An interesting way to catch swarms

[muradulislam]

I want to share my swarm catching experience when i lured them for the first time. its a long story so be patient :-D
When I was about 18, i got fascinated by bees and at that time neither i had any experience with them nor had read any material. we had two large cavities in our kitchen wall made of mud for storing grain. we did not use them any more so i went and drilled a hole in each of them from outside. pored some sugar syrup in each on the day i came up on scout bees in my home. waited a day or two but bees did not find them so i took a towel and went hunting for scout bees. using towel i gently snatched scout bees from air and pushed them inside a cavity with great care not to damage them. put about 5 to 7 scout bees in each cavity, got 1 or 2 killed by stinging the towel. closed the hole after each bee. left them there for 10, 15 minutes and then opened the hole to let them go and in the afternoon got two swarms entering my cavities. did it one more time next year and again was rewarded.
Don,t you think it's the easiest way to catch swarms :-D

[joebrown]

This method is used in "Beelining" as well. You catch bees in a trap and let them start feeding for a bit. You then open the trap. The bees go back to the hive and tell others about the feed. Next thing you know there are lots of workers working this spot of feed. You then follow the beeline back to the bee tree or hive! Lots of old timers use to do this but I would bet not many people do it or even know how to do it anymore! One of many skills lost in time.

[Jim134]

This method is used in "Beelining" as well. You catch bees in a trap and let them start feeding for a bit. You then open the trap. The bees go back to the hive and tell others about the feed. Next thing you know there are lots of workers working this spot of feed. You then follow the beeline back to the bee tree or hive! Lots of old timers use to do this but I would bet not many people do it or even know how to do it anymore! One of many skills lost in time.

joebrown .......
   
        May  bee I'm one of the few


    BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)

[iddee]

http://www.bee-quick.com/500/index.html

[tandemrx]

That bee-lining competition link is hilarious  :lau:

The bee capture device is rather cool though   8-)

[joebrown]

Jim,

Maybe you are! I only know of a few people who can do it or have done it!

[muradulislam]

joebrown .......
   
        May  bee I'm one of the few


    BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)

can you explain this method a little further. i got the idea but a little deail does nut hurt, what you think :)

[AllenF]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beeline

http://www.savethehives.com/fbp/Beelining.html

http://www.bindaree.com.au/hints/hint12_beelining.htm

[bud1]

jim; me 2
but you being older than most done done a lota stuff we younger fellas havent had the opertunity to try yet


gotcha

[preston39]

Do we know the maximum distance a bee will forage from a feral hive?

Is it the same distance from a domesticated hive?

[thegolfpsycho]

No, once captured and domesticated, they lose all desire to forage outside the fences.

[preston39]

I believe you feed them to much.  :)

[joebrown]

Do we know the maximum distance a bee will forage from a feral hive?

Is it the same distance from a domesticated hive?

The only difference between Feral and domesticated are their hive locations and setups. Many so called feral bees are lost swarms and or future traps outs and cutouts. They travel the same while foraging!

[vmmartin]

My uncle told me that when he was a boy (about 65 yrs ago), they would wait by a water source with flour and throw in on a bee in order to make her white, they would then be able to follow her back to the hive location.  I have never tried it but makes sense if you can keep up.

[joebrown]

My uncle told me that when he was a boy (about 65 yrs ago), they would wait by a water source with flour and throw in on a bee in order to make her white, they would then be able to follow her back to the hive location.  I have never tried it but makes sense if you can keep up.

Well, you can wait until she comes back and based on the time it takes you can calculate how far the hive is from the water. The bees typically fly up and then straight to the hive. Once you get the distance calculated and the direction figured out, it is all over but the searching!!

[preston39]

Joe..,
Wouldn't one have to conclude how fast they travel and that they immediately returned to the source you marked them from without any diverson...rest...food intake, dancing performance, etc?

[Bee-Bop]

The couple of times I was involved I was about a 6/7 year old "spotter".

My Great Uncle would catch some bees feeding on honey he had set out were he wanted to hunt, he'd put them in a small box then, set a bee free, watch which way it went, then send me to stand as far back as the bee had been seen flying , then he would come there, release another bee, and off I'd go again.

It seemed like it took about 5 or 6 releases but he did catch a lot of swarms in McCracken Co.Ky.

This was back in the 40's so I don't remember everything.

Bee-Bop

[Jim134]

joebrown .......
 
       May  bee I'm one of the few


   BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)

can you explain this method a little further. i got the idea but a little deail does nut hurt, what you think :)

Sorry about that, it looks like original link just went to their home page.  If the following direct link to the pdf
doesn't work, you can type in "bee hunting" in the search box on the original link.

http://www.archive.org/download/beehuntingbookof00lock/beehuntingbookof00lock.pdf

Title of the book is "bee hunting" by A.R. Harding publishing, copyright 1908.

  This book will help you


   BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)

[muradulislam]

People in our area usually catch swarms by only putting some sugar syrup in it, this time however i'm going to use lemongrass oil and will see who gets the swarms then  :-D