# Swarm trap plans-quick, easy and cheap



## TomG

For those of you looking to build some swarm traps read this. This year i searched high and low for good swarm trap plans to maximize the use of materials and minimize costs. After a lot of research, I finally decided to just draw up my own. I read Tom Seeleys Honey Bee Democracy and took some notes and ideas. I wanted a trap that was as close to 40L as possible, that would hold frames to make transfer easy, be taller than wide to allow for a fewer number of frames to be used by traps while also making it easier to hang. I also wanted something that i was able use nuc tops on, that way i could dual purpose some of the equipment. Finally i wanted something that if all went to crap and i was short equipment i could cut down to make 5 frame nucs. After a lot of rough attempts, I finally came up with these plans. After a trail run i enlisted the help of my friend troyheckman on beesource to draw them on sketch up so i could share them. They are super simple, cheap and consist of relatively straight cuts. You can make 12 traps from three sheets of plywood or 7.5 from two. I go to home depot and have them precut sheet one to 16"-40"-40", sheet two is cut to 40"-36"-remainder. I then finish them on a table saw. Inside dimensions measure out to right 37L. I then drill a 1.75" hole 2" from the bottom in the center of either the side or face. I tried to make them a little larger but was unable to achieve such little waste. I assemble with glue and staples. My cost using home depot lumber is just under $6.50 including lids. To get 12 traps you will need 2 sheets of sheet #2 and one of #1. Everything is color coded off the final diagrams.


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## snapper1d

Why build those when you can just use deep supers.Deep supers can be used for swarm traps or hives.Old supers that have been or ready to be discarded are some of the best since they already have plenty of bee smell in them.


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## TomG

snapper1d said:


> Why build those when you can just use deep supers.Deep supers can be used for swarm traps or hives.Old supers that have been or ready to be discarded are some of the best since they already have plenty of bee smell in them.


Unfortunately since i just got into beekeeping within the last few years i wont have any deeps that are that beat up for years. I tried some traps that were freshly built deeps last year and my biggest problem was that they cost me considerably more and they are a pain to hang. I also don't like drilling into my hive bodies i plan on using in the future. Lastly, this design uses half as many frames.


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## Harley Craig

you say your cost includes lids, but you don't show them on your cut list. Where do you get your lids? I know they would be easy enough to make but was just curious if you were buying, or building out of scrap or how you figured this in?


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## odfrank

>Lastly, this design uses half as many frames.

Remember the famous odfrank quotation:

"A large bait hive will catch a small swarm but a small bait hive won't catch a large swarm."

It broke my heart to walk up to this and watch it fly away.



So I made these:


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## TomG

Harley Craig said:


> you say your cost includes lids, but you don't show them on your cut list. Where do you get your lids? I know they would be easy enough to make but was just curious if you were buying, or building out of scrap or how you figured this in?


Just 5 frame nuc migratory tops. I'm building them out of 1x10 that I just leave at full size and cut to length and attach cleats.


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## TomG

Frank how large is that trap on top. Looks like a 5 frame but maybe just a nuc.


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## Harley Craig

Correct me if I'm wrong but that's just a standard 5 frame nuc correct? One would expect a large swarm to not stick around in a standard nuc. The one pictured at 37 liters has the volume closer to that of a 10 frame deep. Deep nuc being 21 liters and a Deep 10 frm being 42 liters do you think the bees would prefer it to be wider? With just a hand full of traps the extra frames are negligible, but if you put out a lot, the expenses add up.


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## Harley Craig

my plan for this yr is to utilize some of my first 8 frame medium boxes I ever built that weren't built well and werent painted well and adding a 1x4 which should give make it very close to 40 liters.


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## Scott Gough

Thanks for posting the plans. I like the effiency of the plywood use. I assume you dado the ends to support the frames. What size dado did you use?


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## dynemd

Someone on Beesource led me to these plans for a swarm trap on horizontalhive.com and I've built two and like the design. I widened mine up from holding 6 deep frames to 8 and have a hole in the front instead of a slot. Similar to TomG's but with detailed plans. Light and spacious, simple to construct.
http://www.horizontalhive.com/how-to-build/swarm-trap-free-plans.shtml
Discussion: http://www.horizontalhive.com/honeybee-swarm-trap/bait-hive-how-to-catch.shtml


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## TomG

Scott Gough said:


> Thanks for posting the plans. I like the effiency of the plywood use. I assume you dado the ends to support the frames. What size dado did you use?


I just used a standard 3/8x5/8. Part of the reason I went with 5/8" ply rather than 1/2". Also because there is less than a dollar difference in a sheet where I'm from.


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## TomG

dynemd said:


> Someone on Beesource led me to these plans for a swarm trap on horizontalhive.com and I've built two and like the design. I widened mine up from holding 6 deep frames to 8 and have a hole in the front instead of a slot. Similar to TomG's but with detailed plans. Light and spacious, simple to construct.
> http://www.horizontalhive.com/how-to-build/swarm-trap-free-plans.shtml
> Discussion: http://www.horizontalhive.com/honeybee-swarm-trap/bait-hive-how-to-catch.shtml


Those are the plans that really got me thinking about making the boxes more vertical. My problem with those plans was the odd number of pieces you get from the sheets. There was no way to equalize your fronts/sides/bottoms efficiently. They are also a little larger but you can only get 8 out of three sheets as far as I can tell.


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## hivemind11

Thanks tomG. I may be using this in the near future!


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## jadebees

As many experienced beecatchers have posted, an 8 or 10 frame deep is very good. 2 Warre hive boxes is very good also. Cut outs and re-hiving in 10 days with big swarms, not so good. Then, that box you didnt make, you need. It isn't too much to just make a nice 8 or 10 frame deep, with your plywood. Butt joints, framed, regular floor & cheap ply roof. You will find they make good hives, too. After you use up all your factory made boxes, (caught so many!) and your swarm lures fit them, you find out the bees don't mind plywood.


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## dynemd

TomG said:


> Those are the plans that really got me thinking about making the boxes more vertical. My problem with those plans was the odd number of pieces you get from the sheets. There was no way to equalize your fronts/sides/bottoms efficiently. They are also a little larger but you can only get 8 out of three sheets as far as I can tell.


OK, now I see how well you're maximizing the the traps per sheet of plywood. Very efficient. Nice work.


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## dynemd

Oh by the way, this is a proven design as of this afternoon. Another win for swam commander also.


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## Harley Craig

dynemd said:


> Someone on Beesource led me to these plans for a swarm trap on horizontalhive.com and I've built two and like the design. I widened mine up from holding 6 deep frames to 8 and have a hole in the front instead of a slot. Similar to TomG's but with detailed plans. Light and spacious, simple to construct.
> http://www.horizontalhive.com/how-to-build/swarm-trap-free-plans.shtml
> Discussion: http://www.horizontalhive.com/honeybee-swarm-trap/bait-hive-how-to-catch.shtml


what's the internal volume of that? I just made a 5 frame like this style out of scrap 1x8 lumber with some scrap plywood sides. mine ended up being roughly 19x20x 7.5 interior dimensions and calculated out to 46 liters.


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## dynemd

Harley Craig said:


> what's the internal volume of that? I just made a 5 frame like this style out of scrap 1x8 lumber with some scrap plywood sides. mine ended up being roughly 19x20x 7.5 interior dimensions and calculated out to 46 liters.


I said previously 8 frames but I just checked mine is only 7, slightly wider. Horizontal hive's plans are 6 frames so 9.5" wide by 19" front to back and 19.5" tall is a little over 57 liters.


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## Bdfarmer555

Built a few from the "Coates nuc" plans. Instead of cutting the ply into 8 sides, I skipped the first cut, giving me 4 double deep sides. I also had to cut the end pieces 19-3/4 tall instead of 9-1/2. Ended up with 2 extra bottoms and tops that I saved for the next sheet I use to make more swarm traps or nuc boxes.


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## missybee

We are removing some deeps from our hives, to hard on my hands and shoulder to move around. I have some beautiful drawn old brood comb. In reading this and other posts the frames would help in a swarm trap. 
How do you keep the wax moths from eating up the wax on the frames? while you wait for a swarm to move in.


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## Harley Craig

missybee said:


> We are removing some deeps from our hives, to hard on my hands and shoulder to move around. I have some beautiful drawn old brood comb. In reading this and other posts the frames would help in a swarm trap.
> How do you keep the wax moths from eating up the wax on the frames? while you wait for a swarm to move in.


 If you are worried about it 

http://www.amazon.com/Xentari-XenTa...827015&sr=8-7&keywords=Bacillus+thuringiensis


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## Harley Craig

dynemd said:


> I said previously 8 frames but I just checked mine is only 7, slightly wider. Horizontal hive's plans are 6 frames so 9.5" wide by 19" front to back and 19.5" tall is a little over 57 liters.


and you don't find that getting to the large side of the " magic 40 " size


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## yotebuster1200

My traps are very similar to yours. They are 5 frames wide and i think 16 inches deep. They are right around 39 liters volume. I like the fact that I can use 5 frames and I also think they are more managable to hang.


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## TomG

yotebuster1200 said:


> My traps are very similar to yours. They are 5 frames wide and i think 16 inches deep. They are right around 39 liters volume. I like the fact that I can use 5 frames and I also think they are more managable to hang.


My original plans were for the to be 16" tall until i realized i forgot the saw kerf, made for a few short pieces at the end. :doh:


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## Adam Foster Collins

I like the OP's design. I like the way it offers a large interior volume, while minimizing the number of frames, and I like that it could be mounted on a vertical surface with less support than is necessary for a 10 frame lang box. I could see making some of these myself.

Thanks,

Adam


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## dynemd

Harley Craig said:


> and you don't find that getting to the large side of the " magic 40 " size


I may be mistaken but I believe Seely's research on trap volume was fairly imprecise, which allows much leeway especially to the larger end of the range. Also if I may quote the infamous bee trapper odfrank 
"A large bait hive will catch a small swarm but a small bait hive won't catch a large swarm." and I DO want a large swarm...


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## Harley Craig

dynemd said:


> I may be mistaken but I believe Seely's research on trap volume was fairly imprecise, which allows much leeway especially to the larger end of the range. ...



Ha ha that is why I put " magic 40" in quotations. trying to fill in the gaps on what is too large.


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## jcummins

dynemd said:


> Oh by the way, this is a proven design as of this afternoon. Another win for swam commander also.


If you have a swarm trap with bees like this, how do you manage to get the trap down and get all the bees inside?


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## TomG

Heres a few pictures of the completed plans. Not the best pictures but finished up


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## dynemd

TomG-
Very nice finished product! Looks very sturdy also. Any idea on the weight? What do you think you'd loose by making the bigger sides out of 1/4" sheathing?


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## TomG

Its definitely sturdy. With frames id say they are in the 10-15 pound range but i can't say for sure. Unfortunately, I'm back at school and can't weigh one for you. I would imagine it would be fine to build them with 1/4" on the sides and bottom to reduce weight. That would cut the weight down quite a bit.


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## Brandon1107

Tom,

I can't see the pictures of your plans anymore. Any chance of reposting them.
They mysteriously appeared again. Disregard 

Thanks,
Brandon


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## okiwen

Brandon1107 said:


> Tom,
> 
> I can't see the pictures of your plans anymore. Any chance of reposting them.
> They mysteriously appeared again. Disregard
> 
> Thanks,
> Brandon


Hello,
Did you ever get to see the original plans? If so, can you send them to me? Thank you


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## odfrank

Here are my latest swarm traps.
Placed on the top box of the weakest hives in the apiary....box sized plywood, division screen.....dead out brood chamber laced with lure. 
This saves me from having to pick them up and move them. I can just remove the plywood, allow the diviision screen to do it's thing, choose the weakest queen to eliminate and remove the division screen. Even lower cost is a entrance notched plywood and newspaper for merging. Division screen entrance is circled. My inner covers have notches. I could duct tape the inner cover hole and eliminate any additional equipment.


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## okiwen

Interesting. Thank you. Ended up finding a plane elsewhere. Fun to build.


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## JWPalmer

For ease of transfer, you may want to consider making the swarm trap to fit the Warre bars you intend to use in the hive.


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## Litsinger

odfrank said:


> Here are my latest swarm traps.
> Placed on the top box of the weakest hives in the apiary....box sized plywood, division screen.....dead out brood chamber laced with lure.


odfrank:

Thank you for the post. I am intrigued by this idea. Is the rationale for embedding your swarm traps atop existing colonies strictly for convenience sake or have you found that scouts are giving preferential treatment to cavities located near existing colonies?


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## odfrank

My Bad......this is the first year I am trying it, so no data. 
As I in the past set maybe 50 traps in a 20 mile radius,I just got tired of spending Saturday nights driving around picking them up and moving where needed. So last year I set them on top of weak hives, and then had to move them from the nuc box into the hive. So using this new idea I will only have to remove the unwanted queen and merge the boxes. No evening pickup required.
I do have success catching in my apiaries, so now clean up dead hives, lace with LGO and return to often find them full. 



Litsinger said:


> odfrank said:
> 
> 
> 
> Here are my latest swarm traps.
> Placed on the top box of the weakest hives in the apiary....box sized plywood, division screen.....dead out brood chamber laced with lure.
> 
> 
> 
> odfrank:
> 
> Thank you for the post. I am intrigued by this idea. Is the rationale for embedding your swarm traps atop existing colonies strictly for convenience sake or have you found that scouts are giving preferential treatment to cavities located near existing colonies?
Click to expand...


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## Litsinger

odfrank said:


> So using this new idea I will only have to remove the unwanted queen and merge the boxes. No evening pickup required.
> I do have success catching in my apiaries, so now clean up dead hives, lace with LGO and return to often find them full.


Thanks, odfrank. Makes sense to me. I'll look forward to hearing how this turns out for you.

I don't have any deadouts to fill yet, but I am thinking strongly about placing production hives doubling as swarm traps in the exact location I want them this year for the very reasons you noted. I was concerned this may reduce my swarm trapping chances but maybe it won't be a big factor either way- and it would certainly make things more efficient.

Thanks again for the response. I appreciate it.

Russ


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## odfrank

Your results may vary. I am trapping in a suburban climate ideal for bees and chaulk a block with swarming hives both feral and domestic. I have only trapped in one neighbor hood where I had poor success. There is a thread about that on BS. Trapping here is like trout farm fishing.



Litsinger said:


> odfrank said:
> 
> 
> 
> So using this new idea I will only have to remove the unwanted queen and merge the boxes. No evening pickup required.
> I do have success catching in my apiaries, so now clean up dead hives, lace with LGO and return to often find them full.
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks, odfrank. Makes sense to me. I'll look forward to hearing how this turns out for you.
> 
> I don't have any deadouts to fill yet, but I am thinking strongly about placing production hives doubling as swarm traps in the exact location I want them this year for the very reasons you noted. I was concerned this may reduce my swarm trapping chances but maybe it won't be a big factor either way- and it would certainly make things more efficient.
> 
> Thanks again for the response. I appreciate it.
> 
> Russ
Click to expand...


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## Litsinger

odfrank said:


> Your results may vary.


Admonition duly noted- thank you for the input.


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