# Flower pot type swarm trap



## Craig (Aug 4, 2010)

I need the help of someone whom has used this type of swarm trap please. I purchased one this winter and plan to put it up in mid May in my yard(NW PA). the pot has several eyelets in it. The ones on the top and near the rim of the pot are, I assume, used to keep the lid in place. Are the others further down used for ventilation or are they used to tie the trap to whereever it is mounted. Any advice or pictures would be greatly appreciated!


----------



## AmericasBeekeeper (Jan 24, 2010)

The eyelets are to tie it to the tree with string, twine, wire, wire ties, anything that fits through the hole or just take your trusty duct tape and wrap it to the tree or post. If'n it can't be fix'd with bubble gum and balin' wire, it ain't werth fixn!


----------



## Fuzzy (Aug 4, 2005)

a. use it to only grow flowers in
b. hang either 5 frame deep boxes or 10 frame deep boxes with some old comb and a full complement of frames.

If you use the flower pot as a swarm trap you will wind up doing a cut out after the bees move in. But then, maybe thats your thing.


----------



## peacekeeperapiaries (Jun 23, 2009)

junk, it will fall out of the tree or off the post you hang it on about the second time it gets rained on. Use a 5 frame nuc, much easier.


----------



## tommyt (Aug 7, 2010)

This is the one I believe he speaks of 








Give him a Break these things cost 18 George Washington's 
as Larry the cable guy says 
*Only in America*


Good luck with your trap.I feel you'll catch a swarm 
Just hang it about 5 to 8 foot off the ground preferably near 
a feral hive remove it as soon as they get in 
They will build comb and it will be hard on you,the bees, and the Pot


----------



## swatkins (Jun 19, 2010)

I purchased one of these last year.. It sat in my garage for about 6 months because I just knew hanging it up, out in the weather, would destroy it.. 

I ended up making a "roof" for the trap to enable hanging it and protecting the trap from the weather..

Because of the the way the cover is molded the cover is nothing more than a place for rain water to collect and weaken the trap. I took 1/2" plywood and cut a square 2 inches larger than the cover. I painted that and screwed the plywood to the cover to act as a "roof" when the trap is hung in a tree... The plywood is now the top most piece of the trap and no rainwater can pool in the recesses of the traps cover. I screwed a eye hook in the center of the plywood and use a small rope to hoist it into the tree.. I throw the rope over a convenient tree limb and pull the hive up into the tree then tied the rope off on the trunk. Easy to install and, more importantly, easy to take down when it catches something..

The four brass eyelets I used for screwing the cover to the outside of the trap... Makes it easy to remove the cover if needed and the eyelets keep the screws from tearing out.

I also sprayed the outside of the trap with a clear coating that my wife uses to protect her yard art... This dried clear and after a month of "airing out" seems to leave no human detectable odor.


----------



## fish_stix (May 17, 2009)

OK. You've got the thing waterproofed and covered and hung in a tree. Now you catch a swarm. The swarm immediately starts building comb on the lid of that bucket and very soon attach the comb to the sides of the bucket. Guess what you have now! A cutout waiting for you! You try to get the lid off but it's attached to the sides with comb so you tear the comb apart just getting the lid off. Guess what those thousands of bees in that bucket are doing at this point in time! They are zeroing in on you, all of them competing for a spot on your body to stick a hot spike into, while you're fiddling around trying to get comb cut and transferred to frames. Contrast this scenario with Gus the Beek, down the road, who hung a 5 frame nuc box with foundationless frames in a similar tree and also caught a swarm. Gus takes the nuc box down, smokes it a little, opens it and gently transfers frames plus bees, who are not very disturbed, into a hive body. He then fills the box again with more frames and resets it in the tree, and hauls away his prize. By this time you've killed half the bees in the trap and are close to getting the comb rubber banded into frames, which is very difficult now because your fingers and hands are 3 times their normal size from bee stings. So, which way do you think is best? BTW, this is from actual experience; my son bought 6 of those traps a couple years ago; they didn't last long; one swarm trapped was plenty of experience!


----------



## Craig (Aug 4, 2010)

Thanks everyone!!
I get the point!!

Craig


----------



## Mosherd1 (Apr 17, 2011)

How important is it to use the swarm lures? I know that it must help but will old comb and a hive body do the trick with no chemical lure?


----------



## swatkins (Jun 19, 2010)

fish_stix said:


> OK. You've got the thing waterproofed and covered and hung in a tree. Now you catch a swarm. The swarm immediately starts building comb on the lid of that bucket and very soon attach the comb to the sides of the bucket. Guess what you have now! A cutout waiting for you! You try to get the lid off but it's attached to the sides with comb so you tear the comb apart just getting the lid off. Guess what those thousands of bees in that bucket are doing at this point in time! They are zeroing in on you, all of them competing for a spot on your body to stick a hot spike into, while you're fiddling around trying to get comb cut and transferred to frames. Contrast this scenario with Gus the Beek, down the road, who hung a 5 frame nuc box with foundationless frames in a similar tree and also caught a swarm. Gus takes the nuc box down, smokes it a little, opens it and gently transfers frames plus bees, who are not very disturbed, into a hive body. He then fills the box again with more frames and resets it in the tree, and hauls away his prize. By this time you've killed half the bees in the trap and are close to getting the comb rubber banded into frames, which is very difficult now because your fingers and hands are 3 times their normal size from bee stings. So, which way do you think is best? BTW, this is from actual experience; my son bought 6 of those traps a couple years ago; they didn't last long; one swarm trapped was plenty of experience!


 So its no different than performing a cut out... Also they have invented a new item witch prevents your fingers from swelling three times their normal size..... They are called gloves... 

I never said this those pots are the best way to do it... I only have one because I bought it out of ignorance... ( I have 8, 5 frame nucs performing the job now) All I was doing was helping the guy out by improving the trap he had already bought!


----------



## fish_stix (May 17, 2009)

And I was trying to help him by relating a real life experience with those traps.


----------



## Grant (Jun 12, 2004)

I'm cheap. When I acquired one of these traps, I thought I should use it. I'd been better off giving to someone I didn't like. I don't know why the supply companies sell these things. I can't say anything good about them. I highly recommend the box style traps with frames.

Years ago, I bought the box style traps made from the same material. The supply company (I think it was Brushy Mtn.) received many complaints that the box traps were warping. I never had these problems, but Brushy called Western Pulp (the manufacture) so many times Westurn quit answering the phone. So Brushy quit carrying the box traps. Over time, the squirrels, mice and birds chewed up my box style traps.

I ended up making my own box style traps made from scrap wood (looks just like a nuc box). 

I can't figure out why the flower pot are still available. But then, there are a lot of things my fellow beekeepers do that defy my comprehension. I'm sure I do stuff that they don't understand as well.

Grant
Jackson, MO http://swarmtrapping.homestead.com


----------



## StevenG (Mar 27, 2009)

Grant; said:


> I can't figure out why the flower pot are still available. But then, there are a lot of things my fellow beekeepers do that defy my comprehension. I'm sure I do stuff that they don't understand as well.


The first go-around, we do things out of ignorance. doh: yes, I bought two of those &*$% things also) The second time we do things out of stubbornness. The third time out of stupidity. And by the fourth time we're out of business. Some folks never learn.
Regards,
Steven


----------



## tommyt (Aug 7, 2010)

Those things (correct me if wrong) are made with Pheromone Lure embedded in them 
If this is so? I'd cut it up and use large pieces in made swarm box's maybe as part
of the Lid to the box staple it to the wood 
but be sure to have Frames so they can build on them verse the lid 
it may turn out to be well worth it ,If you get say 5 or 10 baited traps from one Pail??

Tommyt


----------



## Fuzzy (Aug 4, 2005)

"Those things (correct me if wrong) are made with Pheromone Lure embedded "

*Wrong !*


----------



## coopermaple (Aug 30, 2009)

Those pots don't hold up all that well in our greenhouses either.


----------



## tommyt (Aug 7, 2010)

Thanks Fuzzy 
I am wrong 
Of course I went looking and this is what one site said 


> Product Information
> 
> 
> The easy way to capture swarms and you don't even have to be in the bee yard! Made of a molded fiber material which is water resistant. *Its rough texture simulates the inside of a hollow tree.* When used in conjunction with swarm lures, Swarm traps are extremely effective in attracting and capturing swarms.
> ...


https://millerbeesupply.com/swarm-traps/swarm-trap/prod_350.html

Tommyt


----------



## dsquared (Mar 6, 2006)

I've used one for several years. Take it down in the fall and it will last. You do have to do a cut-out, but big deal. When it gets holes in it, duct tape them. When its more duct tape than paper, throw it away.


----------

