Nucs for swarm traps?

[Kansasbert]

This is the first season I have decided to put out some swarm traps.  I have found a couple buildings and a couple trees with strong colonies in them.  I put together a few 5 frame medium nucs with two frames of foundation and three empty frames with beeswax painted along the top groove.  I placed a vial of pheremone and a vial of lemon grass oil both in each box and hung them about 20' from each colony in trees 10' high or so.  I was just wondering if anyone else had tried this technique?  Im hoping the 5 frame mediums will be big enough?  I use all 8 frame medium gear so I was hoping using a medium swarm trap would work and I could move frames around with ease to and from my existing hives.  Any thoughts, ideas, and especially past experiences would be appreciated thanks!

[riverrat]

i personally would move them farther away from the hives you are trying to capture swarms from they will usually settle farther away from the parent hive than where you have them placed

[Kansasbert]

No one else tried this?  Just wonder if Im wasting my time.  What type gear do you use for swarm traps.  Is setting out traps a realistic way of catching swarms?  Thanks in advance

[Highlandsfreedom]

Yes it will work however I just got a swarm yesterday that OVER filled a deep nuc!!  When I got them to their new home they filled 7.5 full frames in the hive so a med. might be a tad bit too small unless you can stack 2 of them together.  But I reckon that a smaller swarm would work in a med. nuc. Best of luck to you and I would only use the lure OR the lemongrass but both might be an overkill.

[JP]

Yes it will work however I just got a swarm yesterday that OVER filled a deep nuc!!  When I got them to their new home they filled 7.5 full frames in the hive so a med. might be a tad bit too small unless you can stack 2 of them together.  But I reckon that a smaller swarm would work in a med. nuc. Best of luck to you and I would only use the lure OR the lemongrass but both might be an overkill.

I agree with what has been said here. Medium nucs will only house a swarm so big and I would place a trap 50' away and some twice that distance.

I use lemongrass oil and an old piece of comb. It works.


...JP

[RZRBCK BEE]

I caught a swarm 8 ft up in a cedar tree less than 30 ft from my hives. I used a couple of frames of old comb and lemongrass oil. Worked great.

[Kansasbert]

Thanks guys for the replies.  Perhaps I would be better off using deep boxes for swarm traps.  I can keep the nucs at home for doing splits and trying to increase.  I actually went and helped my neighbor catch a swarm last evening at his place, it was a pretty good sized bunch of bees, volleyball sized or so, they were hanging off a pipe about 15' from his hive, only about two feet of the ground.  It went pretty smooth, Ill have to stop by this afternoon and see if they decided to stay.  These bees filled the better part of a 10 frame deep!

[JWChesnut]

I use a deep nuc.  I use old drawn comb on all 5 frames.  I use lemongrass mixed with crisco/sugar wrapped in a paper towel hung between frame.  Key feature: I have old solid bottom boards (have converted to screen), the old bottom boards are saturated with wax and propolis. I have them partitioned to nuc size with a small strip down the middle, but the rest of the bottom board heats in the sun and smells of warm wax. 

I position the nuc about 60 feet in front of the beeyard.  All my entrances face due south.

If swarms are about the nucs catch 100%

[harvey]

How much lemon grass oil do yall use?   I put four or five drops on the outside of the swarm trap near the entrance.  I then had a swarm lure that I attached to the one drawn frame inside the swarm trap.  I am using deeps for the swarm traps.

[Kansasbert]

Thanks JW for the info.  I thought about using drawn comb for its added lure porential but am worried about moths eating me alive.  Maybe it would be worth rubbing the inside of the trap with beeswax before hanging?  Since you mention screened and solid bottom boards, what do you guys think is best for a trap?  I have screened bottoms in all the nucs Ive built, but was concerned that the open bottom may deter swarms so I stapled a piece of cardboard in the bottoms of the nucs being used for traps, it wont be any big deal to pull the cardboard out later, is this necessary?  Thanks guys for all your help, I have yet to catch any bees in my traps, but I am optomistic.

side note:  I happened upon two more ferral colonies yesterday and they both looked really strong!  One is in a catalpa tree right long side the road, Ive driven by it a hundred times or more and never noticed.  The other is in the wall of an abondoned house.  I had looked this house over before and never had seen bees, but yesterday I looked up and noticed the bees coming in through a whole in the roof, sure enough they were flying right into what used to be the living room across the kitchen and into a whole in the wall right above the kitchen sink!  Two more swarm traps need placed!

[jajtiii]

You could stack two nuk's for your traps (or build something similar), so that you do not have to worry about different woodenware.

[JWChesnut]

I have trouble with wax months in super boxes left in storage overwinter. Bagging them helps.

 In the couple of days a swarm trap sits open, there is no problem with wax moths, or the vigorous new hive takes care of the problem.