Feral hives

Cindi · December 01, 2006, 10:11:37 AM

John said something interesting in a post I looked at a few minutes ago. He said that he had 4 feral colonies move into hives he had. So, this is information that I would love to hear about. Is this a common thing for feral (I presume that means swarms) colonies to move into hives that one has about. Do beekeepers leave empty hives around their place in the wishes that a colony will come to live in this? Never had any dealings with "feral" and I don't quite understand the concept. I have caught 2 swarms since beginning beekeeping, but they were up in a tree. Bring on experiences and advice, let's do some learning, great day. Cindi

kensfarm · December 01, 2006, 10:52:34 AM

Cindy I not sure if John's hive's were just regular empty hives or bait/swarm hives. When I visited a local beek's apairy this summer.. he had several 5 gallon buckets hanging up in the tree's.. around his apairy. I assumed they were to catch any of his hives that swarmed. It's easier to catch a swarm in a reachable bait hive.. then trying to reach a branch that's 40ft in the air.

I'm planning on making several bait hives for this spring(the size of 5 frame med. nuc box).. the bait is usually old comb or lemon grass oil.. other "bait scents" are available for purchase.. but most say to just use the lemon grass oil.

I've only read about it.. I'm sure some of the beeks here that have actually done it will chime in.

I was re-reading Nov. issue of Bee-Culture & saw that 4lb packages of Australian bee's were $110 each.. but to get that price you had to buy 400 packages. WOW! The 5 frame Med. nucs I purchased this year were $150 each.. the queens already established laying.. and you get to keep the box! Will nuc prices be increasing that much too for 2007?

So.. for beeks looking to increase there hives #'s.. being successful setting up some bait hives would def. save a lot of $.

mick · December 01, 2006, 11:40:59 AM

I can send you Aussie Bees for whatever it costs to send em. I bet Aussie beekeepers are cashing in on the situation re disease in the US.

Postage would be the killer. I bet the exporters buy pallet space on the cargo planes.

I been thinking of setting up an empty hive to see what happens. maybe some new bees would move in, or my Aussie bees might use it as a shed!

Cindi · December 01, 2006, 11:47:38 AM

Quote from: mick on December 01, 2006, 11:40:59 AM
I can send you Aussie Bees for whatever it costs to send em. I bet Aussie beekeepers are cashing in on the situation re disease in the US.

Postage would be the killer. I bet the exporters buy pallet space on the cargo planes.

I been thinking of setting up an empty hive to see what happens. maybe some new bees would move in, or my Aussie bees might use it as a shed!

I will reply deeper to the posts later on. Mick, every year we get Australian Carniolan packages in middle of April that our bee course instructor orders for himself and his students. We pay him $110 for a package, which consists of 4 pounds and 2 queens. He is not in this to make money, he is more interested in his "students" to get a good start. Like I said, I am going to look back at my records and ensure that my memory serves me perfectly well about the price and size, but I am pretty sure. Off to eat some pecan pie in a few hours at my daughter's house who lives about 3-4 hours away. We are there for the weekend. Great day. Cindi

wayne · December 01, 2006, 07:35:46 PM

i have a friend that has a couple dozen hives. He keeps a couple deep supers with foundation in the back yard so they will be handy on swarm calls. He has said several times that he has had swarms move into the deeps while they were setting out side.

wayne

Michael Bush · December 01, 2006, 07:52:24 PM

I have about one swarm a year move into a hive somewhere. But I have about fifty hives out there.

I also set bait boxes and use Lemongrass Essential oil and old combs for lure. They work better higher up in a tree and they work better further from the hives you hope to get the swarms from.

Kirk-o · December 01, 2006, 09:03:47 PM

I had a swarm move in one of my empty hives last spring .I also caught three swarms
last spring.I also have a swarm I took out of a big bird house three years ago these bees are very black bees.I checked my bees today and the ones I got out of the bird house is doing very good I go up at 5 in the morning last week and they where flying in and out,they also produced alot of honey this year.There is a hive in this old roll top desk over by Dodger stadium I'm going to get next week the guy who lives there said they have been there before he lived there thats over ten years.I have nothing but bad luck with purchased packages and purchased Queens (Except one
Queen I got from Michael Bush).I have stopped useing any medicine or mite treatment and useing small cell.I like feral bees.I'm going to purchase two Nucs from Dee Lusby this comming spring small cell for me all the way

kirko

Kirko

Cindi · December 02, 2006, 01:23:06 PM

All these experiences with catching swarms is fascinating. Keep the experiences coming on. Now, Michael you and Kensfarm talk about using Lemongrass essential oil for baiting. I grow a perennial plant that is known as Lemonbalm. I would wonder if this plant's leaves would serve the same purpose as Lemongrass essential oil. The Lemonbalm plant flowers are extremely attractive to bees, and the leaves are absolutely a wonder to the touch, as far as scent goes, truly lemon smell, I even use it in teas for the citrusy flavour. I read that many old timer beekeepers always grew Lemonbalm to rub on themselves and/or their beehives to calm the bees. For some reason lemon is a calming agent, I would imagine that Lemongrass, Lemonbalm are all good calming sources. Anyone grow Lemonbalm, tell me about experiences with Lemongrass. Great day. Cindi

KONASDAD · December 02, 2006, 02:02:50 PM

I too am interested in luring swarms. Not necessarily to increase my numbers of hives, but to prevent my bees from absconding and becoming a nuisance to my neighbors. My neighbors have no clue I have hives, and I hope to keep it that way. Eventually, one of mine will swarm, and I want to be the one to lure it into another hive I own. It would also help keep my bee numbers up per hive to increase honey production and reduce future bee purchases.

As an aside, the prices mentioned above are far more than I paid for a full deep w/ top and bottoms w/ bees. I guess I got lucky as it literally fell into my lap.

Michael Bush · December 02, 2006, 05:31:10 PM

I have not used lemonbalm, but those who have say it works fine for lure. You're trying to imitate the Nasonov smell which is mostly the smell of citral.

Lemongrass essential oil works great.

Brian D. Bray · December 02, 2006, 09:09:06 PM

It is always prudent to keep a hive or two ready for unexpected increase. Catching a swarm or setting up an empty in your bee yard to catch one. I've had bees from other yards swarm into the empty hive in my yard when I know mine did not swarm. It doesn't happen every year but I've found it a good practice to have the empty hive setting there.

Cindi · December 02, 2006, 09:25:14 PM

An interesting thought about setting a box out near the apiary to catch swarms. Would it not make some pretty good sense for the scout bee(s) when searching for the new home before the swarm issues, or after the swarm has issued and is resting, waiting for the news from the scouts about the whereabouts of their new home, that the scouts would look for something similar to what they were raised in. Particularly if the "new home" had wonderful smells, and ready made cells for their swarm to just plain and simply move into and enjoy getting it ready for babies and honey. If I were a scout bee, I would probably be interested in this empty box, especially if it was clean. Great day. Cindi