# How Can I Keep Harvesting Swarms From The Same Hive?



## Riverderwent (May 23, 2013)

neelin01 said:


> They dont want to demolish the wall and arent that concerned about the bees living there.


Would your in laws prefer to have the bees out of the wall. If so, you should install a Hogan trapout with a one-way cone in the box and flexible tubing between the trapout box and the hive entrance in the wall. Depending on the manner of construction, the most difficult part may be sealing off other entrances. If you remove the cone and put a frame of eggs and young larvae in the trapout box near where the tube comes in and put some drawn comb on the other side of that brood comb, you may be able to catch the queen in the box.


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## GaryG74 (Apr 9, 2014)

Welcome to BeeSource! Agree with David, do the Hogan trap out or set a swarm trap or two about 50 to 75 yards from the wall and catch the swarm(s) that exit every Spring. Good luck either way.


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## neelin01 (Apr 9, 2016)

The ultimate goal is to get them out of the wall eventually But i was thinking it would be a good opportunity to expand my yard. If i could get a few swarms out of it this year then next year ill try to get them out for good. Theyre not in any rush to get them out. I guess i should have said before. The wall is in an old cabin part of the house that is pretty much sealed off from the rest of the house.


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## Eikel (Mar 12, 2014)

Enticing the queen out is a long shot, don't count on it happening. Mr Cleo Hogan's method would be a good option; one way exit, when you have enough bees - move the box and add a queen or frame of eggs/larvae. Give the wall hive a few weeks to recover and repeat but don't drag them too low on resources and foragers if the in-laws don't want to open the wall. Helping the wall colony to survive may be in your best interest; comb, honey and all the other hive debris if in the wall will become a bug's blue plate special to raise tons of creepy crawlies.


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## neelin01 (Apr 9, 2016)

Those are all great points I think I will probably end up doing just as you guys suggest. Thanks a lot for the advice, I would really like to get a queen as it should be a good line of bees if its that old of a colony (If it is the same colony that moved in all those years ago) So I guess my best chance of landing a queen would be to set up a swarm trap? and then if I were to catch one, I could use the queen or frames of brood from the swarm I hopefully catch and the Hogan trap to make whatever I need. I think its an excellent point that it would be better to leave them alive and well untill we are ready to demolish the wall and do a proper removal and repair. Thanks again guys. glad I found this site,looking forward to picking up all the advise I can get and I think I found the right place.


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## whiskers (Aug 28, 2011)

Search for cleo c hogan's posts on here. His email is in some of them, write to him for his method. What you are describing is close to it. You want to put your box as close as possible to the entrance for it to be accepted as part of the hive. If you don't make the passage one way, and after it is accepted by the hive as an extension, and after you put a frame of brood into it, the queen will (hopefully) come out and lay in it and return. Once the queen starts to use the box you can start withdrawing bees and brood from it to start other hives. Mr Hogan claims 6 or 8 a year without depleting the original hive, but he is in Kentucky where the season is longer. His description will be better than my synopsis. He seems a nice man, always ready to help.
Bill


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## neelin01 (Apr 9, 2016)

Thanks guys. Ive talked to Mr.Hogan and he said In order to keep the feral hive alive and well I will have to check it every day if I intend to catch the queen. The idea is to make sure there are capped brood in the feral hive that they can raise a new queen with. So if the queen goes into my trap and not back into the wall there is a four day window with the brood in the feral hive for them to make new queens out of them. Im away from home for 7 days then home for 7 straight so I will not be able to check it every day. So to be sure that I dont steal the queen from the feral hive and kill them off. I think i will set up my box like mr. Hogan recommends and then once the queen starts laying eggs and the frames in the box are looking good i will check it very thourough to make sure the queen is not in it. If she is i will return her to the wall hive and move my hive away or switch frames with another empty hive maybe 4-5 frames at a time. Leaving the feral queen in the wall hive and hopefully they will raise a new queen out of the frames i take away. If it works i should be able to make a few hives from the feral hive and keep the feral hive alive and strong until we are ready to do a demo and repair on the wall and remove them completely. Mr. Hogan was very helpful. And he seems like a great guy who really knows what hes talking about. I wish spring would hurry up and get here all ready so I can try this out!! Im also thinking i might set it up right now and put some pollen patties in there to draw them out. We wont have any flowers blooming here for at least another month or so.


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

neelin01 said:


> Thanks guys. The idea is to make sure there are capped brood in the feral hive that they can raise a new queen with. .


That should be uncapped brood, not capped brood. You cannot make a queen from capped brood.

cchoganjr


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## neelin01 (Apr 9, 2016)

Ahh. Uncapped brood. Thats what i meant to write. Thanks for the correction sir. am heading over tomorrow to seal everything up and hopefully install my trap.


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## JRG13 (May 11, 2012)

Set up some swarm traps this year, I wouldn't mess with the hive other than that to help encourage them to swarm.


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## neelin01 (Apr 9, 2016)

JRG13 you dont think it will work? Or you think I would be more succesful just putting traps close by? I was told they swarm usually 2-3 times a year. I think I can get more colonies using this method and slowly trap them out for good.


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

Really depends on what you want to do.

Trapping is a sure thing if executed properly. Easy to get 3 to 5 good nucs from a decent colony. 

Swarm boxes are hit and miss, most often miss. Only works if the bees like your box better than all the natural places in your area for them to set up housekeeping. And of course if your ultimate goal is to, at some point, eliminate the colony, then swarm boxes will not eliminate colonies no matter how many you set out.

cchoganjr


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## neelin01 (Apr 9, 2016)

I agree with the above statement. ai think my chances are a lot better using Mr Hogans method. I installed the trap and sealed everything up tight. now its just a matter of waiting for them to come out. Its supposed to be 18 this weekend so hopefully some warm weather will get them going.


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

neelin01 said:


> Its supposed to be 18 this weekend so hopefully some warm weather will get them going.



If 18 degrees is something to look forward to, as warm weather, how cold has it been being.

Just noticed that your address is Ontario, Canada, so, wonder if that is C not F? If so that would make sense. Just caught me by surprise when I first looked at it.

cchoganjr


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## neelin01 (Apr 9, 2016)

Haha. celcius. Its still pretty cold here. We usually have frost at night up untill the end of may and then its hot and humid untill sept - october.


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