How It Looks When The Bees Move Into Your Swarm Trap!
Why It Is So Easy To Catch Wild Honey Bees
Every year in early Spring honey bees like to procreate. This happens when the sun gets in a certain position in the sky, flowers begin to bloom, and temperatures reach a bit warmer levels consistantly. For us in the deep south this begins to happen around the first week in March. Closer to the gulf coast it can start happening earlier. Down into Florida it can be a year round thing (I'm JEALOUS). And as you travel northward it these conditions happen later and later. For me the season for catching wild swarms has been as early as late Febuary to as late as July. So I try to make sure my traps are all set up by the end of Febuary. You will need to kind of feel it out for your area. It took a few years for me to nail down the season for my area.
So the bees are going to make a brand new baby queen in the Spring. This is about a 2 week process. Before she hatches the older queen will leave the hive and take half the colony with her. This queen and her followers will need a new place to live. When they leave they will go to a nearby tree limb, fencepost, car door, or any number of random places and just hang out there as some of the worker bees called "scouts" will scope out prime spots as possible locations for their new homes. Long story short they will select the new spot as a group and all head out at once to inhabit it.
The more scouts you can draw to your trap the better. The more that come back to the colony talking to the others about your swarm trap the better the chances they'll show up there. How do you get the scouts to your trap. Give them a big enough box so that they can expand, make it smell right to them (Swarm Commander), and if possible a little natural comb (beeeswax) is helpful but not at all necessary. You do these things the scouts will smell it if they get within a mile of the trap and they'll come check it out. Your box will be voted best location.
Follow these tips and those I give in the videos below and you will catch free bees.
Are You Ready To Learn To Catch Your First Swarm?
I hope so because that is exactly what you are going to learn to do on this blogpost...Catch your very own wild bees!
It is so easy, but only if you have honey bees in you area. How do you know if you have honey bees in the area? Well, have you seen honey bees in your garden or on flowers around you? Likely you have seen them, and if you have then you very likely will catch a swarm if you follow the directions on this page.
If you have never seen bees in your area then you may want to try an experiment to check and see if there are bees there. Keep in mind this experiment will have to be done on a warm day. I would suggest that it be 60 degrees F or above, little wind (none is best), and mostly sunny. These conditions will give you the best chance at success. On such a day you will want to put some sugar on a small plate and then add just enough water to make it clump. Excess water is not recommended because you don't want to create a drowning situation for the bees. You can give the bees a little extra help in finding your sugar dish by adding a drop or two of Pure Lemon Grass Oil. This is very helpful because lemon grass oil smells much like a Queen Bee and for that reason they are prone to follow that scent. Now mind you, the lemon grass oil isnt neccesary, but it certainly will increase your odds of attracting them.
Once you have your bait sugar prepared place it outside in a sunny well exposed location. You may even try using a yellow dish. The reasoning behind this is "if it looks like a flower, it must be a flower!" Try leaving it in this spot for a few days as long as the weather permits. If the weather look like it may rain, then you may want to bring it inside until the rain passes so that your sugar doesn't get washed away and is wasted. As long as the weather is good then leave it in one spot. The bees, if they are there, will find it soon enough. When they do you will know that your swarm trap has a very good probability of working.
If however you do not find bees in your immediate area then you may have to ask friends and relatives for help. Call them up and ask if they ever see honey bees around their place. If so, then you have hit the jackpot. Ask them if they would allow you to place a swarm trap on their property.
Once you've established a good spot for your swarm trap you can follow my techniques shown in the videos on this page to successfully catch your free bees! You're welcome!! Lol
I highly highly reccommend Swarm Commander!
You'll thank me later!
