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Author Topic: Trapout #2  (Read 5253 times)

Moots

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Trapout #2
« on: May 10, 2013, 01:19:54 pm »
Got a tip on a Bee tree, really wasn't that interested in messing with it, but the guy told me if I wasn't interested the homeowner was going to poison them.  So, I decided to take a look...

Turns out it was an excellent candidate for a trapout....It wasn't "too" far, about 8 miles from my house.  The tree appears relatively solid, so short of the hole the bees are using, I don't think they have another entry/exit points.  And lastly, their entry hole is about a foot off the ground.

Considering these pluses and the fact that I didn't want to see them get exterminated...I decided to go for it.  I had removed a small swarm earlier in the day yesterday, so I decided to use that as my Nuc on this project.  I'm not really sure how that'll work out, but we'll see.

Video of the bee tree before installing trapout! 

Trapout in Place!

Offline BeeMaster2

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Re: Trapout #2
« Reply #1 on: May 10, 2013, 01:30:00 pm »
Looks like a nice hive, Moots. Shame you will not be able to get any eggs or the queen from this hive, beeing a trap out.
Jim
Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.
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Moots

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Re: Trapout #2
« Reply #2 on: May 10, 2013, 01:45:15 pm »
Looks like a nice hive, Moots. Shame you will not be able to get any eggs or the queen from this hive, beeing a trap out.
Jim

Same exact thing I was thinking Jim...Very active, super gentle....wouldn't have minded being able to capture those genetics.

But hey, you can just do what you can do.  I'm hoping they supplement the small swarm I caught and give them a leg up and help them to make it.  As I said...we'll see.  But hoping for the best!  :-D

Offline cdray

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Re: Trapout #2
« Reply #3 on: May 10, 2013, 01:52:22 pm »
Looks very FUN! Please keep us posted on the progress! David.

Offline Bees In Miami

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Re: Trapout #2
« Reply #4 on: May 10, 2013, 02:29:50 pm »
Looking good, Moots!  Keep us posted!   :th_thumbsupup:

Offline PLAN-B

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Re: Trapout #2
« Reply #5 on: May 10, 2013, 04:13:51 pm »
You have to bee the busiest first year beekeeper ever... Lol good luck with both of your trap outs and keep us posted brother...  :-D
Marshall

Offline bailey

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Re: Trapout #2
« Reply #6 on: May 10, 2013, 07:10:51 pm »
Hummm. Did you read all of idee's trap out instructions well?  Looks like you missed the same thing I did.
The sealant should be 100% silicone if not they will chew out where you don't want them to. 
Be on the lookout for this.
( I know because my first ones ate a tube of caulk. )
Bailey
most often i find my greatest source of stress to be OPS  ( other peoples stupidity )

It is better to keep ones mouth shut and be thought of as a fool than to open ones mouth and in so doing remove all doubt.

Offline bailey

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Re: Trapout #2
« Reply #7 on: May 10, 2013, 07:12:46 pm »
And if you want the genetics hang a swarm trap in the area.   When the queen and remaining bees swarm out you have a shot at getting them.. ;)
most often i find my greatest source of stress to be OPS  ( other peoples stupidity )

It is better to keep ones mouth shut and be thought of as a fool than to open ones mouth and in so doing remove all doubt.

Moots

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Re: Trapout #2
« Reply #8 on: May 10, 2013, 07:34:11 pm »
And if you want the genetics hang a swarm trap in the area.   When the queen and remaining bees swarm out you have a shot at getting them.. ;)

Bailey,
Thanks for the swarm trap suggestion...that should have been a no brainer, but i hadn't thought about it.....great suggestion.

As for the sealant issue...I did know that and have read that they will chew through the Great Stuff...However, in both of my cases the gaps needing to be filled were pretty significant.  Almost to the point where it would have been cost prohibitive to use Silicone.  :)   So, I guess you could say it was a calculated risk on my part. :laugh:

I did go with a rather generous application, so if they're going to chew through it, I'm going to make them earn it.  :laugh:

My first ones been in place for 6 days and it hasn't been a problem to this point...So, I'll keep my fingers crossed and see how it works out.

Offline Sparky

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Re: Trapout #2
« Reply #9 on: May 10, 2013, 07:54:30 pm »
I may have missed the point so bare with me. Did you get the swarm that you believe to be from the trap out tree ? If so did you put them in the nuc at your trap out stand ? If you have a laying queen in the trap out hive and full size boxes if you think there are many bees in the tree, the hive will have all that is needed to become a booming hive. As for the great stuff being chewed through, try to get some cheap steel wool and stretch it out in the gap and then spray the foam and they will not breach it the next time you do a irregular surface with big gaps.

Moots

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Re: Trapout #2
« Reply #10 on: May 10, 2013, 09:23:51 pm »
I may have missed the point so bare with me. Did you get the swarm that you believe to be from the trap out tree ? If so did you put them in the nuc at your trap out stand ? If you have a laying queen in the trap out hive and full size boxes if you think there are many bees in the tree, the hive will have all that is needed to become a booming hive. As for the great stuff being chewed through, try to get some cheap steel wool and stretch it out in the gap and then spray the foam and they will not breach it the next time you do a irregular surface with big gaps.

Sparky,
No, the swarm is not from the trap out tree...it's an unrelated swarm that I collected from one of our local chemical plants earlier in the day. It was a fairly small swarm but I figured if I can get them to join forces I can kill two birds with one stone.  I wont have to bother with trying to get them to grow a queen while saving a small swarm which may have otherwise had a tough time without additional numbers.

Offline iddee

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Re: Trapout #2
« Reply #11 on: May 11, 2013, 01:02:06 am »
Something I don't understand. Why would you want the genetics of the queen in the tree if you think a small nuc with a swarm already in it will hold all her bees? If I thought she was even near a decent queen, I would think she would have enough bees to fill a full box.

PS. I have never set a trap with a nuc.
"Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me . . . Anything can happen, child. Anything can be"

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Moots

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Re: Trapout #2
« Reply #12 on: May 11, 2013, 01:41:38 am »
Something I don't understand. Why would you want the genetics of the queen in the tree if you think a small nuc with a swarm already in it will hold all her bees? If I thought she was even near a decent queen, I would think she would have enough bees to fill a full box.

PS. I have never set a trap with a nuc.

iddee,
I'm approaching 4 months as a Beek and you're at 37 years experience....I'm pretty confident I'm not going to be explaining anything to you concerning bees!  :laugh:

Anyway, I don't have a good explanation, but I'll give you the only one I have...

As I said, I wasn't even sure I wanted to mess with the bee tree, but given there next option was extermination, I figured anything I did was better than nothing...Even if that meant only saving some of them.

It was at the end of a long days work, followed by grass cutting and a few other household chores.  I grabbed what I had available and ran out there to try and get it setup before it got to late.  

While I suspect the queen has good genetics, being able to capture her was not my primary goal.  If I understood your trapout video correctly, genetics isn't a good reason to do a trapout because you only get the queen 1% to 3% of the time.

I figured at a bare minimum i'd pack the Nuc with bees and achieve two goals.  First, give the small swarm I had captured earlier that day some numbers which would give them a better chance of making it.  And second, save at least, how ever many bees it happened to take to finish filling that Nuc.

Assuming they fill the Nuc, I always thought I could just remove that box and add another box to the trapout...something else I thought I understood from your video....taking multiple boxes of bees off a single trapout.  Is this not an option?

Lastly, concerning your P.S...that you've never done a trapout with a Nuc.  I thought the trapout you did in the Bud3 video was setup with a Nuc....but maybe I'm mistaken.

Regardless, what should be obvious to you and everyone else is I'm doing this on the fly, and as best I can.  Partly for the fun of it, partly to gain some experience, and partly to try and save a few bees!  I'm pretty sure I'll accomplish one or two of those, quite possibly all three.  Honestly, I don't have any real expectations beyond that for this trapout.

« Last Edit: May 11, 2013, 07:09:21 am by Moots »

Offline iddee

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Re: Trapout #2
« Reply #13 on: May 11, 2013, 08:57:54 am »
Moots, I was being somewhat fecitious while still getting a point across. Bud 3 was staged. The trap was taken down the same day. I have used a nuc for the second, third, or fourth box, but never the first. I have noticed most traps posted this year are using nucs, and I just can't figure why.
"Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me . . . Anything can happen, child. Anything can be"

*Shel Silverstein*

Offline blanc

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Re: Trapout #2
« Reply #14 on: May 11, 2013, 10:19:12 am »
Great Stuff sucks for a trapout for sure Moots! As Bailey said the bees chew right trough it to get back in and tried it on a tree last year and those girls got back in the next day. The surface looks good to seal it with a siliconized caulking as mine was a nightmare in the fork of the tree and wind up doing a cutout beings the homeowner was taking the tree out. Happy trapout to ya!  :-D
Blanc
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The fear of the Lord is clean,enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold, yea ,than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

Moots

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Re: Trapout #2
« Reply #15 on: May 11, 2013, 10:21:54 am »
Moots, I was being somewhat fecitious while still getting a point across. Bud 3 was staged. The trap was taken down the same day. I have used a nuc for the second, third, or fourth box, but never the first. I have noticed most traps posted this year are using nucs, and I just can't figure why.

iddee,
Basically two reasons....
1) I just plain didn't know any better :lau:
2) It was just a whole lot more convenient on a number of levels.  I already had the small swarm in it.  It was easier to transport and mount, since it's a little smaller and doesn't have a detachable bottom board.

blanc,
Yeah, as I said, I was aware of the possibility of them chewing through the Great Stuff....File that decision also under number 2 above.  :laugh:  It was just a whole lot easer to use it, I realize I might get bit by that decision and my hast might make waste.   :-D  But so far, it seems to be working for me.  Granted, it's early on, but we'll see.  :)

Offline blanc

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Re: Trapout #2
« Reply #16 on: May 11, 2013, 10:55:37 am »
Moots, I was being somewhat fecitious while still getting a point across. Bud 3 was staged. The trap was taken down the same day. I have used a nuc for the second, third, or fourth box, but never the first. I have noticed most traps posted this year are using nucs, and I just can't figure why.

iddee,
Basically two reasons....
1) I just plain didn't know any better :lau:
2) It was just a whole lot more convenient on a number of levels.  I already had the small swarm in it.  It was easier to transport and mount, since it's a little smaller and doesn't have a detachable bottom board.
blanc,
Yeah, as I said, I was aware of the possibility of them chewing through the Great Stuff....File that decision also under number 2 above.  :laugh:  It was just a whole lot easer to use it, I realize I might get bit by that decision and my hast might make waste.   :-D  But so far, it seems to be working for me.  Granted, it's early on, but we'll see.  :)
Your one advantage over mine is the trapout tube into the hive body is deterring them from gathering around the hole and trying to enter back in thru the box. Might work for you and I did not have the option on the trapout I tried. By the way the tree that the guy was supposed to take out last year is still there with a bunch of holes in it and they may have walked away from the property as it looked abandoned. The tree was up against a trailer and not too healthy. Having said that get the homeowner to sign a release of responsibility agreement if you run into something like it. ;)
Blanc
Psalm 19:9-10
The fear of the Lord is clean,enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold, yea ,than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

Offline iddee

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Re: Trapout #2
« Reply #17 on: May 11, 2013, 11:29:29 am »
My 10 frame deeps don't have detachable bottom boards.   :-D   :-D

https://kelleybees.com/Products/Detail/?id=33323331333333373331 
"Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me . . . Anything can happen, child. Anything can be"

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Moots

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Re: Trapout #2
« Reply #18 on: May 11, 2013, 11:55:19 am »
My 10 frame deeps don't have detachable bottom boards.   :-D   :-D


Had I known that iddee, I might have made a quick run over to North Carolina and borrowed one!   ;)
Although, that probably would have violated my second point from above...that of convenience.  :laugh:


Offline iddee

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Re: Trapout #2
« Reply #19 on: May 11, 2013, 12:43:23 pm »
Doesn't sound like you clicked the link.
"Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me . . . Anything can happen, child. Anything can be"

*Shel Silverstein*