Catching Swarms

[wayne]

I catch and remove several swarms every year. And I know the beekeepers I work with do the same on their own.
 My question is this.
 Has, or does, anyone actually try to catch or trap swarms?
 I'm thinking in terms of deliberatly placing swarm traps or decoy hives around the country side in hopes of catching natural swarms to add to their bee yards.
 Has anyone tried it?  With what results?


wayne

[Brian D. Bray]

Many make a practice of it.  Most beekeeping suppliers offer swarm traps and lures just for such opportunities.  Check out some of the more well known ones like: Mann Lake Ltd, Dadant & Sons, Betterbee, and Bushy Mountain.
As a professional control officer I'm sure you have a good idea of where the most likely places are where swarms alight.  They seem to graviate towards the same areas year after year.  You could also become a beekeeper with a good number of hives from that source.
Good luck.

[Michael Bush]

> Has, or does, anyone actually try to catch or trap swarms?

Yes.

>I'm thinking in terms of deliberatly placing swarm traps or decoy hives around the country side in hopes of catching natural swarms to add to their bee yards.

Great idea.

>Has anyone tried it?

Yes.

> With what results?

If you find a good location you'll get several swarms a year.  If you find a poor location you'll get none.  At random about one in ten or twenty places is a good location.

I use lemongrass essential oil for swarm lure.  I tried the commercial stuff and had the same results.  THe lemongrass oil is cheaper.  I also use old queen juice.  Dump your old queens in a bottle of alcohol and put a few drops of that alcohol in the swarm trap.  I have the best luck if they are up a tree.  I use a short step ladder and put them as high as is practical.  I've used the plastic MDA splitter boxes and old hive boxes.  An old deep box is a nice size.  Some old comb is helpful as lure also.

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

[BEE C]

ok this might get a chuckle....I put a hive up a tree 15ft trying to bait a swarm in the backyard.  It was my first swarm capture attempt and I didn't want to lose it...so I went to a local garden supply store and bought a bottle of queen pheremone spray for use on flowering trees etc.  I went up the ladder to spray the bait hive (bad I know...) and the wind changed...I got covered in queen pheremone ...I eventually scooped the bees with a bucket on a pole, but all the while i had bees landing on my head trying to keep me warm and feed me....

[Jerrymac]

I had a couple of deeps full of frames that had partial comb in them setting out for the bees to clean out all the goodies they wanted. It had been setting out for awhile, with no top, on the ground, and I figured it should be cleaned out by now and I really should take care of it soon. I walked by it one day and accidently hit it with my foot. Bees came pouring out the top of it. Yep... a swarm had moved into it.

[wayne]

You are right that over the years most swarms are in the same areas.
I now know where about a dozen permanent wild hives are located. These produce swarms that show up within about a 1/2 mile of the hive. One is down town in the outside wall of a building 8 stories up.
 I have often thought of putting some kind of trap or attractor to intercept the swarms.
 I may try it to see what happens.



wayne