Swarm collection Equipment?

CapnChkn · January 05, 2011, 05:48:35 PM

I was at the local beekeeping meeting, and one of the members told me how to get on the swarm collection list. I know it's way early to be catching them but I suppose the wrong time to find out what I need, is going to be when I am trying to catch the cluster.

I know I'm going to need a container of some kind, from a cardboard box to a wooden container with queen excluder entrance, screened ventilation, and doors to slide in place when night falls. I will also need a sprayer to hold sugar water, and possibly a smoker.

Anybody have any other suggestions?

AllenF · January 05, 2011, 06:00:18 PM

A hive or a cardboard box and a video camera will work for most swarms if they are not very high, then you need to add a ladder to the list.

But then for those few hard ones, carry everything you got. Smoker, bee quick, sheet, flashlight, bee suit, honey, lemongrass oil, saw, pruners, axe. I could go on and on.

CapnChkn · January 05, 2011, 06:22:44 PM

Um...

Video Camera? I know they're all Girls, but I've never know a bee to bee that vain. Should I make the Bee Box look like a stage? :-D

I do have a digital camera and a tripod. I'll have to remember to grab it, so...

AllenF · January 05, 2011, 06:58:38 PM

To show everybody here the swarm you caught.

marksmith · January 05, 2011, 07:10:06 PM

My swarm box carries a smoker (always have a smoker on hand with bees... rarely light it when collecting swarms)

So..

Smoker
Small hand pruners
Brush
Queen clip
6' step ladder goes with
Veil
Hive tool
Hammer
Sheet
Small bow saw

Usually use a single deep with 2 frames old comb and the rest foundationless new frames. I almost always find the queen and capture her until they are moved to their new location. Next morning I turn her loose to bee as she wishes. Out of 23 swarms last year I didn't capture the queen in on one swarm. So far (knock on wood) I have never had a swarm abscond their new home.

BBees · January 05, 2011, 07:44:39 PM

Mark,
Tips on finding the queen in a swarm? I've never found a queen. Just went on the assumption if the bees all went in the box after I knocked a swarm in into it she was in the box. Like the idea of finding and catching her better.

CapnChkn · January 05, 2011, 10:56:20 PM

Alright! I can understand a lot of the uses of the kit, but the Hammer? I assume that's for tacking a cover on the box?

Like I say AllenF, I will have to remember to grab that camera, I can't leave that out in the shed with the kit.

Here's what I have:

Swarm Container
Sheet
Secateurs
Machete
Ladder
Sugar Water in sprayer
Veil
Pruning saw

I will add a queen cage, honey, and brush.

Kathyp · January 05, 2011, 11:36:18 PM

hive staples or strap to keep it all together. i like using screened bottom boards because i can close things up well and not worry about ventilation. i close the front with an entrance reducer turned so that there is no opening and then duct tape it in place.

duct tape!!!!!
tarp
pole pruner
hand pruner
ladder

i have added bee quick this year. had a queenless(virgin) late swarm start building in a tree and could not get them to stop congregating in the thing. longest and most frustrating swarm catch ever.

look in the removal section. seems to me there was a list there somewhere.

Michael Bush · January 06, 2011, 04:16:08 AM

I've gotten kind of fond of some queen juice, two mediums of old comb, a cover, a bottom, some lemongrass oil, a Q-tip and some duct tape.

Set the boxes on the bottom. Dip one end of the Q-tip in the queen juice (old queens stewing in alcohol) and the other end in the lemon grass oil. Drop into the hive. Put the lid on. Come back after dark and take them home.

lenape13 · January 06, 2011, 07:02:56 AM

Swarm catching made easy....

1.) Phone

2.) A supply of milk shakes.

To catch a swarm, simply call JP and Schawee. Inform them there's a swarm of bees and several milk shakes to be had, and stand clear....

bud1 · January 06, 2011, 07:35:03 AM

i also keep a pole and bucket with a jerk top in my truck good up to about 25ft

CapnChkn · January 06, 2011, 09:17:46 PM

KathyP Ma'am, I have looked all over this forum and I cannot find anything at all about a "removal section." I will add Duct tape to the list.

Mr. Bush, that sounds like my kind of thinking, and of course just starting out I have no Queen Juice. I will have to get that in action sometime! It really started me thinking of the type of people who are attracted to this pastime, part science, part magic!

JP · January 06, 2011, 09:23:45 PM

Quote from: CapnChkn on January 06, 2011, 09:17:46 PM
KathyP Ma'am, I have looked all over this forum and I cannot find anything at all about a "removal section." I will add Duct tape to the list.

Mr. Bush, that sounds like my kind of thinking, and of course just starting out I have no Queen Juice. I will have to get that in action sometime! It really started me thinking of the type of people who are attracted to this pastime, part science, part magic!

Here you go man: http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,13767.0.html

...JP

Michael Bush · January 07, 2011, 01:27:27 AM

>Mr. Bush, that sounds like my kind of thinking, and of course just starting out I have no Queen Juice. I will have to get that in action sometime!

The next best thing is "Bee Boost" which Mann Lake stocked last I looked. It's artificial QMP but it works fine.

> It really started me thinking of the type of people who are attracted to this pastime, part science, part magic!

People certainly think so when you do the bait hive with queen juice and lemongrass oil and they watch them move right in...

BRAGADOCCIO · January 07, 2011, 11:42:41 AM

Mr. Bush, Will the Bee Boost and Lemon Grass oil trick lure them out of a tree or just when they are swarming in the air? If they are on a branch, how close does the "box" have to be?

Tommyt · January 07, 2011, 12:15:50 PM

Quote from: BRAGADOCCIO on January 07, 2011, 11:42:41 AM
Mr. Bush, Will the Bee Boost and Lemon Grass oil trick lure them out of a tree or just when they are swarming in the air? If they are on a branch, how close does the "box" have to be?

BRAGADOCCIO
Welcome to Bee master M Bush is one of the very best Keepers on BeeMaster. IMHO
so I won't answer for him. I would also say looking at his web page will give you tons of bee info
What I will say if you are trying to completely remove a colony from a tree you need to look in the bee removal
section here on BeeMaster
There is a member named Idee I may have spelled his name wrong but you'll see it
Idee has a complete guide on how to do a Trap out
You will also find his posts if you do a search here on BeeMas for Trap-Out then you'll see his name
look it up Its all laid out and his method works
I used it for my first ever contact with bees and I know own the Hive and the tree is empty

Good Luck
Tommyt

danno · January 07, 2011, 02:52:58 PM

Bucket with a broom handle female thread on the bottom is always handy. I have used the bucket without any handle for anything up to 8 ft high. I have threaded in a 5 ft broom handle for anything up to 12 ft and with the longest telescoping handle used for paint rollers I can shake a swarm up to 30 feet off the ground. I made my own and added several vent holes screened with #8 wire. Here is a link to what I'm talking about
http://www.brushymountainbeefarm.com/Hipps-Swarm-Retriever/productinfo/270/

Michael Bush · January 08, 2011, 04:02:38 AM

>Mr. Bush, Will the Bee Boost and Lemon Grass oil trick lure them out of a tree

Any try at getting a swarm is not a sure thing. But it works most of the time, especially if they haven't picked a spot already.

> or just when they are swarming in the air?

I have set up bait hives this way, but as far as swarm calls, I've only used it when the swarm was hanging in the tree.

>If they are on a branch, how close does the "box" have to be?

It really doesn't matter much. They will be searching the area for a good place to live and the smells will attract them quite quickly. The two smells they are already keyed in on are the queen (QMP) and the cluster (nasonov aka the smell of lemongrasss essential oil). I usually set it pretty close to make sure them find it, but I'll bet I could put it 1/4 mile away and they would still find it.

CapnChkn · January 08, 2011, 07:20:05 PM

Thank you JP. I feel like a dummy now, I didn't check the sub forum list. It looks as if I have a lot of reading to do. And a lot of thinking.

Danno, I'm thinking I may be getting these bees on a bicycle, but I'm also thinking the 5 gallon bucket would make a good swarm cage. Two questions though:

How do you thread the handle to the bottom of the container? My second guess is to attach it to the side.
How much weight does this contraption hold?

I've been following this practice with a "bootstrap" mentality, I suppose I should get out of this limiting box.

danno · January 10, 2011, 09:11:11 AM

Quote from: CapnChkn on January 08, 2011, 07:20:05 PM
Thank you JP. I feel like a dummy now, I didn't check the sub forum list. It looks as if I have a lot of reading to do. And a lot of thinking.

Danno, I'm thinking I may be getting these bees on a bicycle, but I'm also thinking the 5 gallon bucket would make a good swarm cage. Two questions though:

How do you thread the handle to the bottom of the container? My second guess is to attach it to the side.
How much weight does this contraption hold?

I've been following this practice with a "bootstrap" mentality, I suppose I should get out of this limiting box.

I cut a disk of plywood alittle smaller than the bottom of the bucket. I cut about 1" off the end of a wood handled paint roller. These have the threads needed. This I glued in a predrilled hole in the disk. I then just used bolts and washers to attach the bottom of the bucket.