What is happening at your bait hives?

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three bait hive out, all with lemon grass and old comb, NOTHING not even a scout

BUT an old box that i keep a few spare frames of foundation , Beecraft Disease manaul and a spare smoker BINGO i must have nudged the box so bees could get in ~~prime swarm and not from my bees as a diferent colour to my bees

This morning five calls from association members for help, all swarms found this morning near or around their apairies BUT~all had moved on before I got there with my swarm boxes and ladders around midday
 
bontbee said:
I think they might be just helping themselves to your nice wax to use in their colony. When I was younger and even more ignorant, I saw bees hacking off large lumps of wax from comb in a well used, unsealed, box and flying off with them. I have read since that they will recycle wax if it's "cheaper" than making their own...
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They'll do the same with propolis on equipment, given half a chance. It doesn't take them long to find it.
 
cjhart2 said:
Did not even have time to get the ladder down after putting it up this morning . New batch of H*lland and B*rrett lemongrass oil . Just a load of very interested scouts not my bees though . The Oak tree collected 2 swarms last year !!!!!!!!!
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and the Oak tree worked again . Not bees from my hives , i'm still waiting for them to swarm , looks like its a day of making more kit for the next bait hive to be put up there , well you never know :)
 
cjhart2 said:
and the Oak tree worked again . Not bees from my hives , i'm still waiting for them to swarm , looks like its a day of making more kit for the next bait hive to be put up there , well you never know :)
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This beekeeping is easy , did not get a chance to build another hive , put an old spare on the scaffold next to the Oak tree last night , this morning another swarm turns up , again not mine . Now do I put another one up , of course i do !!!!!!!!
 
Just took a call from my pal who has one of my bait hives in a tree in his back garden. His builder says there are thousands of bees around the hive and it's difficult for him to work currently.

Yippee - might have bagged a swarm. Investigate tonight when I finish work.
 
Loads of activity around mine the last few days... got home today to find there must be 50+ bees in there now and they are very much guarding the entrance. Any bee that arrives is given the once over. Well done Beauhawk, great news :)
 
Saw around 5 scout bees going in and out of one of my hives last night. Same tree that gave me two swarms last year.
 
cjhart2 said:
Did not even have time to get the ladder down after putting it up this morning . New batch of H*lland and B*rrett lemongrass oil . Just a load of very interested scouts not my bees though . The Oak tree collected 2 swarms last year !!!!!!!!!
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CJH- Have you read what Roger Patterson has to say about naturally sown oak trees, ley lines and swarms on the Dave Cushman website? Your experience seems to bear him out.

My bait hive caught a prime swarm within two days. 14x12 brood box, solid floor and roof. 2 frames of old comb, one vial of synthetic nasonov pheromone, and one of lemongrass and geranium oil mix. The nasonov must have been strong as within 24 hours they had built comb around the plastic vial and almost hidden it.
 
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Is it true scout bees don't start looking until after the bees have swarmed?
 
Beauhawk said:
Just took a call from my pal who has one of my bait hives in a tree in his back garden. His builder says there are thousands of bees around the hive and it's difficult for him to work currently.

Yippee - might have bagged a swarm. Investigate tonight when I finish work.
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Fingers crossed for you.

A couple of years ago I put one in my sister's garden and one in a friend's, both about 25 miles away. Never again. They rang me about every bee that they saw ending up in wasted journeys.

Ironically the one in my friend's garden did get a swarm the next year as it was just a roughly built box which he offered to keep in place - he texted me whilst I was in Rhodes on holiday. My son went over and confirmed a swarm but they absconded before I got home.

There was a scout bee sniffing around my garage today near the trailer I keep the bee equipment in. I don't want any more colonies otherwise I'd bait one of the empty WBCs I have in the garden.
 
Moggett said:
Fingers crossed for you.

A couple of years ago I put one in my sister's garden and one in a friend's, both about 25 miles away. Never again. They rang me about every bee that they saw ending up in wasted journeys.

Ironically the one in my friend's garden did get a swarm the next year as it was just a roughly built box which he offered to keep in place - he texted me whilst I was in Rhodes on holiday. My son went over and confirmed a swarm but they absconded before I got home.

There was a scout bee sniffing around my garage today near the trailer I keep the bee equipment in. I don't want any more colonies otherwise I'd bait one of the empty WBCs I have in the garden.
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Scored a hit with the bait hive. Apparently a big black swirling mass of bees descended on the hive, covering it totally and causing the big beefy builders to run for their lives... Didn't see it myself but my pals wife relayed the story as I was collecting them last night.

What a result - first time I've used a bait hive as well!
 
A second hit on my bait hive on Sunday, just as I was about to take it down as I've run out of kit. Looked in this morning and HM is laying already.

So that's two in the bait hive and three in the hedge in the space of a week, only one of which was from my colonies. Everyone in my locality reporting the same, swarming frenzy this week. And we do this for fun ???

L.
 
lots of frenzied bee activity around my bait hive last week , but had died off to only an odd bee now. the bee keeper most of done his swarm control in the nick of time.
 
caught my first swarm early this week, was on my friend's farm up in Essex. I had placed a standard national on top of a super then solid floor with small entrance... didnt even put any old comb in, just foundation. Its only a small swarm but the queen had started laying so moved them to an out apiary and replaced hive with a new one, might get another one in that spot!
 
Quick question. Have a feeling I had a cast swarm into one of my bait boxes yesterday, I was wondering, do the virgin queens head out the next day to begin mating flights? do these continue for about 3 weeks? I'm not moving the bait hive in case of this. I noticed today bees milling around the entrance and others fanning, would this be to guide the virgin home?
 
Spotted bees checking out a newly emptied compost bin yesterday so popped a bait hive on it. Today lots of bees are looking in that one and another in the apiary field.
What is it with free bees??????
I'm really excited over the possibility of a swarm arriving at either but I don't want any more bees. Why did I put them out???? daft!
 
Naff all happening at my 3 bait hives.

In one respect that's good as it probably means that my 6 pagden ASs currently underway have been successful but on the other hand I'd love a swarm from outside to arrive in.
 
I've caught 2 so far, one prime swarm which are building up nicely and one cast, replaced bait hives and they are looking busy again. Lots of activity at my window sill bait hive today too after a few weeks of nothing.
 
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