# Very depressing News



## Cheech (Oct 22, 2011)

just got some very depressing news. 
yesterday, got news from the landowner that one of my traps was "full of bees, and surrounding all around the box"
boy, I was in happy land
today they called to let me know that they all left the box, "every single one" she said
I am now in depression city!!!

now this was totally unexpected, is this a norm or am i just unlucky?


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## Rader Sidetrack (Nov 30, 2011)

Cheech said:


> ... got news from the landowner that one of my traps was "full of bees, and surrounding all around the box"


If there were too many bees to fit in the box, perhaps they decided to find a bigger home. How big is your trap?


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## Cheech (Oct 22, 2011)

Rader Sidetrack said:


> If there were too many bees to fit in the box, perhaps they decided to find a bigger home. How big is your trap?


Rader, it an empty 5 frame nuk


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## odfrank (May 13, 2002)

Here, for your consolation, this is what it looked like before it flew away. Any future swarm traps I make will be eight framers. Today I inspected a two frame catch in an eight frame trap.


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## Keth Comollo (Nov 4, 2011)

Try a full deep and they will stay next time!!


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## locoskip (Apr 25, 2008)

hello 
take a look at Tom Seeley's work from the university of Cornell in ny he has done a lot of work on swarms and swarm intelligence he wrote Honey bee democracy . I was at a lecture last month by him and i think he said that the "ideal" cavity for a new colony was the size of a single deep with the entrance half closed off. way up in the air 30 ft sticks in my head but the higher up the better within reason. good luck 

mike


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## robherc (Mar 17, 2012)

odfrank said:


> Here, for your consolation, this is what it looked like before it flew away. Any future swarm traps I make will be eight framers. Today I inspected a two frame catch in an eight frame trap.


Well, I guess that solves my concerns about my 7-8frame deeps maybe being "too big" to be ideal swarm traps.

Cheech: I'm *very* sorry for your loss, that'd have been an awesome swarm to hive if it was already too many bees to fit in a 5-frame


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## Cheech (Oct 22, 2011)

odfrank, wow that's some swarm to be flying away. I think from the description i got, mine probably was very similar to yours.
it sure hurts to be losing swarms, especially for a newbee like me. i'm chalking it up to a learning exp. though.

Keth and Loco, i'm learning, bought some 1x12's today and will be making some 16" TBH traps. hope 16" is big enough but i figure 12 18" TB's should be plenty, what you guys think?

Rob, thanks for you condolence Bro. a bit depressing, but strangely enough, this bees thing is a lot of fun.


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## Tomas (Jun 10, 2005)

Howdy Cheech,

My top bar trap hives have eight bars from which the bees can build comb--ten with the two that overlap the ends of the boxes. That size works well for me. Big swarms can move into them without a problem. It also keeps them to a size that is easy for handling. For myself, I wouldn't go with anything bigger.

In the following phota, all the bees in this big swarm had moved inside the box within an hour. There were just as many bees on the back of the box as there were on the front.

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s313/Tomas_fotos/BackyardSwarminMangotree.jpg

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Tom


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## robherc (Mar 17, 2012)

t: is that aluminum foil insulation on the sides of that box?


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## Tomas (Jun 10, 2005)

It's pieces of aluminum from printing press plates--like what they would use to print newpapers (I like to use recycled materials). I can get them fairly cheap and it helps to keep the box lighter. The less the weight, the easier it is to move them--especially if I need to lower them out of a tree or carry them around on the coffee farm where one of my yards is. 

These plates also work well as covers for my top bar hives.

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s313/Tomas_fotos/16Oct06018.jpg

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Tom


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## Cheech (Oct 22, 2011)

hi Tomas
I looked at your photo site and trying to determine how long your bait hives were. seems to me to be about 12". am i correct. i was contemplating what you told me about melting wax on the inside of the hive, and thinking that, that is probably the determining factor for the bees to move in and stay. I'm making a couple 16" TBH nuks today and will see how heavy they are, if too heavy then i will make a few 12"


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## franktrujillo (Jan 22, 2009)

ya there was too many bees for the nuc.usually normal swarm require at least a deep i use 10 frames for swarm traps but the other day my fried caught a swarm that took up 2 total deeps and they still needed more room.i was astonished on how big it was.that was the biggest swarm i have ever seen.ya never know what you going to get.


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## Tomas (Jun 10, 2005)

Cheech, 

My bait boxes are actually just under 14 inches in width--the equvalent of ten bars (all mine are 1 3/8 inches in width). But like I said in my previous post, the bees can only build comb from eight of them. The outer two bars are (more or less) flush with the outside of the box and nailed to the end pieces to keep the other bars in place. 

I uploaded some new photos to show how I set up my top bar bait boxes.

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s313/Tomas_fotos/traphive01.jpg
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s313/Tomas_fotos/traphive02.jpg
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s313/Tomas_fotos/traphive03.jpg
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s313/Tomas_fotos/traphive04.jpg
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s313/Tomas_fotos/traphive05.jpg

I make the bars longer than the box because I want the bars to be able to fit in my Tanzanian tbh (rectangular shaped with some frames) or on top of a Langstroth box if necessary. The sides of this box are pieces of tin from some large cans.

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Tom


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## Cheech (Oct 22, 2011)

those are some great photos to show how its done Tom. thanks
looks like using old metal sheeting (from metal drums or otherwise) would really cut cost
do you paint them with any type of preservative at all?


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## Tomas (Jun 10, 2005)

No perservatives or paint on my bait boxes. If I take care of them and not leave them out during the rainy season, the boxes will last me a good five seasons without problems. I also have to watch out for termites which can be a real problem--so I have to be careful where I store them. The cost to make one is minimal, even if I decide to use new wood.

I don't use metal drums just because I don't have the tools on hand to cut something like that. If I use tin or aluminum sheets, they are thin enough to cut with a heavy duty sissors or tin snips.

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Tom


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