Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum

BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => HONEYBEE REMOVAL => Topic started by: Psparr on May 22, 2016, 06:05:57 pm

Title: My version of a Hogan trap.
Post by: Psparr on May 22, 2016, 06:05:57 pm: Was called to do a trap out in a walnut tree. The homeowner had a bad experience with the last removal attempt. They tried to vac bees, pull out whatever comb they could, then put a screen over the opening and left. Well it apparently ticked off the bees a bit, when they did find a way out they were stinging everyone living there for days. The "bee keepers" came back and tried to poison the hive somehow. Has been two years since and they're still going.

I made an an L shaped platform with the plywood back. Put a 2-1/4" hole in the back and screwed the frame to the tree and sealed it with screen and some black foam. Then drilled another corresponding hole in the hive body. Just butted the box up against the plywood.

I didn't give them time to get used to the new entrance before placing the box. In a couple hours they were using the front entrance of the box. Still some stragglers looking for the old entrance, but they should figure it out.
After another few hours I placed a frame of eggs and a few small larvae in the box. Will check tomorrow to see if the queen ventured out. In a week or so I'll put in a one way and force the trap out.
I'll try to keep posted on the progress. (http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160522/29c0f18e7a7c4a84edad1b2253130021.jpg)(http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160522/1dbed7b76b38658fcd46b2568f8486b9.jpg)(http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160522/c31943c75ea788a7dd276cbc89e55f1d.jpg)
Title: Re: My version of a Hogan trap.
Post by: Dallasbeek on May 23, 2016, 08:04:28 pm: Good luck with that. Others on the forum have tried this without much luck, but your setup looks a little different, maybe. Worth a try, but in the meantime you might want to check out other trapout plans on the forum, so if this doesn't work to your satisfaction you can fall back on the hardware cloth cone method.
Title: Re: My version of a Hogan trap.
Post by: Dallasbeek on May 23, 2016, 08:09:05 pm: Yeah, I looked online and with a one-way or a cone you might even gat the queen! Keep us posted.
Title: Re: My version of a Hogan trap.
Post by: Psparr on May 23, 2016, 08:57:01 pm: My hope is with a cone in the box, when the queen and remaining bees decide to abandon the original hive they'll make a permanent pit stop in the box.
Title: Re: My version of a Hogan trap.
Post by: Psparr on May 25, 2016, 10:23:59 pm: Well I went today to check on them. Seemed like quite a bit of activity. Climbed the ladder and popped the top. It was busting at the seams. When I set the box there was minimal activity. Couldn't believe all the bees. Of course I didn't bring my smoker and got popped twice. So back on went the lid till tomorrow. Im wondering if the hive found the box more favorable than the tree and moved shop?
If the queens not in there tomorrow, I will take all the frames of bees and move them to my yard and add a frame of brood.
Title: Re: My version of a Hogan trap.
Post by: Dallasbeek on May 25, 2016, 11:24:50 pm: My advice is to wait a bit. You just might get the queen if you hold off a while If you move yhe box, you're going to have to let the bees make a virgin queen and you'll be set back weeks.
Title: My version of a Hogan trap.
Post by: Psparr on May 26, 2016, 06:27:59 am: With my greet communication skills, I neglected to mention that I'll replace the frames with drawn comb and let them keep going. It's that full I feel they would be close to swarming if I left it the way it is.
Title: My version of a Hogan trap.
Post by: Psparr on May 26, 2016, 11:22:21 pm: (http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160527/979b74820cceb3bee0bbdeb935e2fe49.jpg)
Of course there's never enough time in the day and didn't get around to checking in the box. Just had enough time to stop by and take this pic.
Title: Re: My version of a Hogan trap.
Post by: Psparr on May 31, 2016, 02:29:57 pm: Stopped today to check on the trap. The frame of brood I put in there had about 6 capped queen cells on it. The rest of the frames were filled with nectar and pollen. I took all those frames and replaced with comb. I will put a funnel on tomorrow.
Title: Re: My version of a Hogan trap.
Post by: Dallasbeek on May 31, 2016, 02:32:59 pm: Looks like home :smile:
Title: Re: My version of a Hogan trap.
Post by: Nugget Shooter on July 01, 2016, 03:15:39 pm: Any update to this one?
Title: My version of a Hogan trap.
Post by: Psparr on July 01, 2016, 03:23:15 pm: Yes sorry. Been busy. Pulled two deeps full of bees from the original hive. They finally absconded after I pulled the second box worth. Didn't get the Queen but both boxes are Queenright and doing well.
Title: Re: My version of a Hogan trap.
Post by: Nugget Shooter on July 01, 2016, 03:30:20 pm: Thanks, too good a story not to have a ending :cheesy:
Title: Re: My version of a Hogan trap.
Post by: Dallasbeek on July 03, 2016, 08:16:17 pm: Seems it was a worthwhile experiment. Any plans to try it again?
Title: Re: My version of a Hogan trap.
Post by: Psparr on July 04, 2016, 10:14:42 am: If I ever come across another opportunity, sure. Would have liked to do a cutout to be sure I got the genetics but that wasn't possible.
Title: Re: My version of a Hogan trap.
Post by: superbee on July 10, 2016, 02:24:12 am: I always enjoy removal experiments. I keep playing with hogan style removals but it seems that the standard bait out is always what I end up resorting to.