Almost Free Bees! The Secret to Catching Swarms with Bait Hives
Each spring, healthy colonies can become overcrowded, resulting in a swarm. In preparation for this event, a new queen is raised to replace the soon-to-be-leaving mother queen. Once the new queen cell is capped, the old queen is escorted away along with about half the colony, leaving most of the resources, the new daughter queen, and remaining bees in the hive. As these swarms develop, they will temporarily land on a limb, branch, fence post, or other object, forming what appears to be a “beard” usually 15 to 75 feet away from their original home. The scout bees in the group will then leave from this temporary landing site, going in all directions in search of a new permanent home for them to begin a new colony. This may take hours or even a few days, during which the bees often take up residence in inappropriate locations such as the eave of a house, soffits, raised porches, and the wall of a shed.
I have two approaches to capturing swarms: keep a swarm trap near my bees at all times, and in the spring have as many swarm traps out as I can bait!
Types of bait hives
· A standard Langstroth hive box with a solid bottom board
· Swarm trap papier mâché pots
A standard hive box can work well to capture swarms. Its greatest downfall is that it’s large, and when it’s full with an established swarm, it’s super heavy. The upside? Your newly acquired hive housed itself, and all you need to do is get it out of or off of the tree or post you mounted it to. Tip: Mount hive box bait traps on a wooden shelf, then attach that shelf to the tree. (See picture) Also, mount it low (about 6 feet high) so that you can slide a ladder up under it to release it from the tree to get it down. Lessons learned …
I really like using nuc boxes for bait traps because they fit well into the fork of a tree. They hold deep frames, are lightweight, and are easy to transfer into a hive. Tips: Open both front and back entrances to the box. This doubles your chances of capturing a hive, in my opinion. Once a swarm has been captured, identify which entrance they are using and close the other one. Doing this will ensure that they can defend the entrance as they start to store resources while waiting to be transferred into a full-sized box on the ground. Wooden nuc boxes work fine too, and I’ve caught countless bees in them—they are just a bit heavier.
The easiest and lightest bait hive is the papier mâché pot. This design has the option of hanging either horizontally or vertically and has a very good success rate. I prefer mounting them vertically because ridges are made into the top of the trap for bees to build comb off of. Logic tells me that bees prefer to build comb down and not sideways. As you can tell by this photo, I let this one go a bit too long before transferring it into a full-size hive box. Tip: Drizzle melted wax onto the ridges on the lid of the paper bait trap. This fresh wax is not only an attractant, but it also provides wax for the bees to start building comb!
- Preferred placement locations
When searching, scout bees prefer locations with the following attributes:
· Water
· Roadways
· Power line rows or fence rows (open fly path)
· Morning and evening sun exposure
· Shaded in the middle of the day
· Large trees because of less movement when the wind blows
Setting up a bait hive
· Put your traps up in early March and take them down in July.
· Ideally, place your bait hive 6 to 12 feet off the ground. Bees prefer that height, and it’s easier to reach and retrieve it when a hive is caught.
· Face the entrance either east or south.
· Use a chain or ratchet straps to secure the bait hive to the tree (I prefer ratchet straps).
· Make sure it is level—this is very important!
· If you’re using a nuc box or Langstroth hive box, having old brood comb is a big advantage. If you don’t have any, I bet someone will give you an old one that’s in rough shape. The smell of an old frame is one of your biggest attractants to scout bees.
· Use a swarm lure—this will make all the difference in your success. You can use lemongrass oil, but in my experience a quality swarm lure like Swarm Commander is much more likely to draw in a rogue swarm looking for a home. Use it according to the directions! More is not better! Too much will drive them away instead of drawing them in.
· I get the best results when I drizzle beeswax and smear propolis on the inside of a bait hive, on the top bars of a nuc box or hive box, or on the ridges made into the paper bait hive pot. It's a combination they can’t resist! A beeswax stick works great for this!
· Rebait the hive with the lure about once a week or per instructions.
· Check the bait hive for inhabitants every 10 to 14 days.
· Once a hive has moved in, rehome them as soon as they start bringing in pollen but not before.
· But waiting too long could cause them to swarm again due to lack of space.
Tips
Swarms tend to happen on warm, sunny days between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. The goal is to have the bait box in place two to three weeks before the scouts start looking for new homes. Don’t let a hot spot get cold! Immediately reuse successful sites.
Old beekeepers’ adage
A swarm of bees in May is worth a bale of hay (prior to nectar flow).
A swarm of bees in June is worth a silver spoon (during nectar flow).
A swarm of bees in July is not worth a fly (after nectar flow).
In other words, swarms caught early in the season are usually the best! Get your traps up!
By: James Elam
Swarm photo by: Nanette Davis