Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => HONEYBEE REMOVAL => Topic started by: jaseemtp on March 06, 2013, 12:22:06 pm
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Ok y'all
I have two trap outs to get started this week. I was wondering if it was to cold to start them or not. I am in Texas near Fort Worth and our high temps are going to be in the 60s with lows in the 40s.
So to make sure I have this understood as best as possible I wanted to run this by the pros.
I will block off all entrances/exits except for one. The one that is left will have a cone placed over it allowing the bees to exit but not enter. The exit needs to be large enough for a drone to get out? The hive that I am setting up for the bees to go to needs to be as close as possible to the original entrance from the tree, if I can get it touching the tree and with in a few inches the better.
So the cone is up, the hive is as close as possible. I add some drawn comb to the hive and on the second day I add a frame of eggs, so they can rear a queen for me from my genetics?
Where does the queen from the tree go?
I will do my best to take pictures and video on these projects and share them with y'all. Thanks for any feed back.
Jason
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I would think it is too early for a trap out. the reason is that you need enough bees in the new hive each night in order to create enough heat to keep the cluster warm.
the Q normally comes out of the hive and flies away. That is why you give them eggs. Again, you need enough bees to keep them warm and moist.
Jim
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You've got a pretty good grasp of how it's done but make sure to read iddee's thread on trap outs. It'll answer any questions you might have. http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,20301.0.html (http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,20301.0.html) Being in SHB territory I would wait until the trap hive has plenty of bees in it to defend the comb before adding the frame with eggs. I've had those lil buggers ruin more than one trap out! I try to make my cones with an exit hole big enough for a worker to carry out a dead drone... about 3/4" or so.
Scott
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Ok y'all
I have two trap outs to get started this week. I was wondering if it was to cold to start them or not. I am in Texas near Fort Worth and our high temps are going to be in the 60s with lows in the 40s.
So to make sure I have this understood as best as possible I wanted to run this by the pros.
I will block off all entrances/exits except for one. The one that is left will have a cone placed over it allowing the bees to exit but not enter. The exit needs to be large enough for a drone to get out? The hive that I am setting up for the bees to go to needs to be as close as possible to the original entrance from the tree, if I can get it touching the tree and with in a few inches the better.
So the cone is up, the hive is as close as possible. I add some drawn comb to the hive and on the second day I add a frame of eggs, so they can rear a queen for me from my genetics?
Where does the queen from the tree go?
I will do my best to take pictures and video on these projects and share them with y'all. Thanks for any feed back.
Jason
Jason,
I've never done one...but I met a couple of good guys at the Annual Louisiana Beekeepers Assoc. Convention in November that gave an extensive talk/demo on the method your talking about. From what I remember, they said it's important to have contact between your Nuc or box and the wire cone...I remember one of them making the comment, "bees don't jump"...which struck me as funny.
Good luck! :)
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I've got three areas that I'm placing trapouts, one on my land, than girlfriend, and the last one on a former Africianizs bee hive that a bee guy took out last year. The owner stated she's seeing bees in the same spot. So I'm hoping to have some luck here.
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Could I set everything up and then use smoke on one of the other entrances?
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Could I set everything up and then use smoke on one of the other entrances?
It won't do much good if there is brood in the hive.
Jim
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Ok,
I was able to put off the trap out until now. I will try to attach a link to youtube where I have uploaded a few videos. It is still a work in progress and I will update as best I can.
honey bee trap out part 1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgkC2NE1Eyc#ws)
honey bee trap out part 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SO6tiBnHj94#ws)
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Honey bee trap out part 3 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-7dcjWRV_c#ws)
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jaseemtp,
Disclaimer....I'm a newbie and have never even attempted a trap out.
However, I did see a pretty good demo this past October at the Louisiana Beekeepers Association's annual conference in Boiser City on the subject. One suggestion, the presenter had his wire funnel mounted to a giant piece of foam....Something along the lines of a seat cushion from an old couch. This can be pressed in or around the hole and tree and strapped on, avoiding the spray foam problems.
Also, his funnel was made of wire screen with a much smaller hole and he intentionally had frayed some wires and had them poking up at the entrance to the funnel to discourage re-entry. Lastly, he stressed that your landing board on your box had to be touching the funnel.
Take all that for whatever it may be worth....
Good Luck! :)
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvEGEct1BRg (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvEGEct1BRg)
This is the most recent video, for some reason I believe the brood / eggs were all chilled from the first round I attempted. the comb that had them in was empty. I guess they joined the old hive through the hold that was chewed in the expansion foam?
We will see how this progresses in a few more days.
Jason
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James, here is some free advice so feel free to take it or leave it. Concerning your question about being too early, it is not too early now. Remember, in order for your new queen to be successful, and maybe even whether they make one at all, there needs to be drones for her to mate with. That time is now for me (about 5 hours South of you). I never use that spray foam on a trap out. Silicone caulk is about the same price and they do not chew through it. Much less headache involved. If there is any possible way for them to get back in original hive, they will do it. If they do, you trap is not going to work. I would say that your exit of the cone is too big, but from the vids, it does not look like they are going back in. If you have to fine of a mesh, or too many layers of mesh, they can view it as a solid structure and walk out to find the end of it. I like my cone to me one single layer of #8 so they can see through it very easily but cannot get through. I would try to either turn your trap with the entrance hole pointed at the base of the cone or drill another entrance. Once you place a frame of brood in there, you want them to catch a whiff of it very easily. Kind of like walking around at the county fair and getting a snort of some good BBQ from a nearby booth. You just gravitate towards it. What I like to look for is a quite a bit of confusion on day one or two, but then you want to see some order to them orienting to the trap. I second what Hardwood says. I learned most of my trapout stuff from iddee. The rest I learned from vmmartin doing it wrong. Hope this helps. Looks like a pretty good size hive in there too.
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I see the problem........the bees can't see that camo colored box. :-D
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I appreciate the feed back and I do learn a lot from doing it wrong. :)
Yes the box is camo but that's to avoid detection from prying eyes
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I have 3 trap-outs to setup.
I'll probably do them 1 day next week.
I have 2 trees to trap-out and one mobile home.
The weather is suppose to be in the 70's and lows in the upper 40's and 50's.
I'll take pictures.
I did one trap-out on a huge hackberry tree last year.
I had a hive of bees and this year no bees were being seen at the tree.