trapouts

[tincan]

I am going to start my first trapout and I have an extra queen should I put queen in queen cage and frame eggs brood or would that be wasting a queen thanks in advance for help

[BlueBee]

I've yet to do a trap out, but I believe iddee has said in the past to just bait the trapout hive with open brood.  As the trapped out bees give up trying to get back into the cone, they are attracted to the open brood in your trap hive and move into it to support the brood.  At least that's what I remember.  Hopefully somebody who's done it will chime in. 

[beyondthesidewalks]

I'd get the queen set up and accepted in a hive before using it as a bait hive.  I've done them with a small hive, mostly a small swarm I've caught that needs a boost.  I've also done them with a frame of eggs.  I think they both work equally well.  It's more of a question of what you have available than what works better.

If I were you I'd get the queen setup in a nuc and laying.  Once I see eggs I'd put her in a hive and set it in place for the trapout.  Then I'd put my cone on the trapped out hive.

[G3farms]

I agree, get the queen situated first and laying, then move to your trap out site.

I have started a trap out with a very ripe queen cell and a frame of brood and it worked out great. The queen cell was from one hive and the frame of brood from another. "Pinned" the QC on the frame of brood with a small frame nail.

[tincan]

started trapout 1 day ago with brood and eggs did not put queen in today maybe 500 to 1000 bees in box is this normal  when i started trapout there were hundreds of bees in air all the time coming back . i believe very big colony in wall 4x8 section of wall full bees comb but cant do cutout i thought there would be more in box than that . just wondering

[iddee]

If we knew where you were, we might could help.  Howe about putting your location in your profile.

[tincan]

northeast wisconsin i will have kid edit profile it would take me we dont have that much time for me to edit

[iddee]

On a warm, sunny day, you could expect more than that, but if it was below 60 today, there were likely few foragers out. I would wait 3 to 5 days and check the brood frame for queen cells. If none are found, place another frame ""WITH EGGS"" in there. They may have chilled the first night if there were not enough bees to keep them warm.

Check and double check for an alternative entrance.

[tincan]

checked trap box today temps around 60 degrees quite a few foragers and guessing 5000 bees in box all going right in box not trying to get back in wall legs full of pollen looks to be working well.  i did second trapout same way same time in cedar tree but i think eggs brood got to cold so i opened tree up and will try again when i have some brood eggs out of my hives and its warmer out. how do you know if you need  to change trapbox with empty. thanks in advance

[iddee]

I use 10 frame box and change when there are 7 frames of bees. If there are numerous queen cells, I put 2 or 3 in the new box.

[tincan]

how many days do i give them to start queen cell today is five nothing yet but lots of dead bees dont know why

[iddee]

Something isn't right. You should have nearly capped queen cells on day 5. Install another frame with eggs. The first one may have chilled. After 6 days, you should have capped queen cells.

[tincan]

any ideas as to all the dad bees it was doing great and then hundreds of dead bees?

[tincan]

dead bees not dad bees

[tincan]

today almost all bees are dead any ideas bees in my hives are doing great so i dont think it is the cold nights killing the bees

[iddee]

Almost has to be they are getting into some insecticide.

[tincan]

my hives are only 300 yards away and thriving hope they stay that way

[beyondthesidewalks]

Could they be weak and getting robbed out?

[BlueBee]

It could be our recent cold nights.  We've been in the mid 20s here a few nights and I've noticed the bees have hauled out some dead even from my super insulated foam hives.  Probably only 5 to 15 dead bees, but still that doesn't normally happen in my super insulated hives.  Cold seems to kill some bees.  Probably even colder in WI.  The trapout hive probably did not have a ton of bees in it at this point (even before the cold temps).  Makes it harder to keep warm and alive.

It could be robbing too.  You should be able to detect that by looking at the comb in the trapout and checking it's stores.  Comb ripped up and no stores = robbed out = dead house bees.   

[tincan]

could be cold i dont think robbing as they died all in two days nights but my hives at home 300 yards away are doing great but have more bees . maybe pesticides as idee said will have to keep close eye on things