As you know, my hives on my deck died last fall so I went into the winter with no bees at home. I do have the hive boxes and drawn comb from the defunct hives. I decided to set up one of the hives in my yard as a swarm lure.
I set two hive boxes up with old drawn comb. I took the swarm lure that I made a couple of years ago with lemon grass essential oil (still smells great and lemony) and put some on the hive.
I smeared swarm lure on the landing.
I smeared swarm lure around the hole in the inner cover.
I smeared a little swarm lure at the front of the frame bars in the top box.
The comb in the hive is this past year's comb (only a year old) so it still looks pretty good from when the bees made it.
Now, if I'm lucky and the scout bees fly my way, I may capture a swarm through little effort on my part.
I set two hive boxes up with old drawn comb. I took the swarm lure that I made a couple of years ago with lemon grass essential oil (still smells great and lemony) and put some on the hive.
I smeared swarm lure on the landing.
I smeared swarm lure around the hole in the inner cover.
I smeared a little swarm lure at the front of the frame bars in the top box.
The comb in the hive is this past year's comb (only a year old) so it still looks pretty good from when the bees made it.
Now, if I'm lucky and the scout bees fly my way, I may capture a swarm through little effort on my part.
I will be very interested to see if that works!
ReplyDeleteI had my Top Bar Hive set up with lure like you do...fortunately I was called to capture a very small swarm and installed it. Cant' wait to hear how you made out.
ReplyDeleteI also can't wait to see how it works out!
ReplyDeleteChris
I forgot to say in this post that I almost always have the surprise of new bees moving into old abandoned equipment. Happens almost every year! Cross your fingers.
ReplyDelete