Swarm Harvester
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Ross....Try it sometime. Often you will get the queen the first day you put the unsealed brood in the trap. You know it is her, if the queen is in the trap, otherwise it would be greater than 16 days before the parent colony could cap a queen cell or make a queen cell around a fertile egg, and make themselves a queen. If you have a good colony it will only take 2 or 3 days to get your 3-5 pounds for the start. I don't think I have ever caught a queen through the funnel,(I don't think she would go through it.) and if you have a good tree, you won't have to block off the tunnel,(except to move it)(thereby making the bees go through the funnel) It only comes into play when continued trapping to kill the colony. You will get a good "mix" of bees and 3 to 5 pounds, within just a day or so of putting the 2 brood combs and the comb of unsealed brood in the trap.
For those of you in the local area,(you know these men) we have a couple of "good old boy bee keepers" that we are always kidding around with. Both of these men I highly admire and respect, it is just something we kid about. They have caught many starts with this trap. We say around here, "If Rodney Pullen, and Ronnie Houchens can use this trap and get starts, anyone can. Sometimes we throw Billy Joe Honeycutt in this same crew. It will work for you. Thanks. cchoganjr
For those of you in the local area,(you know these men) we have a couple of "good old boy bee keepers" that we are always kidding around with. Both of these men I highly admire and respect, it is just something we kid about. They have caught many starts with this trap. We say around here, "If Rodney Pullen, and Ronnie Houchens can use this trap and get starts, anyone can. Sometimes we throw Billy Joe Honeycutt in this same crew. It will work for you. Thanks. cchoganjr
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cchoganjr.... One more thing....Someone said they had 2 trees,(tulip trees), and the entrances were 20 to 30 feet off the ground. I would not recommend using the trap that high off the ground unless you have a bucket truck to use to work it. You can secure the trap using a portable deer stand or using cables, but it is a little dangerous to be working that high off the ground. I wouldn't recommend trapping those. Thanks... cchoganjr
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Reference JBJ. "bee repellant will drive the queen out in a trapping situation"
True, however she may just fly away if you drive her out,(and take the bees with her), and you don't get bees to make starts if you drive her out. and she flys away with the colony. I can't remember ever getting a queen to come through the screen cone method, since she would be leaving her hive, and normally that just doesn't happen. In that method (screen cone funnel method) what most often happens is, you weaken the colony until it can no longer support itself and it dies. Since the swarm harvester is a sealed, integral part of her colony, she will move back and forth between the feral colony(tree, old car, house, etc) and the trap to lay eggs, since the trap is nothing more, nothing less, than another chamber to lay eggs in. It is just part of her hive.
I hope this info has been helpful. As any of you start trapping this year, I would be interested to hear your experiences. cchoganjr
True, however she may just fly away if you drive her out,(and take the bees with her), and you don't get bees to make starts if you drive her out. and she flys away with the colony. I can't remember ever getting a queen to come through the screen cone method, since she would be leaving her hive, and normally that just doesn't happen. In that method (screen cone funnel method) what most often happens is, you weaken the colony until it can no longer support itself and it dies. Since the swarm harvester is a sealed, integral part of her colony, she will move back and forth between the feral colony(tree, old car, house, etc) and the trap to lay eggs, since the trap is nothing more, nothing less, than another chamber to lay eggs in. It is just part of her hive.
I hope this info has been helpful. As any of you start trapping this year, I would be interested to hear your experiences. cchoganjr
I've got it sitting in my living room waiting for about four more weeks. I'll give my review after I've tested it. If it doesnt' work as described, with minor modifications I can make it a funnel trap.
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ref charmd2......
If you have any problems with it, contact me ( [email protected]) and I will be more than happy to help you get started with it and make it work.
I love helping bee keepers, teaching classes, and giving demonstrations at our State Parks. I NEVER charge for anything I do to help bee keepers.. Thanks.. cchoganjr
If you have any problems with it, contact me ( [email protected]) and I will be more than happy to help you get started with it and make it work.
I love helping bee keepers, teaching classes, and giving demonstrations at our State Parks. I NEVER charge for anything I do to help bee keepers.. Thanks.. cchoganjr
Would a video of you setting it up be possible as a teaching aid on how to use the harvester? Would you be consider selling plans for the harvester? The cost of the harvester seems very reasonable, but I have found that the cost of freight is sometimes almost as much as the product. Just some thoughts. Thanks for your time.
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TO.....GPR.. I am giving a demonstration at the Warren County/ Oakland Bee Keepers, Not sure what the group"s official title is, (John Spoo's People) meeting the last of April. I am trying to set up to have it viedo taped. If you could, contact me at [email protected] or 270-749-5191. I will tell you more about it.
Thanks....cchoganjr
Thanks....cchoganjr
hi, i'm thinking of purchasing a swarm harvester,(to catch some feral bees) but i'm not sure if it will fit my needs. first let me say i'm very new bee, have my first package of bees, on way. but my uncle told me of a feral bee tree a few weeks and today he show it to me. its at ground level and i watch them come and go for 20mins out of the hole in the tree. so my question is will the harvester trap enough bees for me to get start from,(i'll just need to get a queen) when i have noting but foundation and empty hive bodies to work . please forgive me if the question is dumb, i don't want to kill out the colony, but a endless supply of bees from it. thanks for ur time and help
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Beestung..... yes the swarm harvester will catch you a swarm if the feral colony is average or above average strength. However, I like to wait until feral colonies have built up in the Spring before I start trapping.
If you do not have drawn brood comb and access to unsealed brood, you would likely be just as well off using the funnel cone method to trap feral colonies and it won't cost you anything. You can easily make everything you need. Get any good bee book and it will describe the cone funnel method. You will not kill the colony unless you leave the trap on it for an extended period of time and catch all the field bees and deplete the colony of its honey stores.
After the swarm you have ordered gets started, you should be able to take a brood comb and an unsealed brood comb from it. At that point the swarm harvester will work very nicely. contact me at [email protected] if you have questions and I can send you a set of instructions for the swarm harvester that includes photos of the trap and how it works.
No question is a dumb question if you don't know the answer. The only way to learn is to ask. cchoganjr
If you do not have drawn brood comb and access to unsealed brood, you would likely be just as well off using the funnel cone method to trap feral colonies and it won't cost you anything. You can easily make everything you need. Get any good bee book and it will describe the cone funnel method. You will not kill the colony unless you leave the trap on it for an extended period of time and catch all the field bees and deplete the colony of its honey stores.
After the swarm you have ordered gets started, you should be able to take a brood comb and an unsealed brood comb from it. At that point the swarm harvester will work very nicely. contact me at [email protected] if you have questions and I can send you a set of instructions for the swarm harvester that includes photos of the trap and how it works.
No question is a dumb question if you don't know the answer. The only way to learn is to ask. cchoganjr
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Cleo
please let me know when you are going to do that demo and where at. I would like to try to make it to that one.
please let me know when you are going to do that demo and where at. I would like to try to make it to that one.
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Slickbrightspear... O.K. Do You know John Spoo? He is the one who asked me to do it. I believe it is the 26th of April. I will get with John and get back with you. Thanks... cchoganjr
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I know a john from up there but am not sure what his last name is.
Cleo,
I was told about your product at the end of last year. By this time it was really to late to do much with what I am dealing with, but from the information I have seen so far, it sounds like there are 2 ways you can do this. One way is to place it up there with a frame of unsealed brood, but no bees from the parent hive to draw the colony and queen into the harvester, thus taking the whole colony with you. The second way is to just use the harvester to make splits off of the parent hive, leaving the parent colony up and running. Does that sound about right?
What I am looking at is a colony of bees in a brick pillar at a friends house. They don't mind the bees there, but don't want to see them die off either. I placed a 5 frame nuc on top of the pillar right before winter with some drawn frames filled with honey to entice them to come up out of the pillar. I think pulling the colony will still be my plan if I can, but I did tell the people that I might just use the existing colony to make splits every so often to build new colonies. Either way they seemed fine, but I think they would prefer to have them gone all together, without killing them of course. The pillar is outside, if I pull the whole colony out, I guess the honey and comb left behind will just be a free for all for the taking but whatever robber wants to take it.
I was told about your product at the end of last year. By this time it was really to late to do much with what I am dealing with, but from the information I have seen so far, it sounds like there are 2 ways you can do this. One way is to place it up there with a frame of unsealed brood, but no bees from the parent hive to draw the colony and queen into the harvester, thus taking the whole colony with you. The second way is to just use the harvester to make splits off of the parent hive, leaving the parent colony up and running. Does that sound about right?
What I am looking at is a colony of bees in a brick pillar at a friends house. They don't mind the bees there, but don't want to see them die off either. I placed a 5 frame nuc on top of the pillar right before winter with some drawn frames filled with honey to entice them to come up out of the pillar. I think pulling the colony will still be my plan if I can, but I did tell the people that I might just use the existing colony to make splits every so often to build new colonies. Either way they seemed fine, but I think they would prefer to have them gone all together, without killing them of course. The pillar is outside, if I pull the whole colony out, I guess the honey and comb left behind will just be a free for all for the taking but whatever robber wants to take it.
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Batman.... You have the system correct. Introduction of a frame with some unsealed brood on it will draw nurse bees, cleaners, etc. to prepare the combs in the Swarm Harvester for the Queen to lay eggs. All the while, the field bees will be depositing pollen and nectar in the combs. You may or may not get the queen on the first or second harvest, it really depends on how much room she has to lay eggs in the feral colony. And especially the time of year. In Spring a good Queen is looking for places to lay eggs. You always need to check before you move the bees to make sure she is not in the trap if you want to just take starts. If she is, put her back into the big tunnel and she will go back to the feral colony. If you are wanting to eliminate the colony, and she is in the harvester, just leave her there and move it, or just move the frames. You will have to continue trapping because the feral colony may make themselves a new queen. With continued trapping, you will weaken the feral colony, deplete it of honey, and the colony will die. Unfortunately, more likely than not, if there are other bees in the area that swarm, one of them may move into the old feral colony combs. You can contaminate the comb with insecticide if that is permitted, and lessen the chance of a swarm moving in. Hope this has been helpful.
cchoganjr
cchoganjr
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Slickbrightspear..... I am giving a program on the Swarm Harvester at the Edmonson County Bee Club, 6:30 P.M. Tuesday 6 April at the Edmonson County Extension Office, Brownsville.. I think the next one is Warren County Bee Club, 27 April. Don't have any other details on it yet. cchoganjr
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Thank you I will try to make the edmonson county one.
I do too, my Grandad... it worked for him and is called "drumming the bees".
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Mr Hogan
Thank you for the demo of the swarm harvester and your time. It made a lot more sense to me when I saw it in person.
Thank you for the demo of the swarm harvester and your time. It made a lot more sense to me when I saw it in person.
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I'm looking forward to trying this swarm harvester out on some feral colonies that folks want removed from their homes and outbuilding foundations. The cone method was just not working out very well. Thanks for your help over the phone, it was wonderful hearing a voice and being able to ask specific questions!
One of the locations has a lot of 'entryway' all round the gingerbread of a porch roof. The bees ball up outside this area on evenings of hot afternoons as the field workers all return to the colony, only to find it too hot inside for them all to be inside. The ball of bees is just huge! I think I could take two to four hives off this colony, or more depending on how many are actually inside there. Some cooler days there are not so many. Our home gals are building queen cells so we are able to provide our own queens to any new hives we get off these ferals, even if we don't get the queens out.
One of the locations has a lot of 'entryway' all round the gingerbread of a porch roof. The bees ball up outside this area on evenings of hot afternoons as the field workers all return to the colony, only to find it too hot inside for them all to be inside. The ball of bees is just huge! I think I could take two to four hives off this colony, or more depending on how many are actually inside there. Some cooler days there are not so many. Our home gals are building queen cells so we are able to provide our own queens to any new hives we get off these ferals, even if we don't get the queens out.
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