Swarm traps

[Buzzax]

A question on swarm traps...as usual i went overboard with my tinkering and building.  So now i have built my reuseable, scaledable, etc. Swarm traps.  I read quite q bit on the subject and combined any and all ideas that made sense to me.  So now i have reached my dilemma.  Ive read that scent is one of the main attractants so what finish can i put on them that will not continue to smell like chemicals so that the lemon grass, comb, or whatever else scent can make it through.  I would prefer a natural wood finish.

Thanx,
Buzzax

[danno]

My main goal in a finish is to hide the trap.  I place many traps within veiw of the road but with a green and brown finish they just become part of the tree.  The bee's will find your lemon grass dont worry.  

[beyondthesidewalks]

Paint them with a good exterior latex paint, color and pattern of your choosing, and get those traps depolyed.  LGO will overcome the scent of the paint which will deplete rapidly.  The only thing wrong with your traps is that they are not deployed and you may be missing swarms.  Swarm season is here!!!  Happy trapping.

[Robo]

Ditto. A slightly off gassing trap has a better chance of catching a swarm than one in you basement.   Besides,  the paint will cure quicker out in the sun and breeze anyway.

Depending on what you built them out of,  the wood will out gas longer than the paint (ie. plywood)

[stanisr]

I use a brown latex paint so that they are somewhat difficult to see, and hang them out.

[AllenF]

I like white, easy for me to see, easy to see if bees are using.   

[CapnChkn]

I'm sure it all has to do with where the trap's going to be set.  I you're putting them around the yard, I suppose it doesn't matter what color they are.  Unless you have mischief makers that would trash them, but then you would have them messing with the hives as well.

If you're putting them down by the fishin' hole, you would want them disguised.  Being one who has been on the receiving end of the little angels, I've learned to try and make things like this as invisible as possible, and living in the forests of the southeast, I've taken to painting them in Woodland Camo.

I was surprised to have people requesting information about it, so wrote a little instructable on it.
Guerilla Beekeeping

[beyondthesidewalks]

Whats the purpose of the vent?  In my experience the bees like them dark, just like their hive.  They will propolize every little crack and hole in the swarm trap if you leave them in it long enough.

I've been painting mine white to deal with the Texas heat.  I tried dark brown when I first started trapping and had a few melt down.  White is the way to go for me and I haven't had a problem with vandalism yet.  I do live very rural and tend to put my traps on private property away from the road.

Here's a link to pics of some of my traps:

http://s972.photobucket.com/albums/ae204/beyondthesidewalks/2012%20Swarm%20Traps/

I didn't take pics of all my traps when I deployed them.  I plan to add the rest as I have time.

[Robo]

Is that last one a gas tank trap out  :-D

[beyondthesidewalks]

I trapped bees out of the gas tank last year.  The owner was going to seal up the tank opening but didn't and I left the cone in place to prevent bees from moving in again.  I'm planning to take a small square of screen to put over tank opening and recycle my screen cone for another trap out.  So, yes, it was a trap out but this year I hope to trap bees at this location.

[CapnChkn]

Beyondthe, the entrances are cut small on these boxes, and with the cover on it gives another 3/4 x 1/4" (18 x 6mm) entrance.  I wanted to keep birds, mice, etc. out of them.  Like you say, the dark colors just absorb the sunlight.  I didn't want rain blowing or running in through the hole I cut for ventilation, and I was reminded of the vents we put on metal shipping containers to take care of humidity (Believe it or not, 20 x 8 x 8ft [6 x 2.3 x 2.3m] is vented with 12 - 3/8" [9mm] holes).

[beyondthesidewalks]

We get pretty humid in this part of Texas and condensation is a problem.  You'd be amazed how much water can collect in the bottom of a trap.  Vents don't seem to help much but a 3/16" weep hole or two in the bottom of the trap does.  The bees do propolize them and they fill with debris but the bees aren't in the trap that long for it to become a problem.  The trap is just a temporary home so I don't worry too much about making them ideal.  Just want them to work.

[CapnChkn]

Yep!

I wanted to dual purpose them.  I know they're fancy for what I'm using them for, but I wanted to have the nucs for splits and stuff when they weren't swarming.  Main problem with the paint job, like you said, it absorbs the sunshine.