If I?m setting a swarm trap without swarming going on I will put one old frame on one side and the rest are empty frames with a wood stick in the top slot. I wax the stick with freshly melted wax.
In my experience a good swarm will build nice straight comb in this set up. Most of my drawn foundation less frames are from swarms. If I?m looking for a large swarm, I use at least two medium boxes or more.
Jim Altmiller
In your case I agree with you Jim especially if the traps are on our own property, with no immediate moving of the trap required, or at least not far, thus no worries of collapsed comb. Your method works just fine when a trap is in our own location.... Plus you have the advantage of new comb in that hive for a new beginning for the bees.. Thought it can and does occasionally happen, most of the time cross comb will not be a problem.
Different circumstances may sometimes require different methods for best results. For example during a hard swarming season some may have catch boxes miles away from their apiary, at locations where known cutouts have been done in the past,
(swarming bees seem to love old cut out locations), in such a case, new white foundationless soft comb, without that provided foundation for support in the frames, may be a problem during transport because of the weight of the fresh nectar the bees might have loaded into this new comb.
(and in peak swarm season during a heavy flow, it don't take long for that brand new come to become heavy).
I made this mistake, (once) of transporting a nuc with new foundationless soft white comb from one location to another. When I got home after driving down some rough Mississippi roads, some of the new fresh white comb had collapsed, and what a mess... lol..
Now had that box been on the property that I had intended to be their home, that foundation-less frame set up would have been just fine. I am not trying to change minds and habits, just hopefully showing different circumstances sometimes fare better with different methods... .
