# Trap out question



## Bradley_Bee (May 21, 2008)

I've never attempted a trap-out but am going to be trying them this up and comming year. My question is this. Does the queen come out through the cone after awhile or does she not ? i would guess that she does not, but have found two different opinions/findings? on the net. Can anyone set me straight?


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## honeyman46408 (Feb 14, 2003)

I have not done many trap outs and the few I have I have never had her come out


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## D Coates (Jan 6, 2006)

I've never seen one though I've been told that on occasion she will leave as the hive obsconds. I definately do not count on it.


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## Bradley_Bee (May 21, 2008)

well , it wouldn't be a total loss if i had the queen cells and brood to add. at least i could get the bees.


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## honeyman46408 (Feb 14, 2003)

Yes I start with a frame of brood with bees and eggs, I did one this summer and got 4 nuc boxes of bees and the frames with eggs made queens so 4 new hives from one trap out


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## Bradley_Bee (May 21, 2008)

yeah. im thinking thats what im gonna have to do. How many days do you leave the trap on?


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## honeyman46408 (Feb 14, 2003)

I leave it untill there are no bees comeing out now that can bee a long time considering the queen is laying when you start so 21 days from the day you start all the eggs the queen laid the first day are now new bees and tomorrow-----and on and on untill the population is reduced untill they cant take care of the queen, after they are not comeing out any more I move a different hive in and remove the trap out funnel and let the bees rob all the honey so I count on at least 6 weeks.I am sure some folks will say it is not worth it but I do it for fun so time is not on my worry list


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## Bradley_Bee (May 21, 2008)

that is along time. especially for people wanting them out in a hurry. I wonder if i could smoke them to bring them out faster..


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## honeyman46408 (Feb 14, 2003)

If they want them out in a hurry then do a cut out


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## Bradley_Bee (May 21, 2008)

alot of times a cut is out of question. For instance inside of a tree .


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## D Coates (Jan 6, 2006)

I've only done a few but I've learned count on 8 weeks for a trap out. You may get lucky on a swarm that just moved in but you normally don't know when they actually moved in. I used to quote a month for a trap out. History has taught me that 8 weeks is more reasonable. Rushing a trap out is like pulling a band-aid too soon. The job isn't done and you'll end up with a mess. If they need it out sooner than that simply quote an extraction.


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## USCBeeMan (Feb 7, 2009)

My experience this year is to start with a 5-frame nuc. 10 frame box is just too big. Put in a frame of honey. You might wait a few more days at the most and then ensure you have several frames of brood and house bees. One of those frames MUST have eggs.

I read that you should start with a hive with brood and a queen. But I learned quickly that the newbeeies will kill the queen. I was amazed that the house bees didn't protect her. I remember that at least 1 of the 2 hives with queens was a hive that I had captured earlier as a swarm.


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## USCBeeMan (Feb 7, 2009)

3 ways to get the bees out: trapping, cutout/cutdown, killing them. In TN it is against the law to kill honey bees.

I tried smoking them out of a tree once this year, didn 't work. Even used a water hose and hosed them down/up the hole as much as possible, didn't work.

Left. Don't know how the guy got rid of the bees. Huge hive in a huge cedar with a hollow about 3 - 4 feet up.


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