# How do you seal the entrance when relocation a swarm box?



## alblancher (Mar 3, 2011)

When moving a swarm more then a couple of miles to the apiary I simply tape a piece of window screen over the swarm box entrance and move them during the cooler part of the day. The swarm box gets set on top of their new home and I give them a day or so before moving them into the hive. They do not seem to have a problem getting adjusted to their new location and the swarm box stays well ventilated

I have been told when moving a swarm to its new location within the apiary (couple of hundred feet) I should stuff the entrance with tissue paper. Give them a couple of days to work their way out and get re-oriented so they do not return to the original capture spot. The lack of ventilation concerns me.

Is this method recommended because the bees have no visual clues of their location for a couple of days or will they re-orient with the screen?


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## jaked007 (Apr 16, 2014)

http://www.beesource.com/forums/asset.php?fid=14459&uid=102162&d=1426864156

This is my first year so I may be doing it all wrong. I pull my traps after dark so all the foragers are at home. I use a spray bottle of water to encourage stragglers into the entrance and close the flapper you see in the picture, and bring them home. After placing them on the stand where the final hive will be, I open the flapper and let them reorient the next morning.


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## jwdeeming (Apr 22, 2014)

I found these on eBay and installed them on my traps. I have no experience yet but they seemed like a slick idea.

http://r.ebay.com/xfG8zL


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## crabbydad (Apr 29, 2012)

when I catch a swarm from one of my hives, I sit on a stand feet away from the hive it came from


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## alblancher (Mar 3, 2011)

Thanks for the responses but I am trying to find out how the bees "reset" their location within the apiary. I don't know if they need to be closed up and not "see the sun" or if they just need to be restricted to their new location for a couple of days. If keeping them in the hive with screen works I prefer to do that then to completely close them up


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## KQ6AR (May 13, 2008)

Screen, or #8 hardware cloth, & we move them at night. Ventilation is important.


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## philip.devos (Aug 10, 2013)

KQ6AR said:


> Screen, or #8 hardware cloth, & we move them at night. Ventilation is important.


DITTO!

Phil


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## alblancher (Mar 3, 2011)

Ok, thanks. Screen works when moving the box within the apiary. 

Screen them in before dawn and move the swarm trap to it's permanent location in the apiary. How long should I leave them screened up in the new location?


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## Lburou (May 13, 2012)

jwdeeming said:


> I found these on eBay and installed them on my traps. I have no experience yet but they seemed like a slick idea.
> 
> http://r.ebay.com/xfG8zL


I bought some of those as well. After the second year they are warped enough that they have very limited use. When they are flat they are great! I've since seen metal discs offered by a few of the supply houses, they work for me. HTH 

Thees discs are especially useful on swarm traps and mating NUCs.


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## KQ6AR (May 13, 2008)

I move my locally caught swarm traps 2 miles for at least 2 weeks then bring them back to the home apiary. or leave them at the outyard.

I open them immediately. Its not a good idea to have a hive closed up out in the sun.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

Screen staples and duct tape...


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## jkingqm (Apr 13, 2015)

KQ6AR said:


> I move my locally caught swarm traps 2 miles for at least 2 weeks then bring them back to the home apiary. or leave them at the outyard.
> 
> I open them immediately. Its not a good idea to have a hive closed up out in the sun.


Dan, can you please elaborate? Are you saying moving them a couple of miles away before moving them back will prevent them from returning to where you caught them? Also, I don't want to hijack this thread so please see my new thread http://www.beesource.com/forums/sho...ould-catch-boxes-be-3-miles-or-more-from-home


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## KQ6AR (May 13, 2008)

If you're bees are in a swarm trap they have set up housekeeping & are a colony. If they spend a couple weeks 2 miles or more away then return home they will re orientate to the new position.
Its the old rule of thumb move a hive less than 2' or greater than 2 miles.
Some people have good luck not moving the hive at all. They put leaves & branches in the doorway forcing the bees to re-orientate.


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## Stlnifr (Sep 12, 2010)

My entrances are two 1 1/8 inch holes I have corks that are pre drilled for ventilation, I wait to dark plug the holes with the corks and take them where ever I need to, whether it is my place or my daughters pace 8 miles a way if bees caught in less than two miles from my place they will stay at my daughters place a week then bring them home.


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## NewJoe (Jul 1, 2012)

close them up and move them.....then reduce the entrance and loosely stuff some grass over the hole and lean a top cover against the front of the hive so the bees will have to crawl around it when they come out the next day....they will re-orient and you will be in business. I catch the swarm and move them right back to the bee yard after dark this way, and it works every time.


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## alblancher (Mar 3, 2011)

Yea, that's basically the advice I have gotten, plug up the hole with toilet paper and let them work their way out. My only concern is with the mid day heat we are experiencing I don't want to take away their only ventilation. I took the swarm I caught in the apiary to the house (65 miles away) and let them out. I'll move them next week.


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## Adam Foster Collins (Nov 4, 2009)

When I build my traps, I use deep lang boxes. I drill a 1" hole for an entrance, at the front/center/bottom. I cut a second, 7/8" hole at the back/center/top. I screen over the top hole with window screen from the inside. Then I put a wine cork in from the outside, so the bees don't pay attention to it. 

I cut the tops and bottoms off of tin cans, punch them full of holes with a nail and put one screw in them above the entrance to my trap (the 1" bottom hole). When I get a swarm, I wait until dusk, spray the bees outside the entrance with a little water - they go right inside - and I snap that ventilated tin can lid right down over the entrance. Then I remove the cork from the upper hole, and air can move right through the box, but the bees can't get out.


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