I wonder if anybody has ever tried to trap out a feral colony in the winter using heat, light, and feed. As Michael Bush pointed out in the “Heater Tape” post, bees are always attracted to lights. Could we use their attraction to heat and light to our advantage in a winter trap out? I would modify the trap out process as described below.
I’m imagining mounting a foam hive (to maintain heat) flush to a feral hole in a tree. If the bees step out of their tree hole, they go directly into the foam hive. I then imagine sticking a light in the foam hive to generate light and heat to attract the bees. Finally I imagine adding some sort of feed to entice them to stay in the foam hive. The beauty of this idea is you should catch the queen if it works. In a normal trap out, my understanding is, you rarely ever catch the queen.
If their tree home is cold and the foam hive is warm, smart bees would want to move toward the heat wouldn’t they :-D
Anybody want to take a guess rather this might work?