Swarm Trap STEP 1: Catch Bees Success! | Teach a Man to Fish 

I'm not a bee keeper but I'd say you did very well catching that many swarms in your first year. I don't know what the success rate is for swarm boxes but I'd be satisfied. I find bees fascinating and yes I'd rather have wild native bees than a package from who knows where. My neighbor is a bee keeper who needed more room for his hives. I have a cattle farm 5 miles from where we live where he keeps several hives. Those hives make fantastic tasting honey and all I have are cattle so I call it "Cow Crap Honey". You probably won't see that written on a bottle in the store but never underestimate the power of cow poop! lol

This is the first season I have even endeavored to catch swarms. About 30 years ago I gave up on bees. Sold my strong 12 colonies and equipment. Now , I want a Layens colony to pollenate my garden. I would say for how long to leave a swarm in a box, about 10 or 12 days, but not much longer than two weeks. A swarm will draw combs fairly quickly. My traps only have starter strips of about an inch. Waiting for a swarm to take to one of a person's boxes is like fishing and/ or waiting for Christmas to come around. Cheers, Bob

Also, a 6 frame Layens swarm box 18 inches deep is only about 36 liters. 11" wide for 7 frames would be about ideal -- closer to 40 liters. Still about 2 weeks would probably be about right if pollen were visible.

Make sure you pull at night ESPECIALLY if you plan on setting a trap back right away or you'll only catch the scouts that got left behind...they never tell you that part..bees don't like full sun my guess is hanging out on the porch so to speak and enjoying the weather.They stay outside where it's cool in summer sometimes.I wait til pollen coming in ,that way I know their Queen right and brood nurse bees have a job to feed helps lock them in because brood has pheremones ,just like the Queen has pheremones.Nice traps good job!

I like to pull them right after they occupy the swarm trap annnnd put another trap right back on that spot asap. I think they are still in somewhat of a swarm mode during initial occupation and you will find them be "workable" while you put them in their final spot. Put sugar syrup on their new home right away and they will be compelled to remain. If you wait longer, then they are establishing their residence and will defend it, plus, they are fully oriented to forage from that spot which is temporary. The fewer times you have to move them, the better in my opinion. If you can pull a frame of brood from one of your other hives and put it in when you install these swarm frames into your final deep, then they will be further inspired to remain in the new box you provide. :) You have a perfectly sized box and I like the tree bracket you have. The wing flapping is just the pheromone spreading at the entrance - nasonov gland helps scouts orient to the new location. I wish you the best of luck!

I have always wanted to do this! This year (fall) there is a swarm in a large Maple tree. I am in Michigan and wondering when and how to get prepared with hope they stick around. Thankyou for sharing!!

Hey there...excellent videos! I’ve done the swarm trap thing for about 4 years. I have about 12 swarm traps. 6 are the Tom Seeley style very similar in size and design holding 5 frames with lots of space below the frames. I have another 6 that are old hive deeps. Both styles work well. I did collect some propalis and dissolved with alcohol and painted the inside after torching similar to you. Only thing with Tom Seeley style is once they move in, and you see pollen give them a week. No longer. I let one go 2 weeks, and all the frames had wonky comb below them extending to the bottom. Not a big deal, but some of their hard work wasted!

Great work man! Can't wait to see if they fully establish themselves in that box for ya.

It's best to wait until pollen is going by that time the queen will bee laying and you can relocate them with out them thinking about absconding and the bees on the out side is just cooling out due to them getting hot on the inside bees at the entrance is just fanning air on the inside just to cool the inside.👍

Might be an idea if you haven’t already to take a good look around that old house. Good chance the source of your bees might be a feral hive set up in there somewhere?

Hi, I love your channel. I subscribed. I found your comment on my channel. How did you find me ??

OK, I bit from the comment you made on my channel. I've actually been by your channel before. My humble opinion and experience might can answer some of your questions. Yes, scout bees in the one shot. The more, then closer to getting a swarm. If they stop coming, that swarm has changed their mind. Well, you might've gotten that from my video. The question about leaving them, well, couple of those answers are what I do. I have a video that talks about it: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-MotwLkZM0Yc.html I'd say if it's wide open inside the box (no frames), only about three days max. They will fill it with comb, then it's a cutout. If it has frames, sure a week. But anytime pollen is coming in, I'm moving it even if its a day or two. What are the bees doing? Fanning the entrance to mark the entrance and at other times cool the hive. But that video I linked shows me bringing the boxes in and what I did when I found them established. And remember, they're not 'How To' videos, nor is this comment, it's my opinion in my experience.