Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: danno on June 09, 2009, 02:50:04 pm
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So far this makes 7 in traps and one shaken from a bush
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Danno,
Are these swarms from your own hives or feral swarms!? That's amazing that you've caught 7 of them, I just want to even find 1 :-D
Jeremy
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So far this makes 7 in traps and one shaken from a bush
Very kewl!
You got me a thinkin. :-D
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Danno,
Are these swarms from your own hives or feral swarms!? That's amazing that you've caught 7 of them, I just want to even find 1 :-D
Jeremy
They are not from my colonies. The one in the beech tree is about 10 miles away and the one in the apple is about 5miles
Catching them is always easier than finding them. 3 old balck frames with lemon grass and they will find them
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Where do you get lemon grass? Is it some type of extract? I think you are onto something,
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Where do you get lemon grass? Is it some type of extract? I think you are onto something,
I'm not on to something. This is nothing new. I get the essential oil at the health food store. About $5.00 oz
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Got another today!! That makes 9 total. I'm going to run out of equipment if I keep this up
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Danno, do you have better luck if you place the hive box in a tree, or have you has sucess with the boxes on the ground too. How much lemon grass do you use at each location. Do you just poor it on the hive entrance or on the frames? Thanks
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Danno, do you have better luck if you place the hive box in a tree, or have you has sucess with the boxes on the ground too. How much lemon grass do you use at each location. Do you just poor it on the hive entrance or on the frames? Thanks
The traps are all very light weight. The boxes are made with luan tops, sides and bottoms with 3/4 ends. The sona tubes are coated cardboard with wood ends. All have 3 old drawn deep frames. I place them all in trees. I put them in a shady spot but I like the edges where I can just drive up and watch. If you read books like ABC XYZ they say to put them 10 - 15ft off the ground. I dont like ladders so all of mine are within reach 4-8 ft and it doesn't seem to make a difference. I put a few drops of the lemon grass on something absorbent like a pc of cloth or cotton ball and push it inside. I also dribble it down the front
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Danno, have you ever had any undesirable bees move in, like hornets or wasps?
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Danno, have you ever had any undesirable bees move in, like hornets or wasps?
No I haven't. These undesirables all start out small with a queen and a few cells. I'm sure they would not be a match for a 4 or 5 lb swarm all rolling in at once
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Well I got another today making my total 10. I have to get a pic to post of this one this weekend. I couldn't find a good tree in this location so I just set the trap on a stump about 1.5 ft off the ground
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Danno, how do you get the sono tube apart to get the bees out? just pull a couple of nails and remove the ends?
G3
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Danno, how do you get the sono tube apart to get the bees out? just pull a couple of nails and remove the ends?
G3
I make one end removable with several screws
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I ordered some lemon grass today. Anything else I need to try this?
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A few old black combs cant hurt. The older the better. I bought 5 boxes of them from a old beek. I know he thought he was pulling a fast one getting rid of his junk but they were just what I was looking for. I'm sure 2 of my swarms came from his bee's
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now thats just not right setting up your bait hives next to his bee yard ;)
I want to do the same thing with a fella that brings in hives from across town. He sets his hives up on one farm and I want to set my bait hives up on the next farm over, about 50 yards away on the other side of the woods. :-D :-D :-D
I know I have given some swarms away like that.
G3
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Danno, are you putting any air vent in tje hive box?
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Danno, are you putting any air vent in the hive box?
No air vents. Its early enough that overheating isn't a issue and I believe darkness is more desirable to the swarms
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Hey Danno, I got a few more questions, and you are the swarm guy. I was wondering what you do with the swarm after you catch it. Do you leave it in the box you caught it in, or do you transfer it to another box. Then do you leave it in the location that you caught it for a while, or do you move it to your bee yard?
Thanks Danno
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Danno, where did you go? I promise not to ask you anymore questions. Ok, maybe just a couple more.
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I leave them in the trap for about a week to give the queen some time to start laying. I try to take the traps down at sun rise and transfer the frames into a 5 frame nuc. I have had a few that needed 10 frames right now so I always have one handy. I then move them to a new perminent location.
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Congratulations on catching your swarms
Johnny
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Danno,
How late have you caught a swarm?
I just finally got a swarm trap set out, but wonder if I am too late.
Thanks!
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I still have 3 out and will catch a few more I'm sure but remember the old saying
A swarm in may is worth a load of hey
A swarm in June is worth a silver spoon
A swarm in July aint worth a fly
The later you catch them the more help they will need with feed
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Thanks Danno.
I may not catch one this year, but I am gaining experience and will be ready for next year.
Of the 4 hives I have, the swarm I caught on 5/27 is doing better than an overwintered hive, and two nucs. Maybe one swarm is not the best to base this on, but it is building faster than any package or nuc I have bought. No chalkbrood, great brood pattern and the first to forage in the day and the last to quit at night. And the price was right.
Now if I can keep from messing up a good thing. :-D
Jay
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Thanks Danno.
I may not catch one this year, but I am gaining experience and will be ready for next year.
Of the 4 hives I have, the swarm I caught on 5/27 is doing better than an overwintered hive, and two nucs. Maybe one swarm is not the best to base this on, but it is building faster than any package or nuc I have bought. No chalkbrood, great brood pattern and the first to forage in the day and the last to quit at night. And the price was right.
Now if I can keep from messing up a good thing. :-D
Jay
I have 30 colonies and by far the best is a swarm I caught last year the first week of July so a year ago next week. I have split them twice, removed a couple of deep frames of honey which I replaced with foundation and they still worry me that they will swarm. They have a slatted rack, 2 deeps and so far 3 med supers plugged.
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I went into my hives yesterday, thought it was time to put the 3rd medium on the packages I started 1st part of May and super the others. Ending up supering 5 of 5 hives and splitting my Russians as they were wall to wal brood and started building burr comb and queen cells. The Russian hive had 16 out of 16 frames with brood with the equivalent of 2 frames of drone cells so they were bursting at the seams, the reason for the burr comb and queen cells.
Luckily only one frame had queen cells (4) just above the bottom bar of the frame. I pulled alone with 2 more frames of brood from this hive and a frame each from 2 other hives to make a nuc out of the bait hive (double stacked nuc). I then took a frame of honey out of another hive because most of my hives had brood in every frame. Out of 5 hives and 80 frames there were only 2 frames dedicated to honey and 4 undrawn frames. The brood expansion, when hatched, alone would require supering or they would be over crowded from population.
So, I now Have 6 hives, the new split has the 5 frames of brood and the 4 queen cells in the top nuc box and the honey frame and 4 foundationless frames are in the bottom box. It is the 2nd time I took most of a split from this one hive, the frame of honey came from my early spring split. At the rate they are going I should have 3-5 hives with 4 medium boxes and the new split at 3 medium boxes before winter. The new split I will be taking to my brother in eastern Washington closer to Labor Day.