Amazing Swarm Traps!!!

[@NATURALBEEKEEPERSCOLLECTIVE]

Totally agree with making your own swarm traps. Me and my uncle make some huge traps and they attract big swarms. Its like the bees know how many to send to a specific size. In 2018 we used and entire langstroth hive and fot our biggest swarm ever and still have not beaten it yet witrh all our smaller traps that we use regular. The bid is on our other channel That was mainly for Bumble Bees. You dont need to shake the swarm trap to get the bees off the side. Once the queen is into your hive and all the frames are in. Just leave it near the entrance on its side, They will march in on their own, Or you can carefully place it on its side on top of the frames and give a little smoke and they should go down. You might not even need to smoke when they start fanning on the frames.

[@beesintheweeds]

That’s a great tip! I just need to be more patient! Haha!

[@heatherfeather_73]

Great explanation!!! now i get why they swarm :-) thank you!!

[@LeonardHarrisLH]

Question, does the hive need to hang up on a tree or at height? What abut a nuc sitting on the ground? And I noticed your nuc is taller with that bottom space beneath the frames, what do you think of a standard nuc size?

[@beesintheweeds]

There are many designs for a swarm trap, this is just one. Yes, you could certainly use a nuc box or even a full size Langstroth and bait it. The height is not mandated but it does seem to help in my experience and opinion. Bees do prefer higher elevations than on the ground to naturally avoid certainly predators.

[@rugerdogg5316]

Appreciate the way you present your videos. Does it confuse the bees when you take the supers away as to there specific hive

[@beesintheweeds]

Thanks for the kind words. My goal is to always be helpful (and maybe a little entertaining) for you the viewers. 🙂 It does confuse them at first but then they search around the hive and find the main, lower entrance and will adjust accordingly.

[@sonofthunder.]

rendered slum gum,beewax etc is a great osb coating,...i like to paint my traps camo,and spray commander on q tip,or cotton ball in a zip lock baggie,and only like half squirt w latex gloves ,nice job on the telescoping lid,the one i bought had a migratory osb lid ...it fell apart,so i make them all telescoping now, a landing perch and or visor is a good addition ,but not absolutely needed, i try not to hang very high,unless im concerned about kids, etc

[@beesintheweeds]

All great tips. Thanks!!!

[@ericshipplett3517]

Where did you get your starter frames. Or if you cut them how did you do this.

[@beesintheweeds]

Hi Eric. Great question. I use Acorn plastic foundation so I just cut them into fourths on the table saw and then melt some bees wax on them. I then use my nailer to secure them to the frames. This particular video did not have the Acorn foundation in it but the concept is the same. These were some older frames I modified that had the wire embedded in them. I just cut that out and removed 3/4 of the original wax foundation. Hope this helps! I’ll try to make a future video on how to make starter strips.

[@gregcundiff]

I like the looks of that swarm trap. Do you have dimensions for it?

[@beesintheweeds]

Hi Greg. The dimensions are 19.5”L x 17”H x 9”D. Best of luck making some. They work great!

[@gregcundiff]

@@beesintheweeds Awesome, thanks! Keep up the great work.

[@jamesward7365]

Use melted bees wax to coat the inside of the box

[@beesintheweeds]

Yes. Good tip! I’ll give it a try.

[@jljjoubert3611]

Goodday sir. What will the reason be that you end up with a few queens(virgin) in the hive? These queens not fighting but eventually split up and each one goes their mary way. Cobus🐋

[@beesintheweeds]

A mated queen or a virgin queen could end up in the swarm trap. It depends whether it’s a primary swarm or a cast swarm.