# Have a new hive- chances of a swarm moving in?



## Jamie D (May 25, 2012)

Hi again all!

I had hopes of my own swarm being caught, and moving them into a newly purchased top bar hive. I have langstroths, but looking to try something new.

I posted about my swarm dilemma that happened 3 days ago, and there has been so much growth on the locust tree they flew up into, that either they've moved on, or I just can't see them because of how high they settled.

There is a trap in the tree, but now I'm wondering if I should just forget it and try putting the lure and lemongrass oil into the beautifully furnished deluxe apartment I bought for them. I imagine this is an extreme long shot. However, this is swarm season and if I can't have mine back, then I'll take a freebie.

Any thoughts much appreciated.


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## garyprunty (Apr 15, 2014)

cut some empty comb from a lang and attach it to a top bar(if you can spare it)

bees like the prebuilt comb

add the lure and hope for the best


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## Jamie D (May 25, 2012)

garyprunty said:


> cut some empty comb from a lang and attach it to a top bar(if you can spare it)
> 
> bees like the prebuilt comb
> 
> add the lure and hope for the best


I can cut some out of a frame, I was thinking attaching it with floral wire? Do you suggest another method?


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## hvdmerwe (Jan 24, 2014)

That should work fine, I had a hive with some old comb just sitting around waiting for me to get around to cleaning it out and a wild swarm just arrived and took up residence, my situation is a little different to yours, but if you have swarms around I don't see why thry won't move in, especially if your comb had some honey in it before, the smell seems to make them feel right at home.


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## Jamie D (May 25, 2012)

Should I add all the luring tricks? I bought a nasonov lure, and Pseudo Queen. I also have lemongrass oil. Will using both the lure and Pseudo Queen be a bit too much overkill? I am acting desperate, I know.


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## hvdmerwe (Jan 24, 2014)

I can't be of much help there, I deal only with wild African bees and all the hives I have are from naturally captured swarms, all I use in my traps is some comb from which I have extracted honey and in some cases I have had swarms occupy traps within less that 5 days of putting them out, in fact the last trap I put out was occupied even before I could hang it in a tree, it really depends on how active the bees around you are and whether it is swarm time or not, it also seems that once a trap has been occupied once or twice it attracts bees more easily, so if your hive is still new it might take a bit longer, trying to catch wild bees always requires patience and a little luck, hope this helps


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## garyprunty (Apr 15, 2014)

I always use the hair clip method

floral wire should work fine just keep in mind that empty comb is going to be filled with brood and honey so it's going to be heavy


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## garyprunty (Apr 15, 2014)

another thing you could do if your able is to use your new hive as a trap 

elevate it, bait it, comb it...

swarms like "traps" that are High

If they move in, get a friend and pull it down to working level

I can't speak on the overkill as I've never really used queen pheromones... lemongrass and beeswax always works pretty well for me


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## Jamie D (May 25, 2012)

I used the hair clip method to get a piece of comb on the first frame, thanks for the info Garyprunty! 
So, I decided to go with the "if you build it, they will come" approach. I put the new top bar hive out there with the piece of drawn comb attached to the first top bar and nasonov lure hanging from that bar, placed in front of a hole. I rubbed each top bar that I put in there with a ball of old wax scrapings. There is LGO in there along with a piece of pseudo queen. OVERKILL central…
That was 2 days ago. Today I saw some scouts!!! Fingers crossed. It's fun just watching to see what happens.


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