In Australia, we do things slightly differently: I catch swarms as quick as a flick, by using a cardboard box. It needs to be about the size that bottle shops use for 12 bottles of wine, for the reason that bees like this proportion better than larger or smaller boxes. Part of why this works is that the box quickly matches the preferred temperature of the colony, what you might call their "Thermal Mass" perhaps faster than a wooden box A cardboard carton is easier to carry until you get them home. Not only that, but you can get these cartons at most bottle shops, and they fold up flat in the back of the car until you need them. Drop the bees into the box, and interleave the lid, leaving the slotted space of about 10mm x 50mm. Put the carton on its side and any stray bees will quickly find the hole. Others will sit on the new entrance, giving off infra red, and fanning hive smell. A few puffs of hessian smoke with send them inside when you have most of the colony. Don't seal up the hole, just put them in the back of the car and go home. If any want to get out, they'll fly to the windows, not the driver. Transfer to a proper hive asap. . Of course, if you are not confident, put a bit of old comb inside. When catching a swarm this way, position the box as close as possible to the original position of the swarm, and perhaps logically, just a little above. . Another worthwhile tip, is to use a fairly large cloth net, like a butterfly net on a long stick, to scoop swarms at height that you can't reach. Tip the net on its side as soon as you have a fair number of bees inside, and then disturb the remainder of the colony. Bees will cluster on the net, and you can slowly bring it down to ground level, by a series of stages so the colony follows. Where necessary, use a "spray on body deodorant", or spray on perfume, on the old surfaces to discourage bees from re clustering there. ALWAYS REQUEEN WILD COLONIES, and check them for disease. REMEMBER: Its easier and safer to split an existing hive, ( and re queen one half) than to risk spreading disease by relocating wild bees, especially because cross breeding often leads to defensive/aggressive behaviour, and lower productivity. These bees are sometimes no more value than other feral pests.
This is my second year beekeeping. This is nuts man, you have the exact same setup as I was going to experiment with this year. I thought I was gonna be original lol but like everything I try "new" its already been done, down to the wire supporting the box. I dont have a bunch of deeps like you do but I'm going to use pallet wood to make my deeps for traps. Glad to know it works and thanks for the great how to video! I really love your "nails" you hang your trap on. I never thought of that. Kudos!
Glad to hear you considering not harming the tree with a nail anymore just to hang a swarm trap, very good steward of our lands. Earned a new subscriber!
This is the best video I've seen for trapping swarms, I was wondering if you could just use an old deep, you answered that question for me. thank you so much
I built a couple of bait boxes last spring. To hook it to the trees I used aircraft cable, and bent two hooks out of threaded rod. I clamped another hook on a piece of pipe which I used to hoist the trap up and hook it to the branch. My video is here video 2013 05 12 11 53 53 It worked pretty good as far as I could tell. For some reason the bait box plan I used wasn't long enough to put in frames so I had to stick a couple in diagonally. Jason's look better than mine.
Hi Jason, I had my bees swarm last year,( my fault) to watch is amazing, then horror sets in. as they swarmed at the top of a very high tree, I went to the hive and there she was, to heavy with eggs to fly, I picked her up and put her back in the hive, with in 20 mins all her bees came back down! :)
thanks jason - I just lost a swarm - didn't know about the queen lure and lemon grass oil! I almost lured them into a nuc but alas, the queen thought otherwise, but I'll be ready for the next one - thanks for the video's!
Good stuff, Jason. I have alot more to learn before I can even start, but it is very interesting, and I know with my fruit trees, vines and garden, I would love to be able to draw a hive in.
Also if you see a swarm and like to get it, depends on size of the swarm. If a big swarm can take a white sheet place around the swarm down to the brood box with frames or you can shake them into the brood box w/frames, If your like me just out to catch some I use a 5 frame nuc box to let scout check it out so swarm will come in. I also use the 5 frame nuc box w/frame to start out small swarms when full, I will start them in a 10 frame brood box when it get full put another brood box on
And i kept some nuc around my hive during spring time and beginning of summer, if a swarm leave my hive the chances are getter that the will go in to my swarm boxes rather head for trees ect.
"Idk if I'm stealing his bees but I set up a bee trap within range of his operation and it did well for me so I'm gonna keep doing it". Inwas completely into what you were doing film you said that than inkostbalot of respect. If I were a hardcore beekeeper I'd consider that poaching my swarm.
Jason Chrisman I have built a few 5 frame deep boxes especially for bait hives. I installed solid top and bottom cover held on by exterior grade screws. I did add a 3/8" spacer to the bottom board to allow for bee space below the frames. Since I do not have a customary bottom board entrance I drilled a 1 1/8" hole in the side of the box for an entrance. Now, finally to my question lol...... Will the entrance hole allow for enough ventilation? If I need to add ventilation, where should I place additional openings on the box and what size should they be? I am also curious as to whether they should be covered with screen or hardware cloth. Thanks man! I really love your videos!
Chuck Crow With swarm traps they should be check every couple weeks to see if anything is caught. And if so they should be transferred to a bigger box with ventilation. So with this said I usually do not worry to much about ventilation with my traps. But if you wanted you could pull your bottom boards off and cover the whole bottom with screen. Or what I do with my nucs is on the back towards the top using a 1 1/4" butterfly bit and drill 2 holes side by side about 1" apart. The key is to drill them at a upward angle so when it rains it can not get in. Then screen over them. Hope this helps Chuck and good luck with your traps.
Jason Chrisman Thanks for clearing that up! Maybe later this year I will have some videos showing the swarms you experienced guys help me to catch! Fixed income here so if I can't catch any free bees I will probably have no bees. Sucks but that is just the way it is. Wish me luck again and let the swarm season roll!!!
I use the 5 frame swarm trap, and i set them on tree branches like a red bud tree or peach, any tree that draws bee's ! The way i level them is long wood screw under the box and set the box on it and put screwed to branches to make the stay up and level. If this help any proud to be able to help cheers
what if your box has never had bees in it and you do not have access to old comb then what should you do we have a new box and a relative has bees that have not been worked in years they said we could set the box up next to their bees so what is your opinion
J C, I'm curious about why you use the queen lure. When they swarm they are coming with the mother queen from the parent hive. I know this works, I have used this method and others. But don't understand about attracting a swarm with a queen lure scent. I know I know, we do as we were taught but never get answers to questions.
When a colony starts raising queen cells the scout bees begin looking for a new home. The queen lure helps attract them to potential homes. The thought is that once they swarm the scout bees will them to one of the lured places.
I made a new rule of thumb! The rule of thumb is,. When pollen drops> its swarm season in your area! An't that so cool? and so very true? Now there no questions! As to when swarm season has started in your area!
Last year my colony was died before 5 months ago i have set my baith hive at same direction i clean my hive but the same frames with comb i have not lemon grass can we use lemon juice
I see different ways and traps that people use to catch swarms. I wonder couldn't you just temporarily attach a bottom and top board, using the normal entrance. Then you could just take it and use it directly as your bottom brood box without having to move frames to another box? Or am I missing something? Brand new to bee keeping.
Ok if you are running 3 hives now in deeps. Then chances are you have a total of 6 deeps? That's 2 deeps for each colony. So that is 60 frames of drawn comb. So what you want to do is pull a couple old brood empty combs from each hive. Then give them new frames in place of the one's you took. Let them draw out more comb. Feeding usually encourages them to draw comb. I would continue to do this through out the summer. This should give you enough combs to set some traps next year. Hope this helps
I'm brand new to beekeeping, so... I just made what looks like a 5 deep frame nuc box, not much extra space below the bottom of the frames. Is this too small to function as a swarm trap?
Some people believe the size of the trap equals the size of the swarm you may catch. Personally, I think it will work just fine. Next time just make sure to add more bee space below frames.
Jason, I hope you can answer this question for me. I'm in northern Utah. No one here traps bees. Any idea why this area might not be good for trapping with baited swarm traps? Does anyone else out there have thoughts? Thanks.
@petersboro I personally can't see why bee trapping would not work in Utah. I would guess others have just found easier ways to grow their bee yards. I for one used to trap then I learned to graft queens and makes splits and that is my go to method. If I were you I would set trap regardless what others say. Best of luck!
I don't want to catch free bees, but I've been beekeeping 1 year, and am setting up swarm traps for the chance that my own will swarm. I can't seem to find info on what you do w/ your own bees when they swarm and you catch them. I assume you don't just take them back to their original hive and dump them in, right? Or is that ok to do? I'm guessing it's probably necessary to treat the event as a split. Any information on that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
If your colony swarms you need to let them land. They usually only travel 50 yards at the max. Once the land you need to shake/sweep them into new box. Your goal is to get as many of the bees are possible in the box when sweeping/shaking, you need the queen to go in so the rest will follow. If possible I like using a queen clip to restrain the queen in the hive for a couple days. I have captured swarms to watch them fly away 10 minutes later. If you can cage the queen with a clip for a couple days the bees will start building resources which will encourage them to start feeding the queen again so she can lay. A well fed queen can not fly so she is safe to release from the clip. After you get them in the box add your frames then lay the lid on top but leave one side cracked so the bees can fan their Nasonov gland to draw in the airborne bees. You will then want to get the box as close as possible to where the swarm landed until all the bees go inside the box. Usually that evening is a good time to move the hive to it's new location. Here is some picture from last year when one of my colonies swarmed. You can see they go right with what I explained. photos.app.goo.gl/LRP74n5L9tFHuLo87 A good pair of snipes can be very handy if a swarm lands in a tree. Clear the limbs around the swarm so you can get a box under the cluster. Best bet is to keep a close eye for swarm cells and just prevent swarming all together.
I like 2 brood boxes full frames of bee and comb,ect in my hive, then start with med. supper for the honey and i like to put a queen excluder on to keep the queen from laying brood in my honey suppers or med. cheers
I had a lot of loss this past winter. I put out 23 traps made with deeps and I hope to get several swarms. I usually keep 3-4 out and another 2-3 around my own yard. What kind of success have you had? Have you had any stolen? I am afraid of this so this year I ordered some camo fabric. It's burlap and is really cheap and the boxes almost disappear when I staple it to the boxes. I have 100+ frame of drawn comb if/when I get swarms.
+howardtoob I haven't set traps for a couple years because I have been to busy. I have never had any stolen from me. I have seen people camo the traps with paint though. The fabric is cheaper and easier though. Good thinking! Your success with traps depends on a lot of factors. Like how you baited them, location, height off the ground, number of swarms in your area, etc.. When I do set traps, I put out roughly 5-6 and most times I caught 2-3. Sorry to hear you lost a bunch of hives.
What i have experience, Swarm traps need to be lite with frame in it ! A cardboard box would be great if you can get them to last! So i use 1/8 plywood, to fit a 5 frame trap! Do Not make the top and screw it down, BIG MISS STAKE! Make the top where it will cover the trap with 2 or 3" over hand where the top pull up and down! 1st one i made didn't have frames and was screwed down, I wasn't expecting to caught a swarm Next day BOOM a freak en swarm in it let it go for a week and took it -
awesome videos!! thanks! how do you know when to take trap down, and often do you check them and then do you set them out again after you trap one set of bees?
After bees move in I like to wait about a week before moving them. I check them every couple weeks and do sometime re-set them. That really depend on if I see more bee traffic in the area. Good luck
"checker board means" New foundation and frames and some old comb with bee from your other hives 1 old 1 new 1 old 1 new until 10 frames and the supper is full
That is a great question, Jim but to be honest I am not sure. I can tell you it works very well. Maybe it's just the fact that there is the smell of an old active colony.
all i use is deeps and med. supper if your not strong them you may would like to go with the small supper rather than the med. Honey supper is heavy when full of honey any where from 45 lbs to 120 pound if use deep suppers
Really it depends on the location. Some areas have more feral bees than others. I like to place out feeders and see which spots have bees to increase my chances. The traps work well if there is bees around though. Good luck!!
Hello, I am trying to get started with my first hive. I have just built my first swarm trap. I was wondering if you was interested in selling me old hive that I could put inside to attract a swarm. What part of the country are you from. I would love to buy a used hive box from you, looks like you've got a ton. Lol
First off I guess I am confused. You build a swarm trap and you want to stick another hive within that one? Are you wanting old comb for your swarm trap? I have never heard of someone sticking a hive inside a trap. My trap contain old comb and lemon grass oil. Plus a little queen lure. Help me understand what you are needing. I am in central Ohio.
I built a swarm trap and I guess from what I gathered from watching videos is I need to put some old comb to attract them to the trap. so I guess I am needing some old comb for attracting them to the trap. I live in Arkansas. It just looks like you really know what to do from watching your videos. thanks for taking time to respond.
What I would suggest is you contact your local bee group. Check with your extension office if your not sure who to call. They can probably help you out. I can't ship comb it would be destroyed by the time you get it. Sorry!
razorbackfan2011 I live in Ohio. I do have some old boxes I would be willing to send you but I think shipping would be expensive. Would not be surprised if shipping was more than buying a package of bees. You have to understand usually bee equipment is not put together when it ships so this means a bigger box which means more money.
I have always been told bees swarm under 100 yards. Sometimes less than 50 yards. This being said try to stay under this range. Have you ever tried to catch a feral swarm and grow your apiary? You should if you haven't. There is nothing like getting free bees from nature.
+dfishman76 I usually do not see moths until mid summer by then I have my swarm traps down. To keep moths away from active colonies don't give them more room than they can manage. The bees will protect the hive if you do this.
Yes, I suggest you re-lure the trap about every 2-3 weeks. I also suggest you use mouse guards even with the hive in a tree. The last one I set was full of mice. Good luck!!
If u have bees,u have at least Some Propolis..smear Propolis inside,dead bees even helps(some bees) not nasty mess.u can clean Wax cappings off bottom boards and use that, especially after winter.You can use Wax moth damaged frames,u can use lemon grass oil or better yet Swarm Commander,if can't get either then peach tree leaves rubbed in box and on entrance is old timers trick..last but not least I never catch in full sun,u may, I catch alot of swarms in mostly shade....
would using drawn brood comb not attract wax moths since it is un occupied? I was always taught to use foundation only but never experimented with drawn comb. how do you avoid the wax moth?
Drawn comb will attract them just as fast as foundation, if not faster. Depending where you are located wax moth are not an issue until mid summer. Well at least if you have cold weather during the winter. We have not had much cold this year so maybe some will survive.
What is that queen lure? queen bee dead in alchochol ... take old queen cell that you dont need if you see a good build old queens that are about to get out in few days .. dont just throw them mash em, put em in alchochol and all ok.
Thanks I'm a beekeeper from Turin Italy. I've seen in RU-vid that some managed to capture swarms with lemongrass alone. What's your overall ratio of success in luring swarms per traps put? Ciao.
It's greatly varies. To get a high success rate you have to do your homework. You need to know where feral colonies are. It's pointless to setup traps and there be no bees around. I recommend setting up some feeding stations (outdoor syrup feeders) in several areas, check them often ans see if bees were attracted. If so, watch for a bee line and follow it, try to narrow down it's direction. When you see a strong line of bees then place your trap.
Well if you have 3 hive u don't need any swarm boxes, need to get another brood box and checker board them with some queens cells from your other hives! And get another hive going! You have all you need rite now from your other hives! You got it all man NOW GROW
You need to know that what you are asking for is Brood Comb. Naturally, because it was used for brood. Remember, a swarm caught, is still a colony of" wild" bees, who won't change their characteristics in the 8 weeks that they live. ALWAYS RE QUEEN WILD Colonies for safer, more amenable bees and better production. Also: check new colonies after a week or so, in case of European or American Foul Brood, and get help if you don't know how to do this.
Oldest comb is best, it dark in color from years of use. It's full of pheromones and different scents bees like. But comb that has been used one season would probably draw attention also. I have caught swarms this way as well. Your chance are just better with darker combs. Good Luck!
Jason Chrisman thanks for super fast reply! Might have to try next year then. Last June I had bees in my house sniffing around for a new home, should be good.
down! Of course they put the comb under the led when unscrew it it made them mad and when lift it up the fresh comb fell to the bottom WHAT A MESS i was lucky i didn't kill the queen cheers
Dennis Cook Well your chances are better early in the year but I have seen swarm in August. The problem with getting a swarm in August is they do not have much time to build up for winter. So I would say if you set traps anytime of the year just keep an eye on them. Once you realize you have one I would feed the crap out of them. Good luck!
its a dead queen mashed in alcohol to get her scent. or you can use lemongrass oil. But use the lemongrass oil you eat not for scenting a room. that is man made chemicals.
I can't stress how important this is when checker boarding, "Mean" You Have to look at each frame to make sure you DO NOT TAKE THERE QUEEN and PUT IT IN ANOTHER NEW HIVE!!!!! She the bigges bee, bigger than a drone drones only bee with big eyes, """" she long and has short wings""""
+Thomas R. Miller To be honest I haven't set any swarm traps for a couple years now. I have been to busy running our farm. I hope to set a few this year and will be using wench straps.
thetownofbuck I use essential oil lemongrass and a homemade queen lure. If you search my channel you can find a video to make your own lure. Good luck!
thanks!! I don't have any drawn comb. I wonder if I put 5 frames of plastic cell foundation with heavy wax would it work? I do have some pieces of old comb but not a full frame of drawn comb. . I also have a lot of pure bees wax and queen juice with one queen in alchohol all chopped up. ... Appreciate your videos!
I would melt some of the old comb into a frame. Only melt the edges so it attaches to the wood. Old comb is best because it smells like a bee colony. A frame of 2 of new foundation would not hurt either.
Hey Jason...one quick question. on my traps I am using 10 frame deeps with circle disk entrance. Can I get away with just cutting 2 inch strips (plastic rite cell) and dipping them in bees wax and putting them inside the top of frame. Do I have to fill box with full 10 frames or can I get away with maybe 3 frames with the starter strips dipped in wax? Wax moths are bad here...thought the wax strips would be better....thanks so much! --stan
Matt Kovach I make as many of them as I can in my wood shop. Anything that I need to purchase I usually get from Mann Lake Bee Supply. Craigslist is a good place too just be aware disease can be passed through equipment. So make sure you know what your getting.
