SWARM TRAPS

[uglyfrozenfish]

Hey all,

I found a 10' tree stump recently with evidence of a bee colony living inside it.  It is still winter here but there were numerous dead bees outside the entrance, signs of cleansing flights as well as a healthy hum from the interior of the tree upon tapping the trunk. 
I want to try and use this tree as a source of new swarms for my infant bee yard.

I understand the baiting, hanging and construction but one thing that I haven't seen here is how often do you check the trap? 

If I use a Deep (it is all I can use this year because my wife would prefer I not mortgage the house for more bee equipment) will the bees stay?

thanks a lot

[AllenF]

I use cheap 5 frame homemade nuc boxes for traps.   Check them every so often.  Move them to a 10 frame box when I find them and take them home.  You could get a swarm from the stump if they do swarm and do go into your box.    You could trap them out also and be sure to get some bees.

[Kathyp]

i check mine once a week.  more if i remember.  one deep should be fine.  put some old comb in there and you probably won't need anything else.  i like using a deep on my friends berry farm because i can just take them home and not mess with them.  after you have them in there you may want to slip a queen excluder between the box and the bottom board for a couple of days.  help keep the queen in there.  remove after a couple or three days. 

put more than one box out, or replace the box after you catch a swarm.  tree hives are good for swarming several times in a season.  i'd leave the parent hive alone as long as it's not bothering anyone and just take the swarms.

[Brian D. Bray]

When using nucs as swarm traps a deep nuc or a double medium nuc is the smallest nest size a swarm will accept.
If a single medium nuc is used to hive a swarm they will abscond within a day or 2 unless and 2nd medium box is added.

Experience is a cruel teacher.