Happy Chooks
Loving the herd life
Don't get the lure on your hands, or you'll be popular!
2017 Bee hive swarm information, history, lessons, successes, etc.
- Thread starter soarwitheagles
- Start date
babsbag
Herd Master
Good to know.
- Thread starter
- #73
soarwitheagles
True BYH Addict
babs,
Swarm Commander is quite expensive from my point of view...not even sure I should have purchased it. But if you think of the cost of one captured swarm turned into a hive or, better yet, a swarm turned into two splits, then the cost of Swarm Commander does not appear to be so expensive.
I highly recommend you purchase some pure lemon grass oil via Ebay or Amazon. That is what we are using and we are very happy with it.
We have not had the time to remove one lure scent at a time to test to see which specific swarm lure is best...so for now, we will continue to use all four of the lure scents...
HC, I constantly place the lure on my fingers to rub into the various areas of the hive and have never had a problem...but, after reading your post, I now realize it may not be the best method of applying the lure.
I may switch to a Q-tip! Just gotta remember to not put the Q-tip in my ear!
babsbag
Herd Master
I have lemon grass oil as I use it in the dog shampoo soap I make. I have also used it in lotions.
If all of the lures are working keep on; no need to change what works.
If all of the lures are working keep on; no need to change what works.
Happy Chooks
Loving the herd life
I've never had a problem either, but after thinking about it as an attractant, I don't need to attract more attention from my bees!
- Thread starter
- #76
soarwitheagles
True BYH Addict
HC, I totally agree!
Don't wanna sound proud or arrogant, but I am beginning to wonder if bees are attracted to me!
No joking, drove 45 minutes to work today, and found this in the parking lot:
To be honest with you guys, I have been praying a lot that God would send me many, many swarms so I can pay off all the equipment costs of the bee supplies. I also asked God to help me make some money. I believe all these swarms we are catching are a direct answer to very specific prayer...
Presently, we have more bees than hive boxes. Nice problem to have. So I am scrambling to make up many, many more boxes and nucs so we can expand accordingly.
I have not been able to place any more swarm traps because I am out of boxes, frames, bottoms, and tops. Should have a boatload finished/ready by Wednesday.
For us, this is like a wonderful miracle.
A sheriff friend told me today that there is a piece of property about a mile away that has over 1,000 hives on it. He told me it is a commercial beekeeper that brings in semi-truck fulls of bee hives on pallets all the way from North Dakota...
I am beginning to think this also is one of the factors of why we are catching so many...
And I know these swarms are not ours...some of the bees are larger than anything I have ever seen before...
babsbag
Herd Master
Swarms in nature like that are just so amazing to see. I understand bringing in bees for the Almonds but you would think that they would be gone by now. I am pretty certain that North Dakota bees do much better with their honey making than ours do so I can't imagine why they would leave them here. But glory "bee" if that is the case and you are harvesting all their strays.
God is good.
God is good.
Happy Chooks
Loving the herd life
So glad it is working out for you soar!
I've seen truckloads of beehives going East on I-80, so they are trucking them out from the almonds. We don't have any large beekeepers in my area, but they do bring them in by my MIL's house for the mandarin bloom, which is right now.
I've seen truckloads of beehives going East on I-80, so they are trucking them out from the almonds. We don't have any large beekeepers in my area, but they do bring them in by my MIL's house for the mandarin bloom, which is right now.
- Thread starter
- #79
soarwitheagles
True BYH Addict
Babs,
Yes the almond bloom here was over some weeks ago, so I do not understand why anyone would keep that many hives here locally.
I think I know what is happening...
1. For some reason, a large bee outfit left a large number of bees nearby.
2. Euc bloom began a few weeks ago.
3. Hives build up super fast during bloom [wax, eggs, honey, pollen, etc.].
4. If people do not carefully inspect their hives, the hive can double in size within one week, and if another super with frames is not installed swiftly, the hive will issue a swarm to split the numbers of bees.
Yes, I too have seen the semi trucks of bees leaving the area often on Highway 5 and 99.
I am not aware of anything in our area that requires bees for pollination at this time...
Last but not least, maybe someone can learn from my mistakes...
I have been leaving swarms in the traps for a few days because had no time to work on em.
The traps only had 4-5 frames, left the rest of the box open. Climbed up in the tree this evening when it got dark...
Wow, trap was like 10 times heavier...lots of drawn comb, lots of honey, lots of pollen, and the queen had laid massive eggs...now I cannot use the old dark comb because it is full of honey, eggs, larvae, and pollen.
And let's not forget the wild burr comb....much harder to work with...
Best to remove a swarm trap immediately, as in the very same day!!!
Posting pics...
Enjoy!
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Happy Chooks
Loving the herd life
Wow, that was fast! What did you do with the burr comb? Cut it out?
