Yesterday I posted a little about the swarm harvester. I am in Florida and using a public Library computer and was running out of time to answer Magnet Man, Bluegrass, Charmed 2, and Rochdog, about how the trap will catch the feral queen, and also that the harvester is no better than the wire cone method for trapping bees. First, the postings are absolutely correct about the queen not leaving a hive to go into the wire cone method. However, this harvester is different from the wire cone method, because when properly applied, the trap becomes a sealed, integral part of the original hive. The harvester is nothing more or nothing less than an additional chamber, (deep super, or nuc) for the queen to lay eggs in, which she will readily do. As soon as you put the deep frame with unsealed brood,(NO BEES) in the harvester, nurse bees, housekeepers, attendants, etc will move into the harvester to prepare it for eggs, because it is just another place for the queen to lay eggs, and the field bees to deposit pollen and nectar. In early spring a good queen is looking for any cells to lay in. You must check very carefully when moving the trap that you do not move the queen with it. If so, the original colony will likely die(unless they can make themselves a queen, and I will explain how they can do this if you want to know) Additionally, if you place a new queen with your trap after you move it, they will likely kill her and you are out the cost of the new queen. A good tree, old house, car etc, will get you about 3 to 5 starts (3 to 5 pounds of bees each) each year if taken about 2 to 3 weeks apart. The beauty of this method is you get the right "MIX" of bees to make a good start which will rapidly take off with the new queen that you place in the trap after you move it. In Kentucky, we have to stop trapping in early July to allow the start to build sufficiently and store enough for survival during the winter. In 2005 I took 9 good starts from a tree I was trying to kill out. Mor likely tho is 3 to 5 per year. If anyone needs a better set of instructions, send a self addressed stamped long envelope to P.O. Box 27, Park City, Ky 42160 and I will send you instructions with color photos of each step of the trapping method. I do this because I want to help bee keepers. I get nothing from Kelly Bee Company on the sale of the harvesters. I am in Florida and will not be back to Kentucky for about 2 weeks. I will send them then. Thanks.
cchoganjr