If there were no bees coming out of the other entrances (or just a few) before putting up the trap, it's probably 1 hive. But as stated it could be 2 hives.
Here is what I do.
Need: Scrap plywood, scrap 1" lumber, staple gun, heavy duty tape, screen wire (metal or plastic and comes in roles at Lowe's and other hardware stores),
- Cut out a section of plywood, say 10" by 20". You decide on the deminsions.
- Take a can (coffee,etc) and put it in the middle of the board and draw a circle.
- Cut out the circle.
- Cut 6 or 7 slats that are like 1/2" X 1/2"(or 3/4) X 12-14"). You will not need all of the slats but sometimes they break.
- CAREFULLY staple or nail the slats on the inside edge of the circle in the plywood ensuring the slats are flush with what will be the inside edge of the trap.
- Use as many as needed. 5 is usually enough.
- Bring all of the slats together so that they form a teepee. Should be enough room through the ends of the slats for a bee (worker/drone) to easily escape.
- If the area is too large just go out further with the screen see below) until the exit is the correct size.
- It's easiest to just tape them together on the outside of the slats with good tape like Gorilla Tape.
- Staple them some if you want after they are taped together.
- Start wrapping the screen around the teepee cone from either end going in the other direction.
- Make sure that you have enough that spreads out on the plywood for at least an inch or so.
- Let the screen wire go beyond the end of the slats for a couple of inches.
- CAREFULLY staple the screen down on the slats and the plywood. Use short staples.
You now have a good trap which can be used over and over for years. You can then screw the board onto a tree. Any areas that are not sealed by the trap can be sealed by stapleing screen to the tree and the plywood or you can use the heavy duty tape.
I had one instance where the bees were under the condo with the entrance between the huge electrical box of meters of the homes and the brick wall. Can't screw or staple. So I put the trap where I wanted it to be located and then just taped it with HD duct tape to the electrical box and the brick wall. I taped all of the open underside between the brick, outside edge of the electric box and the trap. It took a lot of tape. But I sealed it off. Just had to keep each strip of the tape tight before adding the next strip. I had to seal the trap to the brick using a lot of tape. I had to seal the top of the trap just like the bottom but it took less tape. I also had to seal up the gap all the way around the huge electrical box and the brick. I then had to seal all hole that were large enough for a bee to enter/exit that were on the electrical boxes door panels.
It worked and I got those bees out in about 5 or 6 weeks. Took my trap down and taped everything that was now open so that bees could not reenter. Never went back to see if anyone tore down the tape or correctly sealed the hole in the brick going under the condo. I got a call and I went and got the bees. No one offered any payment so they were luck I even left every thing taped up. That was not a cheap trapout with all of the tape and drives to check it out (15 miles 1 way).
