably a good idea. ( I do notice areas bees are scarce) Along woods edges or in fence rows. In some areas you can't help but place them within a mile of another BK. If they don't even try to control swarming instinct, then in my opinion they are simply offering their bees back to mother nature and you might benefit. You could inform them if you caught a swarm nearby, but proving they came from their hives is a question. I try to be friendly all the same. Be a bee ambassador. A newbie would usually be grateful for helpful hints.
I know the location of feral bee trees. So these areas will get traps.
I used plastic 20-25 gallon totes as swarm traps. I only had them out one year and caught one swarm that year, with a swarm finding one of those traps in my barn last early May. There are some video's out there on how to make these style traps. I also have some old deeps that I have placed for swarm traps. I usually have 4 old brood combs in them. The plastic traps got Swarm commander application. I also use slow release capsules with lemongrass oil in some.
As I have mostly gotten to the sunset phase as far as ladders...I am thinking about building some lightweight boxes. The plan is to get some 8 ft. 2x4's and attach a board at 90 degrees to the end making a shelf with a brace. This way I can use 2 ratchet straps to fix it to a tree trunk. and a shot strap to hold the trap on the stand. If I am strategic with placement I can simply back the pickup truck to the swarm trap and plug the entrance after dark and remove the caught swarm. The trap will be bigger than a NUC. I hate to miss a large swarm that passes on a mini house. I will melt some wax and propolis and paint the inside of new traps. They will have the same 4 old frames. These can be frames that are destined for the melt pot. They don't have to be pretty. I also usually have one frame with some honey in it. Alternately you can drizzle some honey one a few frames. Yes the hornets might find it first but also some robber or scout bee might find it. Roll the dice. Check your traps as often as you can during prime swarm season. You might just spot a hanging swarm cluster.
Placement is important somewhat. Placing traps where you see field bees commonly is probably a good idea. ( I do notice areas bees are scarce) Along woods edges or in fence rows. In some areas you can't help but place them within a mile of another BK. If they don't even try to control swarming instinct, then in my opinion they are simply offering their bees back to mother nature and you might benefit. You could inform them if you caught a swarm nearby, but proving they came from their hives is a question. I try to be friendly all the same. Be a bee ambassador. A newbie would usually be grateful for helpful hints.
I know the location of feral bee trees. So these areas will get traps.
There are two main types of swarms: overcrowding swarms and reproductive swarms.
A congestion swarm happens when honey bees feel stuffed in their space, they are bound to crowd. A couple of primary driver of a congestion swarm are:
Issue: Nectar being put away in the brood home.
Arrangement: add supers to give the honey bees more space.
Issue: Honey or dust in the brood home, keeping the sovereign from laying
Arrangement: eliminate outlines with nectar, add void casings. The honey bees will chip away at drawing brush and this will give the sovereign space to lay eggs
Issue: Too much traffic blocking the brood home
Anticipation: utilize a top access to give foragers a path in without going through the brood home.
Reproductive swarm
Numerous beekeepers believe that essentially adding a super will hold their honey bees back from amassing in the spring, however this isn't generally the situation. While the honey bees do see the value in the additional room for nectar stockpiling and to soothe blockage, yet with regards to the second kind of amassing, which is a conceptive multitude, an additional super may not have an effect.
In the spring, when the blossoms and trees start to sprout and honey bees start to get more dust, they likewise normally start to raise more brood to develop their settlement for the season. Every one of these new honey bees require food, so they start to eat their leftover nectar stores from the colder time of year.
As the honey bees eat, the nectar stores exhaust, which set aside increasingly more space for new brood. In any case, when the honey bees arrive at their own decided cutoff for brood, they'll start to prevent the sovereign from proceeding to lay eggs by creating and putting away nectar in the brood home indeed.
When the brood home is generally brimming with nectar, they begin to assemble swarm cells. When those cells start to be covered, it's now that the sovereign chooses to leave the hive with countless honey bees with her. Now, regardless of whether you get your multitude, the hive has halted brood creation and is down an enormous number of honey bees. You will be unable to have this hive make nectar. The leftover honey bees may crowd all alone, following one of the virgin sovereigns.
In the event that you notice your honey bees planning to crowd not long before the fundamental nectar stream, we suggest parting your hives.
A few beekeepers decide to do a split with the old sovereign, and keeping everything except one casing of the open brood. Leave the old hive with the covered brood, one edge of eggs/open brood, no sovereign and void supers. This forestalls new multitudes on the grounds that the old hive will not crowd without a sovereign and the new hive will not on the grounds that they have no foragers.
Clearly, the least demanding activity is watch your hives cautiously and forestall a multitude before it begins, instead of overseeing many more than one it's past the point of no return.
Opening the Brood Nest
Probably the simplest ways is to keep the brood home open and hold it back from inlaying, keeping those attendant honey bees occupied. In the event that you get it before they start sovereign cells, you can place some unfilled edges in the brood home, sandwiched between 2 edges of brood. The number of void edges you add relies upon how developed your group of honey bees is, since those vacant edges should be loaded up with honey bees and brush. When your sovereign tracks down this new brush, she'll start laying eggs. This new open brood home gives the medical caretaker honey bees something to do, which is assemble brush at that point go to brood, while extending the brood home.
A congestion swarm happens when honey bees feel stuffed in their space, they are bound to crowd. A couple of primary driver of a congestion swarm are:
Issue: Nectar being put away in the brood home.
Arrangement: add supers to give the honey bees more space.
Issue: Honey or dust in the brood home, keeping the sovereign from laying
Arrangement: eliminate outlines with nectar, add void casings. The honey bees will chip away at drawing brush and this will give the sovereign space to lay eggs
Issue: Too much traffic blocking the brood home
Anticipation: utilize a top access to give foragers a path in without going through the brood home.
Reproductive swarm
Numerous beekeepers believe that essentially adding a super will hold their honey bees back from amassing in the spring, however this isn't generally the situation. While the honey bees do see the value in the additional room for nectar stockpiling and to soothe blockage, yet with regards to the second kind of amassing, which is a conceptive multitude, an additional super may not have an effect.
In the spring, when the blossoms and trees start to sprout and honey bees start to get more dust, they likewise normally start to raise more brood to develop their settlement for the season. Every one of these new honey bees require food, so they start to eat their leftover nectar stores from the colder time of year.
As the honey bees eat, the nectar stores exhaust, which set aside increasingly more space for new brood. In any case, when the honey bees arrive at their own decided cutoff for brood, they'll start to prevent the sovereign from proceeding to lay eggs by creating and putting away nectar in the brood home indeed.
When the brood home is generally brimming with nectar, they begin to assemble swarm cells. When those cells start to be covered, it's now that the sovereign chooses to leave the hive with countless honey bees with her. Now, regardless of whether you get your multitude, the hive has halted brood creation and is down an enormous number of honey bees. You will be unable to have this hive make nectar. The leftover honey bees may crowd all alone, following one of the virgin sovereigns.
In the event that you notice your honey bees planning to crowd not long before the fundamental nectar stream, we suggest parting your hives.
A few beekeepers decide to do a split with the old sovereign, and keeping everything except one casing of the open brood. Leave the old hive with the covered brood, one edge of eggs/open brood, no sovereign and void supers. This forestalls new multitudes on the grounds that the old hive will not crowd without a sovereign and the new hive will not on the grounds that they have no foragers.
Clearly, the least demanding activity is watch your hives cautiously and forestall a multitude before it begins, instead of overseeing many more than one it's past the point of no return.
Opening the Brood Nest
Probably the simplest ways is to keep the brood home open and hold it back from inlaying, keeping those attendant honey bees occupied. In the event that you get it before they start sovereign cells, you can place some unfilled edges in the brood home, sandwiched between 2 edges of brood. The number of void edges you add relies upon how developed your group of honey bees is, since those vacant edges should be loaded up with honey bees and brush. When your sovereign tracks down this new brush, she'll start laying eggs. This new open brood home gives the medical caretaker honey bees something to do, which is assemble brush at that point go to brood, while extending the brood home.
Mr Derrick, I'm Mike Stoops located 1/2 way between Montgomery and Mobile. I'm trying to get a bee club started in the county. As one of the enticements for getting the club established I was considering offering the opportunity for members to buy sewarm Commander 2oz spray bottles at a discount. Would be open to offering that discount of $24.95 to me for 12 to 24 bottles for me to sell to them at the same price? I would offer documented proof of resale to those members as proof of validity of my distribution of those bottles. Thanks for any consideration. Mike Stoops mstoops280@gmail.com. (251) 282-9879 Contact validation through Mr. Anthony Wiggens; Monroe County Extension Office, (251) 575-3477
Mr Derrick has not logged in since August. Are you sure you want your email and phone numbers exposed on the open web? A Personal Message will only be seen by him if and when he checks back in. You have 24 hours to edit your message or I will be glad to do it for you.
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