# swarm catching odds



## wildflowerlanehoney (Aug 17, 2010)

for those of you who specifically set swarm traps, what are the typical odds of catching a swarm do you see?

i know, there are a million variables, but just real quick. 50/50? 1 out of 5? 2% of traps set? 

just a ball park number.


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## mathesonequip (Jul 9, 2012)

it totally depends on where you are. in my area there are practicaly no feral bees right now so the odds are close to zero. in some areas down south there are all kinds of wild bees so much better odds. also skill makes a difference. so it is back to all beekeeping is local.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

It really is like fishing. In a good spot how many fish will you catch? In a poor spot? Spread the bait hives over a large area. When you catch some, put more there and less in the places you're not catching them.


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## propet12 (Jun 17, 2009)

Some years some; some years none. I would say on the average about 10-15% in my area.


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## T.Smith (Aug 26, 2009)

I typically get at least one for two traps set.


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## odfrank (May 13, 2002)

I used to get over 90%, but not this last year, was down to maybe 75%. I also set less. Very dense population of colonies where I live. Not only feral, but the local bee clubs import hundreds of packages every year. I caught 30 this year and over 50 the previous few years. Our local losses were 56%.


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## Colino (May 28, 2013)

http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?290932-Swarm-catching-question
This thread has some good info about catching swarms, Rader put a link in his post in it that also has good info.


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## Myron Denny (Sep 27, 2009)

Question for odfrank, how many of the swarms you caught had marked queens?
I am guessing bees swarm way more than we think.
What size boxs are you using?


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## SS1 (Jun 1, 2013)

Spending a bit of time HUNTING feral colonies is usually time well spent if you want to catch swarms... Keep an eye on those spots, and place your traps/boxes anywhere from a hundred yards away to a 1/4 mile.. I know where there are a few survivor hives, and usually have good luck catching the swarms from them.. If I dont know an area and just slap up a bunch of boxes I dont have nearly as much luck..


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## DC Bees (Sep 24, 2009)

I got 1 out of 3 last year. Next year I will put out a few more maybe 5 or 6, good luck swarm trapping.


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## odfrank (May 13, 2002)

Myron Denny said:


> Question for odfrank, how many of the swarms you caught had marked queens?I am guessing bees swarm way more than we think.What size boxs are you using?


Catching a marked queen is a dream I have not fulfilled. My foremost goal in life is to catch one of Charlie B's marked queens. I am using five frame, eight frame, ten frame, deep frames and Jumbo depth frames. This was my arsenal from 2011:


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## mdax (Apr 29, 2013)

wow, that's an impressive number of caught swarms.
I'll be putting out 6-10 traps this year and hope for the best!


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## Charlie B (May 20, 2011)

Most of those traps surrounded my SF yard for months last spring!


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## Mr.Beeman (May 19, 2012)

I've been receiving swarm calls for a few years now and have mapped where these were picked up. I figure the odds are more in my favor if I set traps where some of these calls cluster up.
In one instance, I have had four calls in a one mile area.
I'd bee content with a 25% success result.


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## tsmullins (Feb 17, 2011)

wildflowerlanehoney said:


> for those of you who specifically set swarm traps, what are the typical odds of catching a swarm do you see?


Last winter saw our region have the worst colony loss ever. As a result, we had the worst swarm season. We had 0% success. Leading into this winter, we had a better, still not good season. Hopefully, we will catch some swarms.

Shane


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## dixiebooks (Jun 21, 2010)

I'd have to ditto Shane/tsmullins. I am in Upper East TN, not far from Shane. I went from a high of 30 colonies last year to 18 by 1 October. By spring, I was down to 2 - a full size colony and a nuc. I had zero success trapping swarms this year, though I did get called out on a few swarm calls that I collected by hand. -james


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## johng (Nov 24, 2009)

I have better luck from getting calls off of local swarm list. I keep two hives set up in my truck from Feb. through the end of April.


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## minz (Jan 15, 2011)

Goes to show it is a location game. Last year we had a light winter and swarming was early by a month and heavy. I had two traps of 5 and my own yards swarmed to a point that I filled all my deep gear. I pulled my remaining traps and caught one in the traps at lunch time in the canopy of the truck. I did expand my traps and tried adding a shallow. One of the traps was swallowed by a road widening project and none of my new traps produced. I use my traps for my OW nucs to keep that ‘bee smell’ in them. It might be BS but like fishing a lot is the location of the bait and my confidence to put it there.


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## Pops (Nov 29, 2013)

mathesonequip said:


> it totally depends on where you are. in my area there are practicaly no feral bees right now so the odds are close to zero. in some areas down south there are all kinds of wild bees so much better odds. also skill makes a difference. so it is back to all beekeeping is local.


So there are states without feral bees? I see a lot post that say this or that catching swarms are next to impossible.


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## PAHunter62 (Jan 26, 2011)

In 2013 I had 11 traps out and all but 2 were sucessful. I caught 9 swarms all in different traps/locations. One was building comb off a trap lid when I got there with all the bees hanging on the front of the trap - that was easy to transfrer into a hive body. All others took up residence in the traps.


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## Darb (Apr 22, 2012)

This past year was my first at beekeeping.... I put up two traps and caught two swarms. I was surprised, since the consensus seems to be you have to be lucky. I used swarm lure, couple drops of lemon grass oil on the entrance, and "painted" the inside with melted bees wax....
Got them at the end of June.
Read the Cornell paper on bait hives, good luck.

http://ecommons.cornell.edu/bitstream/1813/2653/2/Bait Hives for Honey Bees.pdf


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## shannonswyatt (May 7, 2012)

I put out around 20 this past year, but the only swarm I caught was in an empty top bar nuc in my back yard, not baited or anything. Go figure. I'm thinking maybe next year I should put all 20 plus in my back yard!


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## Lburou (May 13, 2012)

I put out five boxes and got three swarms, one with a yellow marked queen. Traps were close to 40 liters in volume, 1 1/4 inch hole with a nail in it to keep birds out, swarm lure, melted wax painted inside cavity and placed as high as I could manage, none over 8'.


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