# How do you "bait" your swarm traps?



## b2bnz

I have found the best results using one or two old but clean brood comb frames, no honey as that could start a robbing frenzy, and a few drops of lemon grass oil at the entrance of the swarm trap. Placed 3 meters (10 feet) off the ground in a cool shade of a tree. Works a treat especially across the road from somebody elses apiary. LOL


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## Charlie B

The best way I've found to preserve Lemon Grass Oil is to put 4 or 5 drops on a piece of paper towel, put the paper towel in a ziplock sandwich bag with several small holes on one side of the bag. Ziplock it and place it on the floor of the trap hole side up. It will last forever! You don't want to have to hoist your traps down every couple of weeks to freshen them up.

Now some on this forum, (Odfrank, MB) will say, "You don't need to do that, just put a couple drops at the entrance and forget it" or "You just need to put a few drops on a Q-tip and place it in the hive and walk away". 

These old farts mean well but I think you owe it to yourself to bait your traps as efficiently and effectively as you can.


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## odfrank

I love it when young farts waste their time and money and then brag about it. Fools and their money are soon parted. I'll save those paper towels and ziplocks for my lunch box, thanks.
>I think you owe it to yourself to bait your traps as efficiently and effectively as you can. 
Charlie, when you have caught half as many as I do this year come over and give me some more sage advice.


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## Charlie B

Wow, a little over two hours to respond. I knew it wouldn't take you long. You know I'm just foolin about.


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## Michael Bush

If I could just find a glass eye dropper, I'd just drop four drops somewhere in the bait hive. The only ones I seem to be able to find are plastic and they melt in EO. So I use a Q-tip, and tip one end in the Lemongrass Essential Oil and the other end in the "Queen Juice" and drop it in the hive. Perfect measurement every time.  It lasts a season.


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## odfrank

I am working on a new Craigslist add: "WANTED - Site to place honeybee swarm traps in your backyard or on your rooftop. Must be in the Richmond neighborhood of San Francisco. preferably near Golden Gate Park west of 19th avenue. Will trade for one quart of raw honey. Call JollyOllie at 1800 555-1212"


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## Charlie B

:no: :no: :no: :no:


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## Adam Foster Collins

As with anything bee-related, geographic region plays into swarm trapping as well. There has to be bees around for a swarm trap to work. Looking around at what's online, one gets the sense that some areas are both warm enough and saturated enough with bee populations, that you could pretty much line a few shoe boxes up on your doorstep with a drop of lemongrass oil in each and get swarms. 

The number of colonies in the area have to affect the success rate of your trap, and my home area is not very well-saturated with honeybee colonies.

So I guess the details are more important in some areas than in others.

One thing that people talk a lot about is box size. Tom Seeley's work is often quoted, suggesting a 40L cavity size, but I think his work was centered in New York and Maine. I wonder if region affects the cavity size bees search out. I wonder if bees in harder wintering areas require larger cavities to store in, and will favor those. Haven't been able to find that out.

I'm working with a bunch of old, 8-frame deep boxes at the moment. I have a bunch of dried out slumgum from the remains of a wax melt, and have had it sealed in plastic with several drops of lemon oil in it. I thought I'd drop a handful of that stuff in each hive with some comb. Then I'm going to take them into the Annapolis Valley during the Spring. The valley is a major fruit-growing area and there's a much higher concentration of bees down that way.

Haven't yet figured where exactly to put them...

Adam


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## Charlie B

I wouldn't worry to much about what to use and where to use it. All good advice given but bees will come. Even sometimes when your not
looking for them. This was taken in L.A. by the Backwards Beekeeping Club.


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## 100 td

.
.
*Wow! An upright wax melter!*


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## Gypsi

Ahhhh, spring is coming. And OD and Charlie are still at it! Life is good.

Gypsi


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## beyondthesidewalks

Adam Foster Collins said:


> One thing that people talk a lot about is box size. Tom Seeley's work is often quoted, suggesting a 40L cavity size, but I think his work was centered in New York and Maine. I wonder if region affects the cavity size bees search out. I wonder if bees in harder wintering areas require larger cavities to store in, and will favor those. Haven't been able to find that out.


I don't mean to denigrate or quesiton Tom Seely's work but I've caught several swarms in 5 frame nucs that are half his optimum size. I've also cut out bees that didn't read his work either. I did read his book and enjoyed it thoroughly. I find that all of my livestock have not read the work of the reigning experts. Sometimes good enough is perfect.


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## Charlie B

beyondthesidewalks said:


> Sometimes good enough is perfect.


Well said and to prove your point, here's another one in a buried power meter box. We have an epidemic of illiterate bees.


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## beyondthesidewalks

I guess I have to admit that I stole "Good enough is perfect." from Joel Salatin. It was in one of his early books, can't remember which one. They're all good if you like his way of looking at farming.


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## Charlie B

That's ok, I'm stealing all the photo's in my post on this thread from Backwards Beekeepers so what's the diff?


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## Adam Foster Collins

Seeley's experiments show what bees find optimum -- when they have options where all else is equal. When they are given options of a box the size of a 5 frame nuc, and a box the size of a ten frame deep which are both dry, have an acceptable entrance, etc then they'll choose the bigger box. Seeley's work doesn't say they won't choose a space 15L in size - it does say that they'd rather have one 40L if they can find it.

Just because people catch swarms in 5 frame nucs or mailboxes doesn't mean that bees like those the best - but it does prove that they will happily move into those spaces when they can't find a better solution fast enough. And it is also likely that the 5 frame nuc with comb and/or lemongrass oil fulfills enough of their requirements in other regards. As you say, "good enough is perfect" - and as options out in the regular world go, a five frame nuc box, with a nice entrance size, dry interior, drawn comb etc probably looks pretty perfect most of the time.

It comes down to odds in many ways. When you create a swarm trap, you're stacking the odds in favor of the bees finding and choosing your box. Seeley's work simply helps us by giving us a selection of ways to stack the deck. If 5 frame boxes work in your area, it's crazy not to use them. They're smaller, less material, easier to handle...

But Seeley's work does suggest that if Odfrank has his 5 frame nuc box out on his picnic table, and his neighbor has a 10 frame out on his picnic table, the bees will choose the neighbors box.

But how often do they have both to choose from?


Adam


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## Cleo C. Hogan Jr

"""But Seeley's work does suggest that if Odfrank has his 5 frame nuc box out on his picnic table, and his neighbor has a 10 frame out on his picnic table, the bees will choose the neighbors box.""""


That would be an interesting experiment for someone looking for a project for a Master BeeKeeper Certification or college credit. Place 10 frame deeps, and 5 frame Nucs, side by side, in several locations . See which one they choose. Obviously, would not be perfect, (one might have better comb, no holes, more holes, etc.) but, would be a good study. 

Regardless what the study concludes, and what Adam Foster Collins said above, I am betting on Odfrank rather than his neighbor. Odfrank can catch swarms in a fruit jar. (HA!!!!) cchoganjr


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## Gypsi

Ok, just because I can, I'm adding a baited last year's deep next to my baited nuc on the lot, where my bees were last year, and about 10 feet from where I caught a swarm last year.

We shall see. (Brick house trapout goes up tomorrow - so the comb available for regular swarm trapping is limited to 1 frame each box. I do have empty deep frames now.)

Maybe I can beat both OD and Charlie's records, who knows? I have a lot of locations to choose from, and I KNOW where the bees are, because they drink out of my customer's ponds...

Gypsi


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## odfrank

Charlie would make a lot more honey if he used the right size valve box.


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## djdhays

I'll bet I know the quickest way to get that hive out of there.


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## Charlie B

odfrank said:


> Charlie would make a lot more honey if he used the right size valve box.


I can't compete with you on honey but I'm sure gonna try with swarms this year. Sounds like Gypsi is gunning for both of us!


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## Grant

Here's what I use. It's got the real stuff, nasanov, in it.

http://greatlakesipm.com/pollination.html by the quart, it's cheaper than lemongrass oil.

Also, older/used/previously successful swarm traps with propolis helps a lot as well. Search the forums and many will suggest old black comb.

Grant
Jackson, MO


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## Michael Bush

>It's got the real stuff, nasanov, in it.

I'm quite certain they did not collect it from bees, therefore it does not have the "real stuff". I'd be willing to bet the main ingredient, if not the only ingredient, is Lemongrass essential oil. I have tried the commercial lures. They did not work any better than Lemongrass essential oil. Come to think of it, I have some of this, actually, that I bought for someone to get fruit trees pollinated, but never opened it. i should try it for swarm lure.


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## FlowerPlanter

" Bee-Scent is a non-toxic liquid formula that attracts foraging honey bees to treated blossoms improving crop pollination and resulting in additional fruit set and better fruit quality. Monitoring tests show the number of foraging bees increased 28-75 percent after Bee-Scent application. Apply 2 qts/acre in early morning for best results. 2 1/2 gallon will treat 5 acres, while the 16 oz. bottle will treat 1/4 acres. Once applied, Bee-Scent will remain active for three to five days under favorable weather conditions. "

I am not looking for foragers, I have foragers. I want scouts. pretty sure scouts and foragers are looking fir different things.

My guess is they have sugar for the foragers, I dont want ants or other bugs in my swarm traps.

"Bee-Scent will remain active for three to five days" That's not very long

It could be nothing more the a few pounds of sugar and a few drops of LG EO


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## Adam Foster Collins

I just wondered about keeping the smell of LGO in the traps. It seems to fade pretty fast. It could be that the bees can smell it long after it seems to me that it's gone, but I wondered how some of you might be doing it.

From the responses, it seems to be a non-issue.

Adam


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## mrjackcoleman

What is "Queen Juice"?


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## CaBees

Can you just use the entrance from a regular 8 frame nuc (like tape a bottom to it) or do you have to make a larger or different entrance for a swarm trap? Or cover some of it so it is smaller?


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## odfrank

CaBees said:


> Can you just use the entrance from a regular 8 frame nuc (like tape a bottom to it) or do you have to make a larger or different entrance for a swarm trap? Or cover some of it so it is smaller?


Any dead beehive can serve as a swarm trap. A few drops of LGO inside the entrance will make it more inviting. A pile of stored extracting supers make a dandy swarm trap.


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## Charlie B

odfrank said:


> "dandy"


:lpf:


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## Mustang

Michael Bush said:


> If I could just find a glass eye dropper wal mart has them


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## WesternWilson

Someone asked about Queen Juice...an unsavoury but useful product produced by taking euthanized queen bees and preserving them in food grade alcohol ie Everclear or vodka. The liquid preserves and suspends the queen pheromones (using fertilized queens is best) and you can use the resulting "Queen Juice" to bait hives.


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## Mr.Beeman

I have a couple of areas that are real swarmy from feral colonies. I'm going to try the 5 frame and 10 frame traps and see which one they prefer.
Sounds like a real good experiment.


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## Sundance

Adam Foster Collins said:


> I just wondered about keeping the smell of LGO in the traps. It seems to fade pretty fast.
> 
> Adam


I've had good success melting old brood comb at super low heat and
mixing in lemon grass oil when cooling and just getting real thick. I
paint it on the interior of older 5 frame Nuc boxes...... works well.


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## bevy's honeybees

WesternWilson said:


> Someone asked about Queen Juice...an unsavoury but useful product produced by taking euthanized queen bees and preserving them in food grade alcohol ie Everclear or vodka. The liquid preserves and suspends the queen pheromones (using fertilized queens is best) and you can use the resulting "Queen Juice" to bait hives.


Shoot, so the queen I tossed into rubbing alcohol today will not make Queen Juice? Did I just waste the opportunity to recyle a queen?


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## Lburou

Seeley reports a bee preference of 15' for the entrance....Anyone put bait hives up that high?


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## Charlie B

I have caught many a swarm on a 40' rooftop. I've also caught them 18" off the ground.


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## odfrank

I catch many a year set at reachable heights. But at my home last year, I caught more than usual on my second story deck.


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## Daniel Y

bevy's honeybees said:


> Shoot, so the queen I tossed into rubbing alcohol today will not make Queen Juice? Did I just waste the opportunity to recyle a queen?


I have read several times that people use rubbing alcohol also. Rubbing alcohol is alcohol with the fun part removed.


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## Michael Bush

>Shoot, so the queen I tossed into rubbing alcohol today will not make Queen Juice? Did I just waste the opportunity to recyle a queen? 

I use rubbing alcohol. It will work fine.


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## D Semple

I prefer using other peoples houses/sheds/barns/trees for swarm traps.


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## Luterra

Daniel Y said:


> I have read several times that people use rubbing alcohol also. Rubbing alcohol is alcohol with the fun part removed.


Not quite true. Rubbing alcohol is isopropanol, an entirely different molecule than ethanol (vodka, everclear). Both should work equally well though. The alcohols evaporate quickly in the hive, leaving the queen pheromone behind.


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## Lburou

I found a metric conversion site and converted 40 liters to cubic feet. I got 1.41 cubic feet....I thought that the five frame volume was close to the 40L......but it is not as big as I thought (its .7 Cu FT), only 50% of the 40 liters....I would have bet a lot of money it was closer than that. I'll drive by some building sites and scrounge in their rubbish bins to find scraps enough to make a few of the larger boxes.


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## Mr.Beeman

http://www.newdirectionsaromatics.c...-c-9_25.html?gclid=CJLajsuesrUCFYxDMgod-g0A6g

Real good pricing on the essential oils.


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## mtndewluvr

Has anybody tried mixing cooking oil and lemon grass oil in a baggie to help prolong the LGO scent? What about placing the baggie on the outside of the trap, encouraging the scent to waft (is that a word?) out as the day heats up, inviting bees from a greater distance?


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## odfrank

I have never felt a need to renew LGO scent. I have caught swarms in bait boxes after they are emptied of their first catch, and last summer I caught a swarm on a follower board sitting alone in an uncovered box. The LGO penetrates comb and wood and lasts a long time. More is not always btter.


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## shannonswyatt

odfrank, I saw on your post about your new boxes that you areusing LGO with brood comb wax melted together with a heat gun. Do you think that maybe the LGO is slowly out-gassing allowing the smell to last longer, or do you think that the bees just don't need that much LGO?


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## Michael Bush

I always put it in once, like Oliver, it seems to work fine to the end of the season. I also concur that more is not better. Too much will drive them out after it attracts them...


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## odfrank

I think it lasts a long time and you don't need much. It takes a delicate touch on the little bottle to only drop on three or so drops. I just do a couple inside the entrance.

Two hard learned rules of swarm trapping:
Don't set LGO baited traps close together, swarms will divide leaving you a small Zombie swarm in one box.
Tighten those Kelley disks well after moving the swarm. 
My new rule for this year: use full size brood chambers. 

Three weeks to go here....come on HONIES, coochie coo BABIES come on in!!!! DADDIES WAITIN!!!

That reminds me....I'm not ready for them. Calm down Ollie, compose yourself....get those traps ready.


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## WesternWilson

odfrank, you gave me my belly laugh of the day!


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## Beewildered61

What about using something like Pro Health? It has lemon grass oil in it and smells real lemony.... I had a hive swarm on me last year and took a deep and dabbed some Pro Health on a paper towel and put it inside...But it was of course, on the ground, and the bees were on a tree limb about 50 feet in the air and had been there for 2 days. It didn't work, but I don't know if maybe it was because the deep was so low/bee so high up, or after that length of time they had found something else...they were gone the next day and I had only tried the Pro Health like in the late afternoon, so it really wasn't there that long...


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## R Dewhurst

This is a wild swarm that set up shop on a limb 6 1/2 feet off the ground. Had to cut it down and frame the combs up with rubber bands. Only took 18 stings doing it though with the suit on. Very docile....till dark came and the lights come on. Enough comb to fill 2 10 frame deeps with comb left over. 13 layers of comb in that hive. I think hiving them saved their lives as they are still kicking it. They would of froze on that limb for sure.


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## bzublin

>Placed 3 meters (10 feet) off the ground in a cool shade of a tree.

I prefer to place my traps in full sun facing south. The heat helps to "vaporize" the scent of the lemon grass oil and old wax. I have had success with traps close to the ground, my first for the season moved in this past week. Picture attached.


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## Jayoung21

odfrank said:


> Don't set LGO baited traps close together, swarms will divide leaving you a small Zombie swarm in one box.


How close is close? I have a couple traps that are as close as 50 yds to each other. Is that too close? There is a beekeeper right down the rd so im expecting quite a few swarms and it's an offsite location so I set the traps kinda dense


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## shannonswyatt

I would think that is too close. Not sure about Zombie swarms (OdFrank will have to elaborate on that!) but I would think that you would want separation as a way to cover a larger scouting area. I would think that any bees in hive one would have potentially found hive two.


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## Jayoung21

Property ownership in the main problem with a larger scouting area. It's my grandparents property and it's only a couple acres. I have 5 traps out there so basically the only way to space them out would be to remove some of the traps. The place is about 2 hrs away so I can't exactly check them every week. I was hoping to have multiple swarms the times I do go check them.


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## WesternWilson

If you have access to all your traps, just combine any too-small swarms as you would a weak hive and a strong hive. I too have a limited trap area and can only visit every week, so will be setting up multiple traps in a fairly small area.


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## mtndewluvr

jayoung21 said:


> Property ownership in the main problem with a larger scouting area. It's my grandparents property and it's only a couple acres. I have 5 traps out there so basically the only way to space them out would be to remove some of the traps. The place is about 2 hrs away so I can't exactly check them every week. I was hoping to have multiple swarms the times I do go check them.


Perhaps your grandparents have a friend or two that might let you "spread" out just a little bit.


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## Jayoung21

I'll ask about the neighbors, Maybe pull one trap from the g-parents property and take a couple more traps down there if I can get enough neighbors.


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## shannonswyatt

Google maps is your friend. And just asking. Most people don't care, as long as it isn't in their front lawn, and you are not attracting killer bees!


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## odfrank

jayoung21 said:


> How close is close? I have a couple traps that are as close as 50 yds to each other. Is that too close? There is a beekeeper right down the rd so im expecting quite a few swarms and it's an offsite location so I set the traps kinda dense


50 yds is fine. I have had the zombie swarm problem on my lot where the traps are only a few feet apart. This was a zombie swarm situation.


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## Jayoung21

That makes me feel much better then. I'll just keep them where they are.


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## Charlie B

I've had the same thing happen. Thinking I would give them a choice between two boxes of different sizes close together when actually they split up into both boxes. Most are queenless or virgin queens. No more putting them close together.


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## RE Roark

a post was asking about nerolic acid- that would be oil of neroli- also called orange blossom oil or absolute (pure essential oil , not adulterated and quite expensive).If one lives near orange groves and the orchardist will let you gather some blooms ( you'll need at least a bucket full over a couple weeks as you replace petals once brown) you can extract your own with cotton batting and oil or purified fat - unscented is the key- a light oil being better than a heavy one- like canola over olive, peanut over rendered lard, etc..use your brain to figure out the light oil..anyway in a covered glass dish lay the cotton batting/wool ( 100% cotton as for first aid , available in rolls) pour on the cleaned petals removing all green parts, stem bits, leaves, etc. then pour on the oil to cover,make as many layers as you have petals, then place the glass lid on the whole, set in sun.check for mould- remove immediately if hinted at. Press the oil from the used cotton batting.Replace the petals when brown in layers as initially setting it up- when picking flowers, leave at least 2 per cluster to insure you don't harm the citrus production.
Neroli oil is available in health food stores, on line, etc. 
Citral- can be lemongrass oil , oil of lemon, or oil of mellissa , or lemon balm- lemon balm and lemon grass having a green herbaceous component. 
Some recipes call for spearmint oil- why? I think it has to do with the location of the hives- regionally- in places where they get wild mint pollens, eucalyptus pollens, etc. I can see using it, otherwise i am not certain why its in some recipes and not others- Anyone have a thought on this??
I can also see adding a drop or two per hive to wax on crossbars in lure traps to prevent mite infestation- it kills em in chicken coops, ( some 'chicken ranchers" use sassafrass cross poles for roosting to prevent lice, mites, etc. the oil is the active principle so it makes sense to me.
I can also see geraniol ( rose geranium oil, geranium bourbon, scented geranium leaf oil if you're growing your own and distilling your own) as the scent is used in a bunch of lures ( pantry moth traps for instance), but so is carnation oil- its floral spicy scent way more pleasant than geranium.the main quality in having geranium bourbon handy is it kills bee stings 100% in seconds- keep a swab with a tip dipped in the oil wrapped or sealed in plastic with you when danger lurks! it will also kill a number of other insect bites and stings..however if you need an epi-pen keep it with you too. geraniol will only kill the bite's pain and neutralise some insects venoms..
anyway I'm facing a north wall hive moved in when a neighbour cut a tree down- its been a few months and I can smell propolis in the room when i open the door.As spring is impending I need to have a CHEAP plan of action ready.ALL suggestions carefully considered.Anyone In New Orleans that wants free bees ( thousands of em) can help for the bees and portion of the comb and honey provided its usable when we get into the wall..Have tools so all needed is some clean hive parts- or at least transport containers to your house! I will try to keep a few skeps to see what happens after sealing the house.( they are coming in between brick and fascia of wood at the joint- then into the room by a poorly installed window frame job that was not caulked on the parents house- old parents= workmen taking advantage of trusting people..very bad contractors around this area after Katrina..anyway bee problem is driving me crazy. I'm poor and disabled so it complicates everything tremendously, and can't afford to set up hives or would as the plants in the yard attract honeybees when no others are in the area in this number so attribute it to the sweet olive,old rose varieties and abundant flora otherwise..All HelP APPRECIATED IMMENSELY!


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## delber

Re Roark, First off I see this is your first post. Welcome to beesource!! There's a thread somewhere (I looked briefly but couldn't find it) where you can post for a cut-out / trap out job. It seems that is what you need to do reading your last couple lines. You can also start a new thread and title it something like "cut-out job in New Orleans" and people can post to you. Otherwise there's a link to bee removals on this site. http://www.beeremovalsource.com/bee-removal-list/ There should be several on that list you can call.


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## Bees&Wood

I would like to put out some swarm traps this year near our existing hives, since we had wild swarms trying to take over some of our established hives last year (which are only about 18" off the ground). If you put drawn comb in the swarm traps, how do you prevent the wax moths from ruining it?


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## VolunteerK9

Bees&Wood said:


> If you put drawn comb in the swarm traps, how do you prevent the wax moths from ruining it?


I use a liberal application of BT that Sundance, a member here, sells. Works like a charm.


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## creekroad

I have never used slumgum to bait a trap. I don't think it would hurt any but I think the comb should still be in trap. I have seen people melt wax into their traps. I can't say if it helped or hurt. Now as far as the scent. I've used a cotton balls and q-tips and haven't noticed much difference. I personally check my trap every couple weeks after swarm season starts. And I do rebait the scents in trap (queen lure, Lemongrass). Not sure that it is necessary but I do it. For no more than I have invested in the lures why not? 
http://honeycomb-hill-beekeeping.blogspot.com/2013/03/swarm-trapping.html


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## flyingbrass

how many frames of old brood does it take? one? two? what about the space? If I use a full size deep brood chamber what do you load it with? Nuc, what do you load it with? Maybe like 2 brood and 2 foundation or what?


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## LetMBee

I load both my 6 and 8 frame traps with only one old brood comb. The rest foundation less frames. For your setup i would only use one. Hang them so the box is level. Then just wait for it to happen.


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## Cleo C. Hogan Jr

flyingbrass said:


> how many frames of old brood does it take? one? two? what about the space?


Here is how I do it.

I use old 10 frame equipment exclusively. Old equipment that is ready to be thrown away. Entrance cut down to about 4 inch width, and 3/8 height. (That keeps out mice. I leave mine out all year.

I place mine primarily on blue plastic tubs that are about 2 1/2 ft. tall and 2 foot in diameter. I do that because I can get all I want, and mice can't climb up the sides of the plastic tubs. I do place a few in deer stands in the woods, and sometimes on just big rocks out in the woods or at the edges of fields. 

If box has holes, just nail a piece of wood over the hole on the outside. Doesn't matter what it looks like. 

I normally put two frames of old dark comb, and one frame of starter wax. The remainder is left open. I use the starter wax to discourage them from dropping a comb beyond the starter wax, if I don't check them often enough and they spend some time in the trap before I find them. After they move in, I fill the trap with a couple more drawn combs and the remainder starter wax and leave it for 10-12 days. Then remove the frames from the trap, place swarm in a nice, clean, box and move to one of my yards. Then set the catcher box back up again with two dark combs and one starter wax.

I use 4-5 drops of lemongrass oil, one drop on the landing board, one on the bottom board near the rear under the dark comb, and one drop on each top bar. I refresh the lemongrass oil in 30-45 days if they haven't caught anything. We often get late swarms, as late as August and September.

cchoganjr


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## shannonswyatt

Flyingbrass, I've heard that some folks put a piece of old comb, not even a whole frame. The old brood comb just has the smell of bees, so any amount is better than none. It seems that LGO is more important than brood comb. I say that based on the results of folks just using brood comb versus just using LGO. The combo is probably better though than just one or the other though. 

Eventually old comb should be culled from the hives, and swarm traps make the most sense.


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## creekroad

I have my best luck with deeps. I have tried nucs with little success. If the space is not right for them you are wasting your time.
As far as a number of old brood frames I usually use at least 3 in each trap. Then fill it the rest of the way with frames of foundation. I bait it with queen lure and lemon-grass oil on a cotton ball. Good Luck!


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## ryanbekke

Michael Bush said:


> If I could just find a glass eye dropper, I'd just drop four drops somewhere in the bait hive. The only ones I seem to be able to find are plastic and they melt in EO. So I use a Q-tip, and tip one end in the Lemongrass Essential Oil and the other end in the "Queen Juice" and drop it in the hive. Perfect measurement every time.  It lasts a season.


Michael, is there any specific brand of Essential Lemongrass Oil that we need for our traps? or will any Lemongrass Oil work? Thanks -Ryan


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## shannonswyatt

Pretty sure lemongrass oil is lemongrass oil. I've bought it twice, and I can't smell the difference. Then again, I'm not a bee.


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## ryanbekke

I found this post on a product label for Lemongrass Oil, 

Common Uses: Lemongrass Essential Oil is known for its invigorating and antiseptic properties. It can be used in facial toners as its astringent properties help fight acne and greasy skin. An excellent anti-depressant, Lemongrass Essential Oil tones and fortifies the nervous system and can be used in bath for soothing muscular nerves and pain. Lemongrass shares similar properties with citronella* and has a great reputation for keeping insects away*. 

Does anyone know if/what there Is about it that the bees like? That other insects do not? Just curious before I buy some.


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## ryanbekke

Thank you!


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## dadandsonsbees

The reason the bees like it is because it mimics the Queen's scent (pheromone).


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## ryanbekke

dadandsonsbees said:


> The reason the bees like it is because it mimics the Queen's scent (pheromone).


Ok, then that makes sense and to why the other insects do not like it. Thank You -Ryan


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## delber

ryanbekke said:


> Does anyone know if/what there Is about it that the bees like? That other insects do not? Just curious before I buy some.


We got some natural bug spray for our kids (2 of them have had lymes disease) and one of the ingredients is LGO. So my bees often will fly by them, but they've never landed on them that I can remember, but being younger children they don't even like the fly by's.


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## Cleo C. Hogan Jr

For those of you looking for a glass dropper that has the rubber nipple on it, please be advised that if left more than a couple of months the rubber on the dropper will melt. I got mine, some time ago, at the Pharmacy at Walmart, and the first year I left it in a zip lock bag over the winter, and it melted the rubber nipple. I use mine, then after a while pour the LGO into another bottle. If you leave the LGO in the dropper, it will melt the rubber tip.

cchoganjr


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## Michael Bush

That's why I started using a q-tip... it measure it well without melting...


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## beefast

Where can a person find the LGO in gel form ?
i am going too try all nuc boxes this year for swarms because i didnt catch any in a 10 frame


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## shannonswyatt

Brushy Mountain sells this stuff called Bee Charm. I got some of it last fall and just opened it this past weekend to see if I could tell what it is. It smells like LGO and it in a gel, I was thinking maybe something like petroleum jelly. Not sure that it is any better than just using LGO.

Bee Charm


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## dadandsonsbees

beefast said:


> Where can a person find the LGO in gel form ?
> i am going too try all nuc boxes this year for swarms because i didnt catch any in a 10 frame


That's what I use,,5 frame nucs got two that looks promising so far.


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## shannonswyatt

I was thinking it was a bit expensive, but I liked the idea of it being a gel. But odfrank does real good with just LGO, now q-tip or anything!


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