Top Bar Beekeeping Forum

[cajun_mike]

I've seen a lot of information about catching swarms: brood (which is scarce), foundation of honey (which would go away with robbing), rubbing inside of hive with wax, essential oil of lemongrass, swinging a black cat over your head in the middle of a cemetary at the stroke of midnight, and so on.

Does anybody have some first-hand knowledge about tried and true methods of catching swarms?

I've lost one of my 3 hives this winter and would really like to introduce a new group to that hive - free.

Thanks for considering!

Mike

[biobee]

OK, first let's make a distinction between 'catching' a swarm - which I generally take to mean finding/being told about a feral swarm in a tree and popping it into a basket ready for hiving, and 'attracting' or 'baiting' a swarm, which is the business of making a hive so attractive that no swarm would even dream of passing it up as an Ideal Home.

I take it you mean the latter.

Yes, I do have first-hand experience and I have been most successful using an old skep that once housed a colony for nearly a year and is therefore well impregnated with the aromas of propolis and wax. If there is a swarm nearby, they will practically fight to get into it.

I have also successfully baited swarms using an old framed hive and by just rubbing wax and propolis and lemongrass oil on the inside and outside of a new hive. I tried capsules of queen pheromones (at least, that's what it said on the wrapper) a couple of times with no success.

So, wax and propolis - the smell of an old hive - is what I put my faith in.
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The Barefoot Beekeeper www.biobees.com

[Gary]

I agree with Phil and I have my share of catching removing and baiting. What amazed me was the power of old brood comb. I had a dead out and last season I opened it up just to see and there were indeed scout bees from at least two different colonies fighting on the landing board. I threw another together real fast and had the second swarm baited when a giant hornet moved in and ruined the second one but the first came and what a sight it was.

Check with local Beeks and let them all know you are interested in swarms without equipment. Leave them some contact info and wait, maybe one of them is willing to give you a chunk of old brood comb to start with, just get rid of it ASAP!

I pick up three to four swarms a season that way.

My German mentor has 50 hives and two seasons ago they threw 6 swarms in one day!
_________________
Gary
www.hirschbachapiary.com
gary@hirschbachapiary.com

Procrastination is the assassination of inspiration!

There are good men willing to do evil things to protect you from evil men doing evil things in the name of good.

[becabwca]

i would also agree! although im a complete novice and STILL havent had time to build my TBH, 2 weeks ago i bought two old nationals and put them in the field with a bit of honey-y honeycomb in........
.........and i now am the proud owner of two colonies! erk!

-no idea where they came from, one is extremely prolific and has nearly filled the brood chamber.....ive not used any smoke so far and not really missed it! (my sugar puffer is very shiny however!)

slight cross-combing issues but thats another story.....

so put some honeycomb in and cross your fingers!

good luck

beca

[cajun_mike]

You're right. It's swarm trapping I'm interested in. OK, so propolis, wax and lemon oil. I'll go for that and thank you much for the insight.

Mike

[zaunreiter]

I use a blow torch to burn the wax and propolis inside the catch-hive, which works pretty good attracting bees.

This is how old beekeepers found wiuld honeybee colonies in the woods. The sprayed sugar water onto old comb. Then they lit a fire and burned some other comb. It doesn't take long until the first bees arrive. Try it in your apiary, the bees "love" that smell. Once the bees arrive and go for the sugar water on the old comb, the bees were catched and tucked away in a small box. (after drinking for a while)

Once enough bees were catched, the beekeeper is walking the bee line. He releases a single bee and observes which direction the bee goes. He walks into the direction. Then another bee is released, again the bee goes straight back to home and points into the right direction. This is done repeatedly until the beekeeper sees the tree the wild colony is in.

So burning wax and proplis is attracting bees and can be used in bait hives as well. Another side effect is the sterilization of smoked propolis. I read an scientific abstract, where propolis smoke was used to clean a commercial pig farm instead of chemical desinfections.

Regards,

Bernhard
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