# Empty Brood Comb for Swarm Trapping



## sweetas (Apr 16, 2012)

Move the brood comb to the centre of the super above the excluder.

No probs then

GEoff


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## Rader Sidetrack (Nov 30, 2011)

In my opinion, the attraction for the bees is _smell _of the brood comb. If you have brood comb, it may not make much difference if there are some dead brood in there. Odds are, a dead hive probably won't have combs _full _of brood anyway.

Don't forget that _lemongrass oil_ is a good swarm attractant, as well as QMP. More on QMP here:


> Bait hives are empty boxes that are set out to try to entice a swarm to move in. They will not entice a hive to swarm, but they may offer a nice place for a hive that wants to swarm. I use Lemongrass oil and sometimes queen pheromone. You can by QMP (Queen Mandibular Pheromone). It is little tubular pieces of plastic that have the smell impregnated in them. When I use these for bait, I cut each of them into four equal pieces and use one piece and some lemongrass oil or some swarm lure. Swarm lure and QMP are available from bee supply places. You can get your own QMP by putting all your old queens when you requeen and any unused virgin queens in a jar of alcohol. Put a few drops of this in the bait hive. Old empty combs are nice too and using boxes that have had bees in them helps.
> 
> http://www.bushfarms.com/beesferal.htm


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## shannonswyatt (May 7, 2012)

I think you may be better off using LGO or QMP, and maybe melting some brood comb in box to give it the brood smell. The problem with actual brood comb is wax moths.


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## Josiah Garber (May 22, 2013)

Rader Sidetrack said:


> In my opinion, the attraction for the bees is _smell _of the brood comb. If you have brood comb, it may not make much difference if there are some dead brood in there. Odds are, a dead hive probably won't have combs _full _of brood anyway.
> 
> Don't forget that _lemongrass oil_ is a good swarm attractant, as well as QMP. More on QMP here:


Do you know where I could purchase QMP? I'm having a hard time finding it at Dadant, Brushy Mountain or Walter T. Kelley.

Also is synthetic Nasanov any good?


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## Rader Sidetrack (Nov 30, 2011)

I can't vouch for this product, but it claims to be synthetic QMP:

http://www.danskfarms.com/servlet/the-16757/PseudoQueen-Honey-Bee-Queen/Detail


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## squarepeg (Jul 9, 2010)

if your hive dies out over the winter you will likely have some empty brood comb.

if you start a new one next year, put it in your new box and use the old 'smelly' box for your trap.


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