# Bees in Trap: How Long Do you Leave Them?



## Cleo C. Hogan Jr

I like to leave mine a few days, to give the queen a chance to lay a few eggs. Then transfer them into a good box. A swarm goes right to work, cleaning, building comb, and then the queen laying. Five to seven days ., 

Normally, by the time I find them, the queen is already laying, I rarely move them in the swarm trap, I transfer them into good equipment, then move them a day or two later. I use old 10 framers for traps.

I set a feeder on them after moving, and see how they take it. Feeding will help with the comb building, but swarms will find nectar if anything is blooming, and abandon your feeding. You will be able to tell in a day or so.

cchoganjr


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## FlowerPlanter

I have left a few in the traps for a month, I did open to inspect and add more frames, as long as they have room to build you should be fine. And they don’t build a lot of cross comb.
A big swarm will need more room sooner.


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## Cleo C. Hogan Jr

FlowerPlanter..... The reason I like to move them as soon as possible is, certain places just seem to attract swarms better. The same spot will very often catch more than one swarm, even tho there are other traps just yards away.

cchoganjr


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## odfrank

The one time I use foundationless in a trap, all the combs collapsed when moved. I trap as many as possible in their permanent location and in the past did not feed the prime early ones. Here June is late for a swarm and I see that those small late ones have been unable to accumulate stores like the early ones that had substantial stored honey immediately.


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## Rick 1456

here's mine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fd8WOhMwqy4&feature=plcp


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## Adam Foster Collins

How long did you leave them in there, Rick?

Adam


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## Rick 1456

I let them alone for a week. Not that, that is a formula. just cause where they were and my schedule  You are way up north from me,,,wow geographic skills, whod a thought,,,,sorry,, Makes a diff if early or late swarm. Most of the "swarmdudes" seem to agree w/o an addition of brood frame, wait till pollen is coming in. IMHO, I do not think that a hard fast rule. BUt, who wants to play with a prize such as you have. Error on the side of caution.
I only transfered them to a lang set up. No location change but I do not think that would have been an issue. 
I guess the line is this, let them settle as long as you can, when pollen is really coming in, take a peek. Eggs, you are good to go.
Hope that helps. 
BTW you are an addict now


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## Cyberman

Cleo C. Hogan Jr said:


> I like to leave mine a few days, to give the queen a chance to lay a few eggs. Then transfer them into a good box. A swarm goes right to work, cleaning, building comb, and then the queen laying. Five to seven days .,
> 
> Normally, by the time I find them, the queen is already laying, I rarely move them in the swarm trap, I transfer them into good equipment, then move them a day or two later. I use old 10 framers for traps.
> 
> I set a feeder on them after moving, and see how they take it. Feeding will help with the comb building, but swarms will find nectar if anything is blooming, and abandon your feeding. You will be able to tell in a day or so.
> 
> cchoganjr


Are you guys talking about a "swarm trap" or a "swarm box"? There is a great deal of difference. A swarm box (bait hive) is used for trapping swarms but has frames in it. Some people call a swarm box a swarm trap. That makes things confusing.
A swarm trap is a round paper container with a hole in it, stuck to a tree. I wouldn't understand the benefit of letting bees build comb and lay eggs in a "swarm trap". The comb is usually lost when you put the bees into a hive.
Letting them lay eggs in a "swarm box" is different. The frames can be transferred to a hive.


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## crmauch

Cyberman said:


> Are you guys talking about a "swarm trap" or a "swarm box"? There is a great deal of difference. A swarm box (bait hive) is used for trapping swarms but has frames in it. Some people call a swarm box a swarm trap. That makes things confusing.
> A swarm trap is a round paper container with a hole in it, stuck to a tree. I wouldn't understand the benefit of letting bees build comb and lay eggs in a "swarm trap". The comb is usually lost when you put the bees into a hive.
> Letting them lay eggs in a "swarm box" is different. The frames can be transferred to a hive.


And hey, it's also called a "bait hive", just to add to the confusion! 

Actually from my research, whether it's a round paper, a wooden box, cardboard, or plastic, it's still called a swarm trap (or bait hive) (unless one of the names is copyrighted).
And there's this book title: Swarm Traps and Bait Hives: The easy way to get bees for free.


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## Cyberman

I hope I'm not coming across as argumentative because its not my intent.

Imagine a new beekeeper trying to find out how long he can leave a captured swarm in the "swarm trap" he just purchased from the local bee supply shop.
He comes here and reads that its good to let the queen develop brood in it before moving it. LOL

What a mess he's going to have when he tries removing the bees in a couple weeks.
That's why I asked the question. It seems I answered it myself. 

*The discussion here was about bait hives.*

My dad called a refrigerator an ice box. I knew what he meant.


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## Michael Bush

If they moved into one in my yard, I like to move them sooner so they don't get too oriented to that location and I'm only moving them a few hundred yards. If they are more than two miles away from my beeyard, then I'd like to leave them until they have some open brood. If they swarmed with a laying queen, that's probably five or six days. If it's a virgin it might be two or three weeks. But with open brood they usually won't abscond.


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## Cleo C. Hogan Jr

Cyberman said:


> I hope I'm not coming across as argumentative because its not my intent. He comes here and reads that its good to let the queen develop brood in it before moving it. LOL
> What a mess he's going to have when he tries removing the bees in a couple weeks.
> *The discussion here was about bait hives.*


Agreed, would be nice if everyone used the same terminology, but, they don't. Don't expect it to change any time soon.

And yes, i was talking about swarm hives also. And no, I don't have a mess, because I normally put 2 drawn brood combs and 1 frame foundation in an old 10 framer. Put the brood frames against one wall, with foundation frame toward the middle. When the swarm moves in, they go to work on the drawn comb, and start drawing on the foundation. Rarely do the bees drop comb of their own beyond the frame of foundation. I check swarm boxes about once a week during the peak swarm season, and as soon as I find a swarm has moved in, I add 3 or 4 more frames of foundation for them to draw on. 
Swarms are drawing machines. I normally leave them in place for a week or so, or as Michael said above, until there is some brood in the swarm box. But, I like to move them as soon as I can, some places are just better than others when it comes to attracting swarms. 

cchoganjr


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