# My first trapout attempt



## cornbred (Apr 25, 2013)

Some friends of mine at church asked me if I could remove some bees from a tree prior to cutting it down to make a parking area. I asked them how much time I had, and they said it would be a while. So... I figured this would be a good time to try to do a trapout. I sealed off the entrance with polystyrene and steel wool with a piece of 1 1/2" PVC sticking through the middle. 









I waited a couple of days to make sure I had the entrance sealed, then added the 1/8" wire mesh cone and the trap box. The trap box has one deep frame with fresh eggs and brood, and the rest of the frames are new and not drawn out. Fast forward one week and the bees are all over the frame of eggs. 























Question for all the experts out there-- should I install more brood and eggs? What about drawn comb? I'm hoping the bees in the trap will begin making their own queen but haven't yet removed the frame for inspection.


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## Harley Craig (Sep 18, 2012)

after a week, that box should be pretty full... your opening of your cone looks too big, did you watch to see if any beew were getting back in? YOu should also check those eggs, you would see cells by now if they were going to make any.... don't think you got enough bees to do that though, at least not good ones.


Here is the last one I did after a week


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## Harley Craig (Sep 18, 2012)

another an hour or so after install


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## cornbred (Apr 25, 2013)

I'll try to reduce the opening a bit. I didn't see any bees going back in that way, but it's possible they've found another way in that I haven't spotted. I'm planning on going back out there tomorrow, will also check the frame for queen cells and post pics of what I find. Thanks Harley!


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## cornbred (Apr 25, 2013)

So I went by today and checked on the trapout, and there are no queen cells. I watched for 15 minutes and not one bee left the tree. Every foraging bee went directly into the box. The bees in the box completely cover the frame of eggs and brood and they cover one side of each frame next to the brood. They're beginning to draw out the adjoining frames. One thing i noticed was an abundance of SHB. Is it possible this was just a very small hole in the tree, or else maybe the queen swarmed just before I started the trapout?


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