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Looking for the beekeepers that use some kind of regular swarm retention program. I don’t mean setting swarm traps around the county or bee lining. I mean a program to catch any of the swarms my own yard may throw. I know the first line of swarm prevention is proper hive management and manipulation. But I am setting up a program to actively try to catch the swarms that do happen in spite of my best efforts. My understanding is that those commercial pulp swarm traps are fine if you check them regularly because once the swarm starts sticking comb to the inside it becomes a pain to cut it out and tie it to frames, etc.
Last year I built a bunch of nuc boxes the “conveyor belt” way, cutting all the boards first then assembling them only to find out they were all “6” frame nucs. Oops. So now I tell everyone I meant to do that, they are all swarm traps.
What I have this spring is 4 of them around my bee yard at each corner of the compass, north, south, east, west. Between 6 to 8 feet off the ground, from about 10 to 50 feet from the hives, baited with Lemongrass oil lure and drawn comb, foundation frames in the boxes. Just for fun I even set up a Warre’ hive, I built for the bee club’s booth at the County fair last year, in the middle of yard with lure in it.
What I am looking for is any opinions and advice for the best ways and methods to ensure success of my little swarm retention program here. Secret lure formulas? Bigger traps? Better placement ?
Thanks,
Ernie
Last year I built a bunch of nuc boxes the “conveyor belt” way, cutting all the boards first then assembling them only to find out they were all “6” frame nucs. Oops. So now I tell everyone I meant to do that, they are all swarm traps.
What I have this spring is 4 of them around my bee yard at each corner of the compass, north, south, east, west. Between 6 to 8 feet off the ground, from about 10 to 50 feet from the hives, baited with Lemongrass oil lure and drawn comb, foundation frames in the boxes. Just for fun I even set up a Warre’ hive, I built for the bee club’s booth at the County fair last year, in the middle of yard with lure in it.
What I am looking for is any opinions and advice for the best ways and methods to ensure success of my little swarm retention program here. Secret lure formulas? Bigger traps? Better placement ?
Thanks,
Ernie
