Every spring honeybee colonies have an intense desire to propogate their species by dividing their colony in half and attempting to form two separate colonies. This is called swarming. During the swarming process approximately half of the bees leave with the queen in an attempt to establish a new colony. This group of bees is referred to as a swarm. When the swarm leaves the colony they find a nearby site (usually in a tree or elevated surface) that will serve as their bivouac until they find a permanent site for their new home. When looking for a permanent home (typically and in nature- a tree cavity) bees look for a hollow spot that will be safe from predators, weather tight, and big enough to accomodate their nest.
Catching a swarm of bees is a great way to expand your apiary. This article will focus on catching swarms using a trap. To catch a swarm in a trap, you are looking to simulate an ideal permanent home for bees and entice them to move in.
So what is an ideal site for a bee home? I won’t go into great detail on the research behind all of this, but if you are interested in the background, I strongly encourage you to read “The Lives of Bees- The Untold Story of the Honey Bee in the Wild” by Dr. Thomas Seeley. This book goes into great detail how honey bees live in a wild state, which is exactly what you are trying to emulate when you design and place a swarm trap. When looking at a swarm trap, look for one that is about 40-50 litres in volume (big enough to accomodate the bee’s nest), and has a small entrance (protect from predators, weather tight). There are many ways to accomplish this including modifying a deep langstroth box. I’ve made two similar designs and really like the way these work. The taller, thinner shape seems easier to handle on a ladder. The first design is found on the horizontalhive.com website, this site has a lot of great information about swarm traps in general. The other design that I like, is actually very similar- but with simpler construction techniques. Here is a link to youtube video detailing how to make the design. Links to both of these designs/plans are also located at the end of this article.
Once you’ve gotten your swarm trap there are just a few more details and you will be ready to try your hand at catching some bees. In each of the recommended designs, deep langstroth frames are used. If you happen to have some frames of drawn comb from a dead out, use them! I honestly, think this might be one of the single most important contributor to success in catching a swarm of bees. Remember, bees are looking for a new home- imagine how enticing it would be to find a new place that was already furnished! If you don’t have drawn comb, that’s ok- bees can still be enticed to move in a box with bare foundation with no problem.
If you do any reading on catching swarms, you will certainly run in to swarm lure products. These products mimic the scent of the queen bee’s pheremones. I do think these are a big attractant to catching a swarm and well worth using. I have had great luck using a product called swarm commander. It is pretty pricey, but one swarm captured would pay for the product several times over. I have also caught swarms using standard lemongrass essential oil. Another trick that I have found very effective is placing the lure in a slow release tube as recommneded and available for purchase on horizontalhive.com. As you can see in the photo, I have taped the slow release tube filled with swarm commander just above the entrance to the trap. I also recommend putting a few drops or a spritz of lure on the top bars. If everything you have is new, it wouldn’t hurt to rub some propolis and/or beeswax on the equipment to make everything smell more like bees.
The next aspect to consider is where to place your hive. The simplest answer is – in a tree. I think, ideally you would want to find a tree where you can put the trap about 12-15 feet up in the air. If you are using the horizontal hive plan you will need to find a tree with a branch suitable for setting the trap on. Some other aspects I like to look for is a large or conspicous tree on the edge of an open area (along a field, yard, or pasture). I think bees, like other animals like to travel along lines, if you can find a tree near an area where multiple edges meet, I belive that is an area which would be more likely to be found by scout bees looking for a new home. Also, if possible try to face the entrance to your trap either south or east. These have been found to be statistically preferable as homes to bees. Word of wisdom though- better to have a great tree where your entrance faces north than a mediocre tree with a south facing entrance. My most successful trap location faces almost directly north, but it checks all of the other boxes in terms of trap location. I only mention the direction of the entrance because if you have the option to face any direction on a tree pick either south or east.
The prime swarming season for bees in my area is May and June. Your area may be slightly different, so do some reading on beekeeping sites or ask a local beekeeper. But generally speaking- spring is when you will have the most success.
Once you have gotten your trap set, it is simply a waiting game. One of my favorite aspects of using traps to catch the swarm is that it really takes the urgency out of chasing swarms. If you are trying to catch swarms from their bivouac site- time is of the essence! The bees could leave the bivouac to move in to their new home at any time. With a trap, you are simulating the permanent home so this is not a factor. With a 40-50 litre swarm trap, you can really get by with only checking the trap every couple of weeks. Checking traps is really easy- go during the day and observe for bee activity. No need to climb the ladder, just look for bee activity. If there are bees present, watch carefully to how they are acting. If bees have moved in you should see constant activity and foragers returning with pollen. If you don’t see pollen, I would return a few days later and observe again. Even after I’m certain that bees have moved in, I often wait several days to let the bees settle in before removing the trap. One word of caution though, if you leave the bees too long, there is an increased possibility of wild comb being built in the space below the frames.
When you remove your trap, I recommend either very early morning or right at dark so you can have confidence that all of the bees are back home in the trap. Depending on what your entrance is, you will then need to shut the entrance. For the slit style of entrance, I’ve found that ripping off an appropriate sized strip of duct tape on the ground and climbing the ladder and slapping the strip quickly over the entrance to be a great way to do this! At that point you just need to safely bring your trap down to the ground. One big thing I will recommend on swarm trapping is that you will need to move the bees atleast 3 miles from the location you set your trap to hive them. You must consider that the bees have oriented to that spot as their home and if you set up too close, they will go right back to the location where your trap was. Installing bees from the trap is really straightforward (another great aspect of using a trap). You simply put the frames from the trap into the permanent hive box , shake whatever bees you can from the trap into the hive, and place the trap in front of the hive to allow the stragglers to enter the hive. If you see bees fanning (photo below) at the entrance after you make the transfer you can be confident that the queen is in your hive and all of the stragglers will march right in!
If you decide to give swarm trapping a try this spring- good luck!
Links to Swarm Trap Plans