# I want to build a swarm trap. tips?



## tomcheetoh (Dec 20, 2013)

Hey Beesource,
I want to build a swarm trap that I can then transfer into a langstroth medium deep box. Should I just use a medium deep box with lemongrass oil in it? Or is there some other set up I should use? I would like to catch my bees if possible so that I can start with wild/feral stock. Thanks in advance.


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## Rader Sidetrack (Nov 30, 2011)

You may find this study by Seeley useful:
http://ecommons.cornell.edu/bitstream/1813/2653/2/Bait Hives for Honey Bees.pdf



Plan B: follow Ollie around as he attempts to trap CharlieB's swarms. :lookout:


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## Colino (May 28, 2013)

tomcheetoh said:


> Hey Beesource,
> I want to build a swarm trap that I can then transfer into a langstroth medium deep box. Should I just use a medium deep box with lemongrass oil in it? Or is there some other set up I should use? I would like to catch my bees if possible so that I can start with wild/feral stock. Thanks in advance.


Hello:
You might want to try going on YouTube and watching some videos, there are lots of them. Just do a search for swarm traps, a few of my favorites are, "Out of a blue sky" or "JP The Beeman", "Jason Chrisman", "Jason Bruns". This thread may also help you. http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?289432-Swarm-Trap-Size-Opinions-Wanted&highlight=swarm+trapping
Good luck and happy trapping!
Colino


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## danno (Dec 17, 2007)

your either going to have a medium or a deep but not a med deep. What I do is build very light boxes out of luan tops, sides and bottoms with 1X pine ends. I make mine 5 deep frame but only put 3 drawn frames in them. I have very good luck catching big swarms with the extra empty space in the boxes. My success is about 90% with a average of 15 traps out. I do use lemon grass as a lure and place traps about head high in shady areas near fields


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

Whatever is handy and cheap will work. You can put medium foundationless frames in a deep box, or a medium box. You can use any old box or make a new one. It can be anywhere from the volume of a five frame deep (or an eight frame medium) up to a double deep (or four eight frame mediums) and work pretty well. Bigger won't help. Ideal is probably about the volume of a ten frame deep (two eight frame mediums). Lemongrass oil is probably the most important thing. Old comb helps. Used boxes help. Some queen pheromone (as the alcohol off of old retired queens in a jar of alcohol or as Psuedo queen from one of the bee suppliers) is very helpful in addition to the lemongrass oil. It's nice to get them off the ground. Ideal is higher than I want to put them as hauling the ladder around is difficult. I just put them what I can reach with a six foot or so step ladder.


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## odfrank (May 13, 2002)

You have been helping Charlie go around to his sites, so the "where to trap" problem is solved. And since Charlie has been unsuccessful in making enough honey in his own county, he keeps moving in close to my sites, so you will also be close to all the swarms I lose. As to what kind of box to use, my suggestion is just use that what is your standard brood chamber. That way you will incur no extra expense of making extra equipment and will eliminate the work of transferring the catch into another box. 
Thee is no "wild feral" stock around. There never was since European Honey bees are not native to the US. Most feral hives died from mites in the mid 1990's. Since the local bee clubs import about 1000 packages annually, the swarms you catch will somehow be related to commercial bees. But since they likely have been locally mated, they will be a lot better than the packages being sold, which are piss poor bees.


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## wheeler88 (Mar 6, 2011)

Go here http://learningbeekeeping.com/ and buy the e-book 'Swam Traps and Bait Hives by McCartney Taylor" . You can download and print it out. 54 pages. Its a good book lots of info..


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## Stingboy (Feb 6, 2010)

tomcheetoh said:


> Hey Beesource,
> I want to build a swarm trap that I can then transfer into a langstroth medium deep box. Should I just use a medium deep box with lemongrass oil in it? Or is there some other set up I should use? I would like to catch my bees if possible so that I can start with wild/feral stock. Thanks in advance.


We use 6 gallon peet pots we get from nursury's and make a plywood top with "top bars" like from a top bar hive so the bees will build on them. The bottoms come with drain holes and cover with hardware cloth except one that we leave open so all we have to do is fold the cloth around the hole at night and take them away.
Bait with LGO and melt some wax, and bee glue in the inside, place 10 to 15 foot up in a tree. If you get to them in time, just put into what ever size box you like and if they build comb, us folding frames to transfer the comb into the box.
Gives a new meaning to "freebees".
Send me a PM as I cannot seem to provide pics here and will give you a better idea.


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## NY_BLUES (May 14, 2009)

I like to use whatever size boxes that I have that aren't in use for something else. I will use lemon grass oil queen juice for swarm lures. I don't feel there is any need for specially designed or designated equipment for catching swarms, they seem to move into empty equipment just fine.


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## LetMBee (Jan 4, 2012)

Tomcheetoh: you can try using a medium box for your traps. There are no rules. I put plans up in a post today. The traps are made to use deep frames in though. Take a look.


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## philip.devos (Aug 10, 2013)

Colino wrote regarding YOUTUBE: Just do a search for swarm traps, a few of my favorites are, "Out of a blue sky" or "JP The Beeman", "Jason Chrisman", "Jason Bruns".

I totally agree! Jason Bruns has several very good videos on swarm traps. I have not seen "JP The Beeman", but I plan to do so.


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