# Best location to catch swarms?



## wildbeekeeper (Jul 3, 2010)

you will find that there are only a few "specifics" as it relates to catching swarms the rest is a guess! height should be about 12-15' although higher and lower have caught swarms. Size of the box and the opening has influence as well. a hive body or a box about the size of an 8 frame deep with an opening about an inch and a half in diameter is ideal. Ive caught swarms in the woods and out along the edge. Obviously you want to know of some colonies near by - the fact that you had some curious bees is a good sign - they just didnt feel it was good enough for them. Tom Seeleys book - Honeybee Democracy is all about the decisions bees make and though it doesnt specifically discuss trapping, it will help you understand what bees do. Oh - and dont forget attractant - lemongrass oil and some old brood comb as well.


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## rhaldridge (Dec 17, 2012)

My understanding is that bees like landmarks, like lone trees in a pasture and so on. The swarm I caught last summer came to a box that I put on a cut through the trees that led from our upper meadow to our lower meadow. My thinking was that bees would probably take that path rather than flying over 50 foot trees.


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## Fusion_power (Jan 14, 2005)

1. Height - about 10 feet off the ground
2. Shade - at least some shade between 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 pm. Preference is for well shaded locations.
3. Box size - roughly the size of one 10 frame deep brood chamber. 
4. Opening - 1 inch diameter up to 3 inches diameter. A standard 10 frame hive with 1/2 of the opening closed works well.
5. Ants - None. Bees will skip any location with even a few ants.
6. Attractant - lemon oil or an old brood frame.

There are a couple of other nuances, but if you hit the above, your odds are very good.


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## Snookie (Dec 13, 2013)

Fusion_power said:


> 1. Height - about 10 feet off the ground
> 2. Shade - at least some shade between 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 pm. Preference is for well shaded locations.
> 3. Box size - roughly the size of one 10 frame deep brood chamber.
> 4. Opening - 1 inch diameter up to 3 inches diameter. A standard 10 frame hive with 1/2 of the opening closed works well.
> ...


Thanks like the OP my place has woods and a hunting club next to it..... so on the edge of the woods or a few feet inside the tree line?

I also have a pond on my place in the middle of the woods

What's your thoughts on the placement?



















Oh will Turkeys harm bee's lol?


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## Kamon A. Reynolds (Apr 15, 2012)

Near a commercial operator.


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## Snookie (Dec 13, 2013)

Kamon Reynolds said:


> Near a commercial operator.


10-4 on dat! :}


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## Colino (May 28, 2013)

Here is a link originally posted by Rader it has a lot of good info in it about swarm catching. 
http://ecommons.cornell.edu/bitstream/1813/2653/2/Bait%20Hives%20for%20Honey%20Bees.pdf


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## Pops (Nov 29, 2013)

any commercial Beeks around us Kamon?





Kamon Reynolds said:


> Near a commercial operator.


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## TalonRedding (Jul 19, 2013)

Pops said:


> any commercial Beeks around us Kamon?


Y'all are hilarious. Can't say that I've had the same thought though.


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## Grant (Jun 12, 2004)

Fusion Power has some good basics. I think it's like fishing and some days the fish bite on ABC bait, the next day it's DEF bait. Some places are fantastic fishing holes, then they're not for no known reason. Some places don't catch any fish until late in the season.

I like to set out a bunch of bait hives, about six feet high (no more ladders for me) and set them in groups of two or three per location. It just ups the odds. I like sheltered fence lines or in the trees that line the creeks near open fields and pastures. 

A good place to put up a bait hive is at the location where some nervous homeowner called you to retrieve a swarm. You know there's a mother colony in the neighborhood, and most nervous homeowners will give you permission to put up a trap so you can get those bees out of their neighborhood. 

Grant
Jackson, MO https://www.createspace.com/4106626


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## marshmasterpat (Jun 26, 2013)

Need to mount it right above the tree that you were sitting under to take that jake. Nice Place, really nice. Good Luck, I am taking notes as well about the best way to do this.


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## Stephenpbird (May 22, 2011)

an out yard near canola/oil seed rape, bees seem to swarm at the drop of a hat when foraging on that


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## Fusion_power (Jan 14, 2005)

The one item I am aware of that may affect you since your place is heavily wooded, bees prefer to have a clear flight path to get above the trees. Placing them near the pond so they can fly out above the pond and up above the trees would be ideal. I would suggest placing 6 bait hives per square mile though some areas have a lot more swarms than that.


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## paintingpreacher (Jul 29, 2006)

I put out 20 bait hives last spring and caught swarms in 15 I think. They were all 5 frame nucs with old comb and a few drops of lemon grass oil. I actually caught more than one swarm in 3-4 of them. Location is the key. There has to be bees in the vicinity. I had 2 of the boxes about 10ft up and all the rest were 6ft off the ground. One thing I would recommend you fill the box with foundation or foundationless frames. I made the mistake of putting one or two frames of old comb and leaving the rest empty. Swarms can fill empty space in a hurry and it is a mess to remove. This is my first year to try swarm traps but for me the height did not seem to matter.


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## PAHunter62 (Jan 26, 2011)

My experience mirrors PaintingPreacher. If you read through the swarm section here you will see that height does not matter all that much, but location does. See many of OD's posts - he places most all of his within reach from the ground. Last year I was 6 for 7 on one property. I hung mine all about 10 feet, but with my feet firmly planted on the bed of my truck. I put mine on fence rows and gas lines with easy access with my vehicle. If you don't get to them for a while, the boxes can become heavy. Don't risk injury while placing/retrieving them.

I use one old brood comb, and the remaining foundation-less frames. If you use foundation-less take some extra care to level the box when you hang it and you will get nice straight comb. I did with all the swarms I caught last year. Most were caught for 3-4 weeks before I got to move them and they pretty much had a 8 frame medium completely filled by then. I make a homemade lure using lemongrass oil as the main ingredient.


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## Snookie (Dec 13, 2013)

Fusion_power said:


> The one item I am aware of that may affect you since your place is heavily wooded, bees prefer to have a clear flight path to get above the trees. Placing them near the pond so they can fly out above the pond and up above the trees would be ideal. I would suggest placing 6 bait hives per square mile though some areas have a lot more swarms than that.
> 
> Ok Wow thanks:}
> 
> ...


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## LetMBee (Jan 4, 2012)

Homesteader: I put traps up all over and at different heights. I don't think it matters all that much. The things I do think matter is that you have them in a location that gets a little shade midway through the day. Get more than 2 traps out there and put them up in several locations a couple miles apart. Once you find a location that catches bees you will reliably catch there on most years.


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