In Eastern NC. Been in Vegas for ConAg this week and got this picture from my swarm trap at church.

Who else puts out swarm traps?

Nice seems early. I need to get some put out i guess. Lost 2 last year squirrels chewed them up to bad to repair.

This is my earliest. My fried Arnold Flowers caught one March 1st two years ago. We try to get traps out the last week or so of February so the scouts can find them early.

That’s cool! Do you bait them with something?

Dang little nectar flow here

My goal is to build and put out 20 swarm traps by mid April. White Trash 88 messaged me plans and a bunch of other guys gave me advice too. I hope to catch at least 5 swarms. I have 9 different properties set up to put traps on. Most have woods bordering hayfields of clover, alfalfa and wild flowers.

I caught a swarm out of a mulberry tree last year. They've been out foraging every warmer, dry day, for the last couple of weeks. We put out some sugar for them to help them make it until the flow starts.

Keith

About 8 weeks away here.

I'm giving a club presentation Tuesday on swarming and swarm control techniques.

Bees swarm, bees will be bees and never read the book.

There, topic covered.

Don't put to much lemon grass oil in the box. 2 or 3 drops on a cotton ball will do the trick. Also if you have a.ft
Rame of old comb put it in the middle of new frames. Rebait every 2 weeks.. I dont take them down until I see them taking pollen in. That way im sure theu are moved in and not just scouting or making a temp stop.

20 traps you should get way more than 5 swarms. Also you will start noticing ball swarms on your drive and geting call when others see them and know you are into bees.

I always keep an extra swarm trap in thr truck to get them when the opportunity comes. You want to make sure you have enough boxes and frames on hand for when you get more than you thought or whan you need to make a split to keep a hive from swarming. Its not fun to need a hive and not have one handy.

I just got told about bees in the wall of a house. Nope not worth the effort and time it would take me to fool with.

I use a squirt of swarm commander spray in the box and a squirt outside on the hole. I use old hive boxes that have enough rot on them that I don’t use them for hives. A peice or two of old comb and a frame or two of foundation. It helps them to keep the comb straight. I’m not always close by and a strong swarm will draw out a lot of comb quickly. Thin plywood on the bottom and a political sign for the top. I screw them down so I can remove and replace them easily. I seem to get about 50 percent success rate.

What a difference geographic location makes. Northern NY swarm season 2 1/2 months away.

Tonight beekeepers club meeting is on swarm traps I do not use them anymore after our state apiarist spoke at a meeting three years ago and told a neat way to catch your own swarms .I have all my 41 hives in one area been putting out 2 to5 acers of clover and other bee friendly plants each year of the 40 acers of native grasses I put out at the turn of the century, I go 6 to 8 feet from my bee yard take a post hole digger dig a 2 foot hole or till I hit a big limestone rock and put a 2 foot capped piece of 4inch pvc pipe filled with water with a 4 to 6 foot ceder or pine branch in it I have had great luck on doing this I know you don't want them to swarm from your hives but I don't have much luck on that. Something you guys may want to try.

Only way I have limited swarms is dining full inspections at least once a week so I catch the swarming instinct indicators and then do splits..

Often there are enough frames with queen cells i move some into a queen castle and turn one hive into 4 or 5.

I need to learn how to breed queens.

So far im much better at eating swarms and increas colonies than I am at honey production. If I were good at producing high qualty queens it would be much easier.

I do like the method of having a landing spot for swarms in your yard thats easy to access. Regardless of how close an eye I keep on them I still get a few swarms that get away

Last 2 years I have not keep up with my bees and went from 23 or so colonies to 3 after last years winter. Had a few swarms move into my empty hives in the yard.

Didn't do much of anything with them last year either. So these are low maintenance survivors I have left. I hope to get back to working my bees and using these to build up with. They didnt get mite treated last year or feed up befor winter or during the Darth. Just a candy board with winter pollen patty and that was it.