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RE: Beehive Factory Visit. Beehives, Feeders, Supers, Brood Boxes, Swarm Catchers and more!
That is a serious operation. Do you have a beekeeping mentor in your area? There are some places where the nectar flows are consistent enough that you don't have to feed the bees if you are careful not to steal too much honey from them.
I usually give them about a few kilos of dry sugar on a piece of newspaper just as the winter comes to an end. Other than that, they are on their own to find enough to eat. In the early season they don't store any nectar or sugar syrup, so there is no danger of ending up with sugar syrup in your honey crop.
Hey man my mentor is youtube am meeting a few peeps here and there. You been in the trade for some time? I am looking to attract as many swarms as possible can you give me some advice on the best way to do so ? I want to put brooder boxes out with wax and lemon grass oil I hear that works? Cheer$;)
I am just a hobbyist. Wax and a tiny amount of lemongrass oil will do the trick. It also helps to place the traps up off the ground. Do you know where there are some feral colonies? Try to set your traps near a hive that isn't managed and will probably swarm.
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We have two hives we can collect.. or swarms rather.. How many hives do you have? I hear propolis works wonders to attract swarms?
I have seven managed hives and two feral hives that I keep an eye on. This year I caught two swarms. April and May are our swarm season. Catching swarms is lots of fun, but it is more efficient to manage your colonies to prevent swarming and make increase by splitting hives and giving them queen cells.
Propolis is a good bait. The objective is to make the hive smell like bees lived there. European honeybees like a trap that is 40 L with a 30 mm opening about 3 m off the ground. They are very flexible and not good at measuring, so you can catch a swarm in almost any container. Try to make is dark inside and scented with old comb and propolis.
Lemongrass oil smells a little like the queen pheromone. Don't use too much - just a drop or two. There is a commercial product call Swarm Commander, which is supposed to work even better. I've heard people say that you have to store it in a sealed container in the refrigerator and carefully clean up any drips. People who have left a bottle of it in their truck have come out of the grocery store to find the cab filled with bees.
Your African bees like a smaller hive, or so I've heard. That is good for you. A 40 L box full of bees is hard to handle when you are on top of a ladder.
Where are these two swarms that you are going to collect? A hollow tree? Getting bees out of an established feral hive is quite a trick. Catching a swarm is relatively easy in comparison.