Bait Hive questions

[rgennaro]

So I was afraid my bees would swarm this spring and I decided to set up a bait just in case, in the hope that they would go in there. I got one of those cardboard cylinders with a hole and put the bait in it but now i have a few questions:
1) By reading some other posts I now realized that maybe I should have just set up a box with frames somewhere? Save myself the trouble of moving the swarm if it ever comes?
2) What's the optimal placement? Distance from my hive? High or low? Sun or shade? hole opening at the top or the bottom?
thanks!

[Bob Wilson]

rgennaro. Myself and friend built several of the large bait boxes, the plans for which are easy to find at websites such as horizontalhive.com. My friend put several old frames in his, and he caught 3 swarms with his two boxes, but they built messily, underneath the frames in the open cavity and elsewhere. I don't think those traps are any easier to hang than a regular deep box, so I have decided to use a deep hive box next year for my bait boxes. I will put in a few old comb frames for the swarm to start filling immediately, and fill the remaining space with empty foundationless frames. I am going to put mine lower in the trees, since the swarm I caught this spring moved into a box 3 feet off the ground. Then I will just move the deep frames from the swarm box into a long langstroth hive. That's my plan, and I'm sticking to it... unless someone shows me a better way.

[BeeMaster2]

I?m finding that the best place to place a bate hive is up against the trunk of a tree about 5 to 7 feet off of the ground. Bee sure to wipe the entrance with a Qtip saturated with lemon grass oil and then put the Qtip in a plastic baggie, seal it up completely and place it in the bottom of the trap.
I strap the traps to the trunks, usually resting on a branch.
Jim Altmiller

[rgennaro]

Didn?t know about the lemongrass oil! Thanks

[Bob Wilson]

Just as Jim said, between myself and my 3 friends, we have caught 7 swarms this year, and all of them were lured with lemon grass oil around the entrance hole of the bait hive, and usually the q-tip or cotton ball in a sealed baggie inside.

[Michael Bush]

If you use lemongrass oil, height doesn?t matter much.  Ideal distance is 1/4 mile (400 meters)

[ed/La.]

Use any empty hive boxes you have. Volume is important. A 8 or 10 frame deep works well. Older boxes work better than a new box. I use 1 frame of old comb on 1 wall and one inch starter strip on remain frames. The used hive and comb works as lure. Solid bottom board with a few small drain holes here and there. A 2 or 3 inch entrance seems to work well.  Some are temped to put some honey or syrup in as bait but that attracts pests. Put out several traps if you can. I put lemon grass oil on q tip in a drinking straw cut to size.