# No Brood Trap Out?



## Tenbears (May 15, 2012)

You will need some comb, and brood or all you will get is foragers.


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## Harley Craig (Sep 18, 2012)

if you do a Hogan style trap you will get more than just foragers, house bees gotta poop too. You should check your queen source and see if they will sell a frame of brood, or check with your local club to see if anyone will sell a frame of young brood.


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## Denniston (Mar 19, 2015)

I am thinking of a Hogan style trap. I guess my worry was with out any brood, 1) will the just abscond? 2) will they live long enough for a queen to mate or hatch and mate? I was thinking that I would put a FBM top hive feeder on it.


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## Denniston (Mar 19, 2015)

Harley Craig said:


> You should check your queen source and see if they will sell a frame of brood, or check with your local club to see if anyone will sell a frame of young brood.


That's a good idea. Is there a going rate for a frame of brood?


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## Harley Craig (Sep 18, 2012)

like anything else, supply and demand  ....and or who you know.... I bought a split off a guy for $5 a frame with bees, plus $20 for a new queen. I don't recon most folks will find them that cheap. When first starting, my mentor gave me a frame of eggs for free when a queen didn't return from a mating flight.


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## Cleo C. Hogan Jr (Feb 27, 2010)

Denniston said:


> Is there a going rate for a frame of brood?


As Harley Craig says, "Supply and Demand." Around here a frame, solid with brood is, about $20.00. If you team up 3 frames of brood, ($60.00) plus 2 frames of drawn comb and honey/pollen ($10.00) and then roughly three pounds of bees ($100.00) you have the price of a nuc, $170.00.

Denniston.... Without drawn comb and some brood, the trap will often be used as honey storage rather than a brood chamber. It is the introduction of the unsealed brood that entices the queen to come into the trap to inspect and lay some eggs of her own. From then on, she will most often move back and forth, (horizontal) rather than vertical in normal hives. Space, and available brood comb, in the feral colony will determine if she needs the room for laying additional brood. 

The reason trees are more successful than buildings at getting the queen to use the trap as a brood chamber is, you can place the transition from the trap to the tree closer, thus, the queen has less distance to travel. If the feral brood nest is some distance, (I normally say 3 feet or more), the queen may not travel that distance, even with brood in the trap. In this case, nurse bees will tend the brood until it emerges, and then they most often use it for honey storage. But, during this time frame, enough nurse bees will cover the frame of brood, additional bees will come out to draw wax, clean frames, clean the trap, fan for cooling, guard the entrance, etc. . Even if the queen does not come out, you should get enough bees in 24 to 48 hours (3+ pounds) to start a new colony. With a strong colony you can take 2 or 3 more starts, then let it build up for Winter, then do it all over again next Spring. The real beauty of this system is you get the right mix of bees to start a new colony. You don't just get field bees, you get nurse bees, housekeepers, cleaners, fanners, guard bees, etc. Approximating the same mix as a swarm.

cchoganjr


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## Harley Craig (Sep 18, 2012)

cleo do you remember that thread from last yr with the guy claiming like 90+ percent getting the queen using a junk queen in a cage to lure her out looking for a fight? I wonder if a psudo strip would do the same?


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## Cleo C. Hogan Jr (Feb 27, 2010)

Yes I remember. I have never used junk queen in a cage nor have I used the psedo strips. So, I cannot comment on it. 

There are so many variables in trapping and success in getting the queen. My guess is, it may work some times but not others. I have pretty much retired from trapping (only did 3 last year) (only have have one set up for this year), but, I love to see others trying different approaches, and making modifications to the trapping process.

Your idea would be worth a try. If you have the chance, try it. See what happens, then I encourage everyone to share what you learned.

cchoganjr


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