# Bees Interested in the Trap: How long does the deciding usually take?



## Adam Foster Collins (Nov 4, 2009)

I came home from a few days away to find bees interested in the swarm trap I had sitting on my front porch railing. There has been a lot of activity in and around the swarm trap for the last two days. There are usually a dozen or so bees around the entrance and bees coming and going constantly all through the day. The weather has been sunny and warm.

How long (on average) do you find that bouts of interest last? How long does it usually take colony to make a move and decide, before you either see a swarm or the end of activity when they choose some other location?

Thanks,

Adam


----------



## Lburou (May 13, 2012)

I listened to a lecture about this subject today. With 15 bees at the entrance at one time, it is likely they will choose your trap....They will likely move somewhere within 36 hours (if I remember his chart correctly). I posted this thread about the lecture(s).


----------



## odfrank (May 13, 2002)

They can last days and weeks and sometimes they come and sometimes they don't. Fighting and killing each other is a very good sign that they will come, but also not a definite.


----------



## jrbbees (Apr 4, 2010)

Bees are mostly female. Never ask how long it will take them to decide.


----------



## Adam Foster Collins (Nov 4, 2009)

This has been interesting to watch, and being right on the porch, I have been able to pay close attention over the last few days. This is the third day since I discovered the bees were checking out the trap. It has been one week since I put the trap on the porch railing, so they could not have noticed it before then.

Over the past few days, it has been steady; not building in numbers, as if more and more were being recruited to have a look, but steady and constant. Usually, there is about 8-10 bees in and around the hive. Checking all around, hovering around and around the box; looking in every crack. Then they kind of quiver and run around outside the entrance, and then go back in or fly off.

At one point today, I counted 22 bees in the box. But that was a high point which soon dropped back to the consistent number. It is cool and overcast here today, but the visits remain steady - averaging 8 or so bees always there.

The study continues.

Adam


----------



## Northwest PA Beekeeper (Mar 28, 2012)

I put a bait hive at my sister's place this year when there were bees checking out holes and cracks in her house siding. That was on a Thursday. Activity the rest of Thursday and Friday. Saturday the activity slowed down but increased again on Sunday. Sunday evening at dusk I added a frame of drawn comb. (There were a few bees that decided to spend the night.) By lunchtime on Monday, they had moved in. 

Good luck.


----------



## Adam Foster Collins (Nov 4, 2009)

This is a trap I made. It's an 8 frame deep with one fully drawn, black comb which has been used to raise brood in the past. It has caught one swarm already this year in another location. It has propolis around the entrance and been rubbed down inside with a beeswax/LGO combination. 

Supposed to be warmer and sunny tomorrow afternoon...

Adam


----------



## Mr.Beeman (May 19, 2012)

Warmer and sunny... they should be really ready to rock and roll then!
Keep us in the loop.


----------



## Adam Foster Collins (Nov 4, 2009)

So, it's been more than a week now, with steady bees at the swarm trap. Two nights ago, I opened the box and could see that they had completely cleaned the comb that was in there. There was a solid debris pile on the box floor down both sides of the the comb. There was never any honey in it, so they are just cleaning it.

Over the past few days, there have been as many as 20 bees at a time there at the box entrance. Yet no swarm has arrived. Today, there were still bees there, but fewer.

Frustrating.

Adam


----------



## odfrank (May 13, 2002)

One of my boxes yesterday had activity for about the fourth time in four month but still no tenants. Our season is well over. 

Regards, OD.MB.


----------



## DRAKOS (Oct 17, 2011)

Adam what happened in the end with this trap?


----------

