Author Topic: Swarm traps - best method? (Read 5760 times)

Sniper338 · « **on:** December 30, 2016, 05:13:05 pm »

Ive been doing a lot of looking around.. the best looking more durable traps ive seen seem to be a 5 frame nuc box retrofitted with a hole in the lower corner and a plate with an open hole, screened hole slots and vent holes for the opening...

Anyone care to share pictures of theirs or opinions on righing up a good swarm trap, or if there are good ones to buy where to buy?

iddee · « **Reply #1 on:** December 30, 2016, 07:08:48 pm »

The best is said to be a 10 frame deep box with a piece of the oldest back comb you can find, along with a bit of swarm lure or lemongrass oil, sitting JUST BARELY in the shade, 10 feet off the ground.

Of course, the bees don't read the books, so they may go into anything they think will work.
My opinion is, a nuc is too small. You only catch the small swarms and the large swarms find a larger place. jmho

Sniper338 · « **Reply #2 on:** December 30, 2016, 07:48:19 pm »

Quote from: iddee on December 30, 2016, 07:08:48 pm

The best is said to be a 10 frame deep box with a piece of the oldest back comb you can find, along with a bit of swarm lure or lemongrass oil, sitting JUST BARELY in the shade, 10 feet off the ground.

Of course, the bees don't read the books, so they may go into anything they think will work.
My opinion is, a nuc is too small. You only catch the small swarms and the large swarms find a larger place. jmho

So i dont have any comb or nada, itta all be new... BUT that makes a lot of since to just use a hive body... once they are in, you dont have to transfer them... just set em up with thevright bottom board, leave them be in the box, start the new hive up...

iddee · « **Reply #3 on:** December 30, 2016, 07:54:07 pm »

Correct. Be sure all frames are in it and foundation or starters in each frame.

As said above, they may go into anything, so a missing item or two in the ideal setup will still work.

Sniper338 · « **Reply #4 on:** December 30, 2016, 09:09:25 pm »

Sounds good!

paus · « **Reply #5 on:** December 30, 2016, 10:14:21 pm »

When I set my first swarm traps I had no comb and only one trap was 10' high. I used lemon grass oil and bought foundation. Some were set with nothing but frames, they were not expecting a pent house so a box with is more than they expected. I had 60% success and the 10' high trap got me wasp stung two times. I used knot holes, bottom holes, top holes and drilled center of trap front holes, no difference . Do fill the boxes with frames. This year I am going to use eight frame boxes in the productive places from past successes. This is a less messy as you do not have to move the swarm to a hive, they are in their permanent home. I lost one swarm because I used thin plywood on top and it got to hot and they absconded, also do not leave them in a small trap very long. I have the luxury of being able to leave the hives where the traps were located and move them after they have settled in to their new home. Good luck and Happy New Year from NE Texas

sc-bee · « **Reply #6 on:** December 30, 2016, 10:58:41 pm »

Here is an article: and a deep is the best size but a little hard to handle in some places/cases....

https://beevac.com/swarm-traps/

Go here and download robo's 30 liter trap plans... not the 20 liter

https://beevac.com/free-plans/

jimineycricket · « **Reply #7 on:** December 31, 2016, 10:58:00 am »

One nuc on top of another gives a bigger box and is a little easier to handle.

sc-bee · « **Reply #8 on:** January 02, 2017, 12:42:48 am »

https://ecommons.cornell.edu/bitstream/handle/1813/2653/Bait%20Hives%20for%20Honey%20Bees.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y

LKBruns · « **Reply #9 on:** January 08, 2017, 10:25:19 pm »

I use 8 or 10 frame deeps...this year I am filling them with frames that have a starter strip of foundation. Last year I only filled half full of frames and ended up with quiet a mess.

Caught swarms in 6 of 8 traps. I close the bottom and drill a hole in the side with a disc that. Loses the entrance.

KeyLargoBees · « **Reply #10 on:** January 12, 2017, 01:50:37 pm »

I have had great luck with these...super light and easier to handle than a standard deep box.

http://www.horizontalhive.com/how-to-build/swarm-trap-free-plans.shtml

Because there is space below the frames they need to be moved out of the trap pretty quick or you risk danglers from the bottom bars but typically they have played nice with me. 10 traps last year 37 swarms over 3 months.

stanisr · « **Reply #11 on:** January 12, 2017, 02:21:05 pm »

I have used 10 frame deeps, 8 frame deeps, and 5 frame nucs for traps. I think the 8 frame deeps are the best because they have enough volume for the bees and are still manageable.

bwallace23350 · « **Reply #12 on:** January 12, 2017, 07:59:36 pm »

Glad I found this thread because I was about to start a thread about this very thing. Thanks for all the information everyone.

BeeMaster2 · « **Reply #13 on:** January 13, 2017, 12:28:57 pm »

BW,
When you place your traps, try to place them about 6' off the ground. Much safer to remove when they are full of bees and honey. Climbing ladders and picking up a box of unknown bees is dangerous. I have done it a few times when I had to but I do not recommend it.
Jim

chux · « **Reply #14 on:** January 13, 2017, 09:53:34 pm »

Check out Jason Bruns website. Letmbee. He has plans for a doubledeep nuc made from plywood. Very helpful discussion on his site

Duane · « **Reply #15 on:** January 22, 2017, 09:16:13 pm »

Quote from: sawdstmakr on January 13, 2017, 12:28:57 pm

BW,
When you place your traps, try to place them about 6' off the ground. Much safer to remove when they are full of bees and honey. Climbing ladders and picking up a box of unknown bees is dangerous. I have done it a few times when I had to but I do not recommend it.
Jim

I had a 10 frame trap last year and used a step ladder. I did not feel comfortable carrying a box of bees even two steps down the step ladder. I managed, but hoped there was a better way. I thought of some sort of pulley system. Some system that doesn't require ladders once in place. Does a swarm trap need to be fixed, or can it be suspended, or do the bees detect it's not stable and won't choose it? Any research on it?

paus · « **Reply #16 on:** January 23, 2017, 12:28:47 am »

I have been thinking the same thing about suspending the traps. I have found web sites that feature Beeks in Africa and the sub continent suspending their hives using ropes and vines to do this very thing, I have decided that it is more trouble than it is worth in my local conditions.

Duane · « **Reply #17 on:** January 23, 2017, 09:05:39 am »

Yes, I've seen them too. But it's one thing to force bees in a box, and another for them to choose it. There needs to be some tests, like robo's on the box size, showing no difference between a fixed box and a swinging box.

Provided one has trees, I think it would be very easy to rig a pulley system, raise the box up, catch the bees, lower it and transfer the frames and raise it back up. A lot easier than figuring out how to lower it down while standing 10-15 feet on a ladder.

I had on figuring something out with pulleys even if I fastened it to a tree. Then I thought, why not leave it on the pulley and not have to worry about climbing a ladder when I caught the bees. You could make it self leveling and be able to gently lower it without banging them around in the box as I would imagine climbing down a 10 foot ladder struggling to hang on to a box. Or accidentally dropping it! I tried to imagine tying a rope around it and lowering it from the top of the ladder, but could imagine all sorts of things to go wrong, besides trying to keep it mostly upright.

BeeMaster2 · « **Reply #18 on:** January 23, 2017, 12:32:45 pm »

I have several traps hanging from pulleys. The trick is to add a string to the back of the hive and anchor it to the tree to keep it from spinning around. The bees do not mind it moving around a little but they get confused when it swings wildly.
Jim

Duane · « **Reply #19 on:** January 23, 2017, 07:02:41 pm »

Yeah, I figured it would need to be half-way still and positional for them to find the entrance easy. I was going to figure out something with two ropes to mostly stabilize it, but didn't want to go to a lot of effort figuring it out if it wasn't going to work. Given similar box sizes and locations, have you seen any preference to your pulley traps versus fixed traps?

FlexMedia.tv · « **Reply #20 on:** January 23, 2017, 07:41:28 pm »

I don't know if this will work because I haven't tried it yet. It was easy to build.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Joe D · « **Reply #21 on:** January 23, 2017, 09:47:41 pm »

The traps a Bud's every year was a box with a hole in the bottom for the bees to get in, and trap door to open and dump the bees out into a hive box. He would have a small medicine bottle with a small hole in it I believe. In the bottle was a cotton ball with a drop or two, not to much of lemon grass oil. He would have several traps like this out, and most would have bees in them. They had a small rope tied to it, the rope was over a limb, it was pulled up close to the limb and the other end was tied off to something close by. When you got ready you untied the rope, let it down and got the bees. Some would have started building comb on the sides. Every year I went he would have out these traps.

Good luck to you and your bees,

Joe D
I have put out traps, but where ever I have bees I will have a hive box with old comb close by. If one of my hives swarm, they will go there or if a wild hive come by it will take the box. I catch a swarm or two most years that way.

BeeMaster2 · « **Reply #22 on:** January 23, 2017, 11:21:20 pm »

I have caught a lot of swarms in my traps hanging from pulleys. Last year I added boxes on my phone booth, one on a shelf in the top of a shed in my neighbors yard and a 5 box stack of empty supers with frames in the top super. Caught 3 swarms in phone booth boxes then a swarm moved into the 5 frame deep and the next day a Hugh swarm moved into the stack of supers.
Every swarm has its preference.
Jim

Sniper338 · « **Reply #23 on:** January 24, 2017, 02:09:49 am »

Im going to build some boxs this weekend hopefully... i need to get some out asap. I got bees here and there around the house already..

bwallace23350 · « **Reply #24 on:** January 25, 2017, 12:53:24 pm »

Thanks for the tip.