Catching a honeybee swarm...pics
#6544880
05/27/19 11:56 AM
05/27/19 11:56 AM
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Joined: Apr 2017
Posts: 2,569 TN/OH
RM trapper
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OP
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Joined: Apr 2017
Posts: 2,569
TN/OH
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Re: Catching a honeybee swarm...pics
[Re: RM trapper]
#6544953
05/27/19 01:44 PM
05/27/19 01:44 PM
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Joined: Sep 2016
Posts: 6,939 MB
Jurassic Park
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Neat! So what makes the bees want to go into the hive instead of flying away?
Cold as ice!
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Re: Catching a honeybee swarm...pics
[Re: Jurassic Park]
#6544978
05/27/19 02:25 PM
05/27/19 02:25 PM
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Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 6,123 Northern Wisconsin,Rhinelander
Hodagtrapper
Muskrat Master
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Muskrat Master
Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 6,123
Northern Wisconsin,Rhinelander
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Neat! So what makes the bees want to go into the hive instead of flying away? The swarm follows the queen. If she heads to the box they follow her in! It's a pheromone that she emits and the the bees sense. Chris
>>In God we trust<<
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Re: Catching a honeybee swarm...pics
[Re: RM trapper]
#6545077
05/27/19 05:44 PM
05/27/19 05:44 PM
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Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 26 TENNESSEE
lgtrapn
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Looks like hot work in that suit. I can't ever recall being stung while catching a swarm. Seems like they refuse to sting while they are swarming, unless you smash one.
Last edited by lgtrapn; 05/27/19 05:45 PM.
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Re: Catching a honeybee swarm...pics
[Re: lgtrapn]
#6545097
05/27/19 06:17 PM
05/27/19 06:17 PM
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Joined: Apr 2017
Posts: 2,569 TN/OH
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My grandfather would work in them a lot without a suit, and he'd get stung so.e but didn't bother him any. Some swarms are real ducile and others are mean. This small swarm was mean today and 2 went up the legs and stung my uncle even with the suit on
Last edited by RM trapper; 05/27/19 06:18 PM.
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Re: Catching a honeybee swarm...pics
[Re: RM trapper]
#6545114
05/27/19 06:37 PM
05/27/19 06:37 PM
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Joined: Mar 2018
Posts: 3,373 Pa.
Bigbrownie
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The first swarm to leave ( primary swarm) will be the largest, as it should contain the old queen from the hive that they left from. When new virgin queens emerge some will fly off and additional bees from the hive will leave with the queens. Some of the later swarms ( secondary or after swarms ) will be small, sometimes the size of a baseball. After swarms tend to land higher than primary swarms, as virgin queens are much better flyers than old queens of the primary swarm.
As far as them entering the new hive, they are drawn in by the smell of any wax foundation it contains, along with the fact that it’s dark in there. My grandfather would tap on the back of the box with a screwdriver, ( called drumming) ....he said it would help attract the bees into the box. Nearly 50 years later, I’ve come to the conclusion that he was full of....., but I still do it occasionally as a tribute to him.
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Re: Catching a honeybee swarm...pics
[Re: lgtrapn]
#6545294
05/27/19 10:56 PM
05/27/19 10:56 PM
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Joined: Mar 2018
Posts: 3,373 Pa.
Bigbrownie
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Dad would have us beat on pots or pans when we saw a swarm in flight, it was supposed to mimic the sound of thunder and would make the bees settle in a tree. Sometimes they would land, seems like most of the time they kept going though. Yea, that was another of my grandfather’s tactics when swarm catching. I went along with the drumming, but never lowered myself to beating on pots and pans. He told me the racket would confuse the bees asto the location of the queen and make them land quicker. Never made much sense to me.
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