# TBH swarm trap



## dcnylund (May 28, 2015)

Congrats! Looking forward to the replies.


----------



## Chuck Jachens (Feb 22, 2016)

As soon as they move in and start building comb. They will be unlikely to abandon brood. Wait until almost dark and block the entrance with breathable material. Move at least 3 miles or make sure the foragers reorient. 

Much easier to monitor comb building and stay ahead of cross combing in your bee yard.


----------



## john beeman (Feb 28, 2016)

Thanks everyone......What about supplemental feeding......How is that carried out in the trap ?


----------



## Chuck Jachens (Feb 22, 2016)

You don't. These bees swarmed and they will fend for themselves or die out. The traps supply you with new bee colonies (for the cost of the box and your time) and hopefuly they are feral survivor stock that has been living without treatments. 

If the bees are from someone's highly treated hive that was full of chemicals and other nasty stuff, then at least the bees are relative cheap. Good thing is they still have the instincts to reproduce.

So once you take swarm back to their new hive location, you can provide supplemental feed and hopefully support them treatment free (or at least chemical free). With the tbh they can make comb without foundation and build the cell size they deem appropriate and raise drones to their hearts content


----------



## Tomas (Jun 10, 2005)

Swarms are my primary way of increasing/replacing hives. I usually let the swarms be for at least a week once they move into one of my trap hives, but usually two. I want them to set up shop and raise some brood to lower the risk of them absconding once they are moved (I work with Africanized bees, however, and they like to abscond much more readily than the European races).
Move them with care. They will have new comb which is fragile. If they become heavy with brood, a small jolt could cause comb collapse. Hang them up in such a way that they are easy to lower down.

Feeding shouldn’t really be needed during swarming season. There are usually enough plants blooming. Within three or four weeks I’m moving them into a permanent box and then there is plenty of room for feeders once the dearth period approaches.

I bait my swarm traps with lemon grass also. I have it planted so I take a clump and rub it on the outside of the hive. I melt wax and dribble it around the inside. If the swarm trap has been used by bees, I may not even rub more lemon grass on it. It usually has enough bee scent to attract a new swarm. I also like to use bars that have ridge of comb on them, such as those from which I had harvested honey comb.

----------
Tom


----------



## john beeman (Feb 28, 2016)

Tomas, WOW !! Awesome post. Beautiful hives. I see you also have the long hives, how are the long hives vs the KTBH...Do you use commercial brood box frames in the long hives....Excellent !! Thank you !


----------



## Tomas (Jun 10, 2005)

As far as managing the bees, the long hives work just the same as my ktbhs. The idea was to set them up with the brood combs on just a top bar. There were frames in the front and back for honey, that way I could use my extractor on them and return the comb to the hive for the bees to fill. 

I custom made my frames in Honduras with a wide top bar. Since I have Africanized bees I don´t want the transit space you normally have with the tops of normal frames. I want to keep everything closed up to help keep my ornery bees under control. I could use commercial frames but I would modify them by adding a wide strip to the top to, again, keep everything closed up.

When I was working with a commercial beekeeper back in Wisconsin, I started a small apiary with my brother. Everything was also top bar hives. We included a few long hives there. With them I just used normal commercial frames since the bees were a lot gentler. In this case, however, some of the frames stared out in the middle of the hive since we stocked those with some five-frames nucs I bought from the folks I worked with. But the idea was to eventually move those to the end for honey production and have the brood on just top bars.

See this post from my blog, “Musings on Beekeeping,” about those hives (and the apiary and swarm traps). 

Musings About Economical Beekeeping: “Hives for Nothing, Bees for Free”
http://musingsonbeekeeping.blogspot.com/2014/12/musings-about-economical-beekeeping.html

The only thing that I don´t like about the long hives is the added cost that comes mainly from the wood used for the bottom. I actually had a removable bottom on them but it required a nice board to make them. The bottom on my ktbhs are just made from scrap wood.

----------
Tom


----------



## dvto2 (Feb 1, 2016)

How long does lemon grass oil last once it has been baited? Also, what areas are more likely than others for bait traps?


----------



## john beeman (Feb 28, 2016)

After reading many articles and watching the top videos I have come to this conclusion .......unless you have clean old brood comb anyone's chances of trapping a swarm are slim...I'm not saying it can't happen....maybe 10%.....Bees are looking for "familiar" just like everything else in nature...I cannot find one article or one video where success is achieved by experienced beekeepers using a hive or trap without brood comb or at least clean old brood comb..........


----------



## shannonswyatt (May 7, 2012)

You can get them with just LGO, I have done it, but you will have better luck with some old comb.


----------



## jadebees (May 9, 2013)

I find old comb makes little difference, but... I spread melted up hive cleaning junk in the hive. It is the smell that is atractive, not the fact that its comb. Full of propolis, pollen, black comb, wax rendering remnants, mixed & pressed into a ball.That old scrapings works even in brand new boxes. Just a few big smears does it.

More important, is where you put the swarm lure, and Lemongrass oil, or swarm lure.


----------



## jcummins (Feb 21, 2016)

What does TBH mean?


----------



## shannonswyatt (May 7, 2012)

Top bar hive.


----------



## john beeman (Feb 28, 2016)

jadebees you have 333 posts......to me that is a lovely number. Most beekeepers with several years have access to your ball of goodies....but you say placement is most important....Please tell us more


----------



## SWAT253 (May 11, 2015)

My top bar swarm trap worked like a champ last spring and trapped my first and currently very strong colony. I placed the box about 10 feet up in a tree and when I saw pollen going in, I left it in place approx 10 more days before transferring to my TBH. The top bars had only been primed with melted bees wax, but when I opened the box, all were built out with fresh clean combs. I lured them with Lemongrass on a q-tip placed in an unsealed sandwich bag and the inside walls were rubbed down with wax. Good luck & hope you trap a swarm!


----------



## dpressley (May 12, 2014)

I've got a TBH (Crowder design) w 3 bars of darker comb (empty) pulled from a friend's dead-out (late season swarm failed), follower board placed after 12 bars of space, and plenty of lemongrass oil rubbed inside the hive body, pretty much on a weekly basis for this last month. We're in full on swarm season and I've only seen a few scouts with no followup visits. Anything else I can do to make it more inviting?

My other TBH (Hemenway design w window) I've basically let go feral (life happened this calendar year). Colony is 2yrs old, treatment free, overwintered just fine twice now & swarmed 4 times last year, built up like crazy (hive is FULL), but they just won't swarm. Is it safe to assume that there is a reason why, like maybe the existing mated queen cannot physically fly? I swear I've seen a few of what I'd call "failed swarm attempts", but mostly its just HUGE orientation flights. If they are superceeding her, I don't want to mess with their plans so I'm staying out. Does anyone know what the colony does at this time of year if their existing queen cannot fly to swarm?

(Why oh why have I not just split if I have an empty hive??? Cuz the two hives are of different dimensions. I'm doing this for fun. I decided to switch to the same dimensions my other new beek friend has. I'd love a swarm to move it on their own! I had terrible luck w packages last year.)


----------



## theredbolt (Mar 6, 2016)

dpressley said:


> and plenty of lemongrass oil rubbed inside the hive body


sounds like way too much Lemon Gras Oil... 
use one drop on a q-tip and place it into a plastic bag without closing the plastic bag. It should be applied like that so that it can be removed later. The LGO should be weaker than the scent of the queen!

I guess if you rubbed all the inside of the swarmbox you need to build a new one


----------

