Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
MEMBER BULLETIN BOARD => GREETINGS/TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF => Topic started by: Bee Artist 13 on June 11, 2010, 01:20:58 am
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I've been a beekeeper since the spring of 97 and it seems that every 2 or 3 years, I have a large die off in the winter... This spring, in addition to buying 16 packages...I decided to look up info on swarm lures and bait hives... When I heard about using Lemon Grass oil on Youtube, I went to the "Good Earth" store and bought some...I then began to build lures that could hold a starter frame...My later model of trap was bigger and ... to make a long story short, I've lured 10 swarms this year (so far) into lures and bait hives...I also caught one swarm in a tree with the help of the Sandy Fire Department...It seems that most of my successes are in urban areas...My theory is that there are many 2nd year beekeepers that don't understand swarm control a whole lot...I've been amazed at how seldom a lure is destroyed by kids...(1 out of 20 something thus far)...The one that was destroyed hadn't caught anything...Three of my new colonies swarmed into bait hives I scented out in my backyard...Life is GOOD... 8-) I think I now have around 26 hives in all now... I look forward to a promising season... This new swarm luring tactic is addictive...I'll have to post more on all this later...
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Bee Artist 13,
Welcome to the forum. You have had great success with the bait hives….yes, tell us all and spare no details!
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I lured 1 more swarm since I last posted... It landed in a lure that I put in the same spot where I lured a larger swarm...Overall, it seems that urban areas are the best...Since it can be hard to find a vacant lot in the middle of a city, I put a lot of my lures just up in the foothills not too far from the houses on the hill...I also had luck with 2 by the river...One was at the mouth of the canyon, the other was in the middle of town in a very populous area... My theory is that I'm either attracting swarms from newer beekeepers who are less experienced with swarm control, or from unmanaged hies in the walls of homes or apartments...I think there are more of those than we realize...With more people knowing about C.C.D., perhaps their more willing to let bees live in their walls undisturbed...I think our swarm season is mostly over now as bees are focused more on bringing in nectar from Yellow Sweet Clover, Alfalfa, and others in the Clover family...Although the last swarm I found just a few days ago so...well see... Next Spring I plan to put my lures out super early...like March and April...Ive also noticed that too much shade seems to be undesirable to scout bees...I think that may be because they smell the Lemon Grass oil better if it gets a little sunshine...The first lures I made were smaller, like the size of a 5 frame nuc ...The later model was around the same width but about twice as deep...Each of the successful ones had a frame of drawn comb in it, however, 1 of those I accidentally put in upside down...yet it still attracted a heavy swarm...They pretty much ignored the frame and built their own comb...One of the swarms I got was from a coworkers backyard... I had 2 coworkers volunteer to put lures in there backyards ... Again... urban areas are the most successful...
I counted 29 hives today...Thats where my numbers stand... Without the lures and bait hives...I would now have 18 hives...In an average year, I catch maybe 3 swarms that people call me about...This year, I only caught 1 swarm by way of a "swarm call"...the rest were lured...So if your bigger than a backyard beekeeper, and smaller than a commercial beekeeper... give this a try...It reminds me of the adrenaline rush that comes from fishing...That reminds me...when I removed a loaded lure from near the river, I was walking along the paved path towards my truck, wearing my bee suit, my son not far behind, and a cute Asian girl was walking towards me...I smiled and said, "I caught one!" Lol... I figured she knew what I meant, because of how I was dressed...She smiled as she went her way...That was one of those cool moments in time that I'll likely thing about for years to come...My life rocks!!! :-D