Thought I'd pass on a little swarm catching trick of mine for new folks.
As long as safeties not an issue, I always try to talk folks out of getting rid of their bee trees, by educating them on the benefits of keeping them, and then I get them to watch them for me for swarms.
I've got a little one page flyer that explains swarms, when they occur, a couple photos to show what they look like, and most importantly who to call when they see one. I sweeten the deal when I hear about a new colony by giving folks a small jar of honey with the flyer and then promise a larger jar if they call me when they see them swarm.
Over half of the 30 or so swarms we have caught this last month have come from known beetrees or colonies in structures mined this way and quite a number are repeaters from last year. It's quickly become my favorite source for swarms.
If you new folks are not taking advantage of mining beetrees your missing a great opportunity for swarms.
Folks love to take part, I think it's a saving the world type thing.
Don
Some of our new swarm and removal photos:
http://s269.photobucket.com/albums/jj72/DSemple/Bees%202011/Bees%202012/
Topic: I love mining bee trees (Read 3474 times)