If you decide to start breeding bees, then you can’t even imagine how interesting it is. Initially, many people think: "I will start one or two families, I will collect honey for myself." And then they get a taste, and no longer want to do anything else than buzzing houses. In order for your apiary to grow and be promptly updated with new hives, you can write out bees from special farms. Then a new swarm will come to you in a box and you just have to transplant it into the house. However, there is another way. You can catch a stray bee swarm for free. Today we’ll talk about catching techniques, as well as the difficulties associated with this.
Information for a beginner
If you are standing only at the beginning of the beekeeping path and acquiring a flying family is only planned so far, then you can try to get a wild bee swarm. Despite the fact that this process is quite laborious, it is also extremely interesting. True, it requires a certain amount of time. However, the result will exceed all expectations. Wild insects are distinguished by excellent performance and winter hardiness, as well as resistance to various diseases. Therefore, their offspring, which escaped in the form of a swarm in search of their own housing, are of great value.
Catching Stray Bees
The swarm season begins in May and ends in August. Accordingly, at this time you can actively place traps near flowering meadows, preferably where there are many honey plants. Moreover, the effectiveness can be very different. In one season, catch a dozen swarms, and after another you will not be able to get a single one.
Of course, it depends on the number of traps. The more of them, the sooner you can find the most promising places and get new families. Do not forget to inspect them every day, and ideally you can look in the morning and evening. If a hornet has chosen a trap, then you will have to remove it and drive out uninvited guests with the help of a smoker. They will not be delighted, so protect your face and hands with a net.
And be patient, as catching a stray bee swarm is not always easy. Sometimes insects climb into the house you have prepared, but for some reason they decide to move on and begin to fly away actively. If at this moment you are close, then use the old trick: spray water on the bees. They will decide that it has begun to rain, which is prudent to wait in hiding.
Home swarm
However, an experienced beekeeper, who already has more than one hive on the site, should know well how to track and catch a bee swarm. The fact is that each of his families will grow and the day will come when, led by the new queen, the bees will leave the cramped hive in order to form a new colony. In order not to miss these insects, there should be traps in the apiary that will attract their attention. Then you calmly transplant a new swarm into your own house.
Finally, the third option is why the beekeeper needs this information. A swarm of bees can escape from a negligent beekeeper who lives relatively close to you. Having one or several traps on the site, you get the opportunity to catch this family and increase your population.
Instincts work against us
Catching bee swarms is a fascinating and informative process, but don’t be too disappointed if the first attempts fail. There are three main points here, which we will successively analyze. The first concerns the remoteness of the traps from the apiary. It would be logical to assume that they need to be placed on their site, so that the young family simply moved to a separate housing. But practice suggests that such a decision will be erroneous.
The natural instinct tells insects that you need to choose a place to live far from your apiary in order to avoid overpopulation and lack of food. Therefore, bee swarms are caught outside their area. As a rule, insects choose the same places that the beekeeper knows about with experience. But it will be difficult for a beginner to determine exactly where they will go.
Cooking a temporary house
Since catching a bee swarm with your bare hands does not work, you need to build a suitable house for it. Most importantly, the insects themselves find it quite appropriate for placement. It is not difficult to make a trap; it does not require large financial and time investments. Let's talk about what exactly is a bee swarm trap:
- This is the most common box, which is made from improvised materials. In fact, this is the same hive, only lighter and smaller, since it is understood that the bee family will stay in it for a relatively short time. Be sure to place inside the frame for honey, which has already begun to fill. That is, you will need to take it from the old hive.
- The choice of materials depends on the preference of each beekeeper. But the general rule is that the design should not be too heavy. You can use plywood, fiberboard, thin boards or spare parts from unnecessary, old furniture. Beauty and reliability - this is the tenth thing. The main thing is that this temporary premises for bees can be placed on a tree, and also that it is not stolen by a random thief. In this regard, the more unsightly the box will turn out, the better.
- But here too there are subtleties. It is necessary to evaluate the state of the trap from the position of insects. What are they looking for first? Protection from predators, drafts and rain. That is, the insect should be comfortable inside. Therefore, it will be necessary to ensure that there are no gaps or gaps. Only a letka and a flying board are enough for bees; all other openings are completely superfluous.
Two are better than one
Trapping bee swarms is always a lottery. Therefore, it will be better if you procure them a few pieces. When creating a design, think in advance about the size of a young family. As a rule, approximately half is separated from the bee colony. If the room is too small, then instead of grafting, they will fly further.
Placing the frames inside the trap is a necessity, as a young family should be able to arrange and collect honey. Many beekeepers believe that one frame can be placed in a trap, but experienced beekeepers recommend using at least 5-8 frames. In this case, the bees are more likely to choose the house they proposed. However, the design will be quite compact and light. It is best to take old frames; young insects graft them much better.
Summer is another important point that you need to pay attention to. Since it is rarely possible to catch a bee swarm in a hive in person, you will have to rely on them to like it and they will linger in it until your arrival. It is very important that bees consider it safe. The length of the tap hole should be 6-7 cm, and the height 1 cm. This will not allow uninvited guests to get inside. The arrival board must be equipped with a 3 cm protrusion.
Such important scenery
Exterior design is another point that should not be overlooked. You have two tasks: to make the structure completely unattractive for a casual passerby and noteworthy for insects. To do this, the trap body is lined with tree bark and branches from above. The more natural it will look, the more willingly a young family will consider it as housing. It is desirable to cover the walls with beeswax. This is necessary to disguise his participation in its creation, as well as as bait. Based on the same considerations, you can not use paint, varnish and other odorous substances.
Comfort above all
For a young family to linger in a trap, it must be dry inside. It doesn’t matter what the weather is like, if water penetrates through the cracks in the roof, it is likely that the insects will decide to escape. Therefore, the roof must be overlapped, and also covered from above with any waterproof material. This is a matter of survival, so the suitability of housing will be assessed very strictly. Do not assume that the temporary box may be with cracks the thickness of a finger. The fact that they have yet another housewarming party, the bees do not yet know.
We hang traps
Constructions for trapping a young family are usually located within a radius of 3 km from the apiary:
- In this case, you need to pay attention to the area. It is best to place them at the edge of the forest, near a forest or grove. If there is a large body of water nearby, then give up the idea of hanging a trap here. But on the shore of a small stream the bees will stop very willingly.
- Do not forget that insects fly out of the nest for a reason. They are looking for a place where there is a lot of food, and are guided primarily by smell. Therefore, the best bait for bee swarms is honeycombs with fresh honey that can be equipped with a trap.
- It is extremely important to accurately determine the time of swarming. It is best if the traps are hung up 2-3 days before the departure of a new family. Usually this is the end of May - the beginning of June. If you do this in advance, then wasps, hornets or ants will be interested in such houses, which will scare away the bee scouts.
Bait is not the last thing
Everything that we described above: a comfortable house, a leaking roof, the presence of frames - this is all right, but such tricks do not always work. If, over and over again, your trap remains empty, then you can try special preparations whose action is based on natural bee instincts. We will tell you only about the most popular, since there are a lot of them on the market:
- Apimil is a gel-like substance that is prepared on the basis of pheromones. It is characterized by a prolonged action. Even if you come a few days after the settlement of the hive, insects are guaranteed to wait for you.
- Uniroy is a gel composition based on aromatic substances that are attractive to insects.
- "Sunroy" - gained great popularity among beekeepers. It is produced in the form of cardboard strips, which are saturated with attractants. They are attached between the frames and can attract bee families throughout the summer period. If you want to know how to catch a bee swarm in an empty hive, then you have a ready-made solution. It is enough to acquire several old houses, provide them with frames and glue strips of "Sanroy". Arrange them near your apiary, and gradually they will be filled with bees.
If luck smiled
So, you have returned to the place of placement of the trap and see that bees creep over it. What to do now? You need to wait for the evening, close the door and move the trap home. Now you have to transplant them into a permanent hive. To do this, it is better to choose warm, calm weather and take along an assistant with a smoker who will intimidate insects so that they do not bite.
Carefully remove the top of the trap. Usually, bees have time to build up wax tongues very quickly. Inspect them carefully. The main thing is that the queen bee does not stay on them. Now you need to inspect the framework. If the uterus is present on one of them, then this frame must be placed in the hive. If it is not there, and the sowing is insignificant, then brush off the bees and set aside the frame.
What to do in the case when the inspection of the framework did not give a result? In other words, you could not find the uterus. In this case, shake all the insects out of the trap directly into the hive and close the lid. It will be unnecessary to add that everything should be ready there for a new family. Now it remains only to wait until the insects heal and begin to stock up honey. Congratulations, you now have a new bee family.