Swarm Traps

I recently purchased and read "Swarm Traps and Bait Hives" my McCartney Taylor.

A fairly good read. Very informative and entertaining.

I knocked together a few bait hives over the weekend. Two of them hold 7 deep frames each. The third holds 7 top bars. I plan to build a few more as I have quite a list of places I want to put them.

• Near the CEU campus (2 swarms that I know of near there in the last year).
• Near the Castle Dale Bee tree (if I can get permission.)
• Mom's back yard.
• Lone tree south of Ridge Road (caught a swarm there a few years ago).
• 2 near my bee tree above Springville.  I've had one there for 2 swarm seasons with no success but I plan to enlarge the entrance and reposition it.

Early Spring inspections

The weather was beautiful to day so I decided to check my hives.

The Oscar hive in the back yard is dead. They have starved. I should have paid closer attention. They were a struggling colony for a couple of seasons now. Time to replace them with a stronger colony. I'll likely place this hive at the bottom of uncle Brent's back pasture with a new package of bees in it in April.

The TBH in the back yard is amazingly strong. Still a lot of honey on both ends. Pollen coming in the entrance also. The comb is quite a mess in this hive. Once the nectar is flowing, I'll harvest all the remaining honey and remove all the cross comb.

The TBH at Rosier's is my favorite. Nice straight comb, gentle bees. They still have quite a  it of honey as well. Saw three different colors of pollen coming in today (brown, light gray/white and bright yellow.) Not sure what's blooming this time of year, but they've found it.

The TBH at the Peczuh farm is alive and well also with plenty of stores and pollen coming in also.

I took 4 stings today (all my fault.) I wore my vail, but no gloves. 1 sting to each palm. I've never been stung on the palm before. No noticeable swelling. One sting on the back of the left hand and another on the neck after I had taken off my vail and was observing the entrance of the Peczuh hive.

I knocked together some swarm traps/bait hives today. Two that accept 7 deep frames and 1 that accepts 7 top bars. I will place them soon. One in mom's back yard. One in Castle Dale next to the huge bee tree (if I can get permission.) and one out on ridge road in the lone tree where I caught my first swarm.
I'll make another to place up Hobble Creek near that bee tree. The swarm trap that is there has been unsuccessful for 2 seasons now. I think I need to place it (and another) closer to the creek.

Catching a swarm

May 12, 2011.

After their "practice swarm" the day before, I was nervous that they'd really swarm and I'd miss it. I was about to return to work from my lunch break and I was explaining to my wife what to look for so she could call me if they swarmed. As I was explaining this, they swarmed. Poured out of the hive as we were watching. I grabbed the camera and caught it on video (see below). They flew around the yard for a while and then headed north west over the fence and down the hill. I was in hot pursuit. They decided to settle on a small chinese elm tree about 100 yards from their hive. I grabbed my bait hive (with a couple bars of empty comb), vail, camera and tripod and went after them. I managed to catch the swarm and they are now settled in a TBH out at the Peczuh farm. They whole process, aside from moving them to the farm, took about an hour. I managed to capture most of it on video.

I love swarms!

I did not take even one sting while catching the swarm, however I made up for that when transferring them into their permanent home. I transferred all the bars (full of bees) to the top bar hive and then shook the rest of the bees out into the hive. Some of them fell on the ground and as I proceeded to put the hive back together, these bees crawled up my legs trying to get back to the hive. Most were on the outside of my levis and I was able to brush them off. Several were inside my levis and I took 3 stings. The first sting was a result of me intentionally squishing a bee against my inner thigh to prevent her from crawling further up my pant leg. The other 2 were a result of me trying, unsuccessfully, to shake the rest out of my pant leg. Live and learn, right?

Bait Hive Check

Well the girls haven't found my bait hive yet. It's only been a weak. I guess I can't expect much. Perhaps they have found it and are just waiting for the weather to cooperate.
It's a good hike anyway and the  company was great!

I can't get my head around to peek into the tree but I can reach around with the camera and take pics. You can see comb in this first pic (towards the top). I'm so curious about the size of the tree cavity. The tree doesn't even look that big.

Bait Hive and Bee Tree

I placed a bate hive the other day in the vicinity of a bee tree. The tree is miles away from anything civilized. You wouldn't think it could even house a colony of bees by looking at it but they are there and have been for quite some time. The tree is perched on the edge of a rock outcropping several hundred feet from the bottom of the canyon. I could hear the buzz of the bees from the bottom of the canyon before I started my climb.

There was a lot of activity in front of the hive. There were many drones around the entrance and also on the ground below the tree. Many bees bringing in pollen.

Look at all those bees!

Drone

View from directly above (don't look down)

When I was approaching the tree, the breeze was in my face and I could smell the sweet smell of the colony from about 12 feet away. Most of the bees (all except for one, in fact) couldn't care less that I was there. The one was not menacing, only curious I think. buzzing around checking me out and then returning to the tree.

I placed the bait have a hundred or more feet away in another tree. It's concealed pretty well and I hope no one will bother it. It's also scented with a couple drops of lemon grass oil. It's got 10 bars in it with waxed comb guides.

You can't even see it can you?

My plan is to check it in a couple weeks to see what I've caught. And if nothing, then to add a couple more drops of lemon grass oil.

I someday want to spend time looking for other colonies in this canyon. I find it hard to believe that this is the only one. Especially since I know it's been there for years.