Luring a swarm?

Nugget Shooter · June 30, 2016, 01:54:05 PM

I have an existing colony of bees that have been living on my property in a old piece of machinery for at least 13 years and is another part of why I decided to keep bees in the first place since they have never been aggressive. There is no good way I know of to get them out without a cutting torch which will obviously not work... So I was pondering when and how to lure a swarm out of the existing colony to add to my growing apiary. Would be nice to be able to do this a few times over the next couple years. Guess I am wondering if this would be a time this could be done or wait for March and April when we see the most swarming here in AZ. We like many are in a summer dearth right now, but our monsoon season has started and with it rain which will stimulate the late summer and fall flow.

Michael Bush · June 30, 2016, 02:08:04 PM

You can't really lure them into swarming, but you can lure them into a bait hive.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesferal.htm#baithives

Nugget Shooter · June 30, 2016, 02:11:16 PM

Thank you, need to spend some more time reading.....

Michael Bush · June 30, 2016, 03:33:56 PM

I didn't say that very well. You can lure a swarm (bees who already decided to leave and swarm) into your bait hive sometimes. You can't incite an established colony to swarm, though. They will swarm when the conditions and time of year set that off. I suppose you could feed incessantly and that might get them to swarm...

KeyLargoBees · June 30, 2016, 04:14:16 PM

Swarm trapping is like fishing...be patient and if you have the resources and know of a few feral hives put out several bait hives.....and it can be a lot of fun ;-)

little john · June 30, 2016, 04:23:36 PM

Quote from: Nugget Shooter on June 30, 2016, 01:54:05 PM
There is no good way I know of to get them out without a cutting torch which will obviously not work... So I was pondering when and how to lure a swarm out of the existing colony to add to my growing apiary. Would be nice to be able to do this a few times over the next couple years.

Look-up 'Hogan Bee Trap' - this technique can either be used to extract the whole colony, queen an' all - or - which is what I think you might be aiming at - it can be used to harvest bees at regular internals, leaving the queen in situ to keep the numbers up. Seeing as you're in the desert, I don't see any reason why you couldn't feed that feral colony with a little sugar syrup via the Hogan Bee Trap during a dearth.
LJ

https://honey-sun.com/tech-tools/hogans-bee-trap/

BeeMaster2 · June 30, 2016, 04:25:44 PM

This sounds like a perfect job for a trap out.
Is there only one way into this hive or would it bee easy to block all but one entrance?
Jim

Nugget Shooter · June 30, 2016, 04:44:24 PM

Interesting, I will post a photo of where the feral hive is located when I get home from work this afternoon and see what you think, Not sure about being able to cover the entrance or how many entrances there may be.....

Oblio13 · June 30, 2016, 05:26:58 PM

I'd leave that very successful hive alone, but do my best to trap the swarms it throws.

Cornell did a study on swarm trapping, and the key points were: a box the size of a ten-frame deep, fifteen feet high, facing south, in the shade, no comb, with five used frames pushed together in the center. That formula has worked well for me.

Nugget Shooter · June 30, 2016, 06:59:34 PM

looks like this....

BeeMaster2 · June 30, 2016, 07:03:35 PM

I'm curious, what is that thing?
Jim

Psparr · June 30, 2016, 07:05:20 PM

Old band saw.

Nugget Shooter · June 30, 2016, 07:06:59 PM

Hi Jim, as already mentioned it is a saw for cutting pipe etc. pan was an oil bath with oil in tank below, from the early 1900s

sc-bee · June 30, 2016, 08:34:37 PM

Why in the world would you trap it out. Let it cast swarms and collect them. Trapped out one hive... caught swarms... how many???

Nugget Shooter · June 30, 2016, 09:25:36 PM

Thanks to all for your input and once again I have learned and once again left to ponder just the same.

Nugget Shooter · July 01, 2016, 01:36:41 PM

Having now pondered

and having listened to some great input I have once again put my new bee guy enthusiasm on hold and will trap swarms from this hive or at least attempt it this spring. As was mentioned that is a long lived and healthy colony and on top of that there are people and pets living within 10 feet on both sides (row of cabins) with no one being stung I know of making the what I would call "calm". So I will get set up to lure a swarm next spring and see how I do....

Today's project however will be to build a Hogan Trap to have handy since I am now the "Bee Guy" in our small community of Morristown AZ population around 280 folks. I have already added to my bee yard by 2 new colonies and have another to go look at today under an eve.

Thanks once again for the mentoring folks,

Bill

cao · July 01, 2016, 02:50:30 PM

It's amazing how fast you can become the "bee guy" once people find out that you have some bees.

KeyLargoBees · July 02, 2016, 08:17:41 AM

And then you decide your time is worth something and those 10 calls you go last week alone cant all be done "for the good of the bees" and you have you start charging a nominal fee to cover your time and expenses and people get grumpy and ask you "i thought you did this just to save the bees?!?!"

But for the most part its fun to be the "bee guy" :-)

Nugget Shooter · July 02, 2016, 11:30:22 AM

I started out charging for gas and time.... Kind of like saving the bees if they have gas money

Most pest control folks here charge big bucks for bee removal and folks are happy to give me 50 bucks. So far anyway and have done 3, two successful and the other colony decided they didn't like the digs and absconded next day.

gww · July 02, 2016, 03:42:31 PM

If I went for a swarm it would be about saving the bees for me, not just in general. If I had to pay someone to come and get them I would definatly be figuring out how the cost compared to a can of raid.
Just my thoughts
gww