Alrighty!
I have several trap outs to get started this season. That said I want to get things going before I become overwhelmed with every thing else life has in store for me.
This week in North Texas our day time temps are going to be in the 60's to 70's. Night time they will drop to the high 30's but mainly the 40's.
Is this to low to start the trap outs? To help keep the girls warm I was planning on giving them a frame or 1/2 frame of honey from last year. This way they will be able to keep the brood warm that I give them
I am in Central Arkansas and have had several calls already for trap-outs.
I am telling them that the weather isn't right yet but I should start around the 2nd week in April.
I'm wanting the population of the nest to be up so they will have a larger cluster in the hive.
I am also setting swarm traps also.
With the spring like it is (different) I figure when they start swarming it's going to be all at once.
I'd say the lows are too low. If you put a full frame of eggs and larva in a nuc box the trapped bee cluster will be very hard pressed to keep them all warm. This stress will not help raise a quality queen, assuming you're expecting them to make their own queen. You'll need drones for her to mate with, and hopefully lots of them. Drones require a couple weeks after emergence to become effective, so as soon as you see drone emerging in your own hives is when you should start your trap out.
Now if you're using a mated queen this would be a different story but I've got no experience using a mated queen for a trap out.
Well we have drones now. I went through my hives yesterday and not only did I find capped drones but did have plenty of them walking around on the comb.
The only thing I would do differently starting this early, is move house bees with the frame of eggs and brood. Also choose a frame with the fewest eggs and brood, but for sure has eggs. That would give you more bees to cover, and less area to cover.
With that, I would say "gopherit".
Ok, thanks for the suggestion Idee.
I listened to Iddee on how to do trap-outs and now I'm putting a lot of trap out jobs on the list.
Right now I have 9 trap-outs to set up mid April ( I figure it will be warmer by then)
Last year I did 10 trap-outs and they were all a success.
A couple had me wondering what they were doing but they worked out.
Saving a lot of money for the owners and I am getting free bees.
Thanks for the info Iddee
I understand the concept of a trap out. But if I do a trap out you will be leaving a queen and comb behind right?
No, the queen and all bees will come out. It is just very doubtful you will get the queen. She will abscond.
http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,20301.0.html (http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,20301.0.html)