Swarm Trap
It’s that wonderful time of year when bees build up their hives and reproduce. The old queen ventures forth to establish a new colony, leaving her home in the hands of a soon to be hatched queen. Many beekeeper teachings focus heavily on preventing a hive from swarming by giving them more work, splitting the colony or killing swarm cells. Killing swarm cells is not a very good idea since you can end up with a queen-less hive. “A hive that swarms will produce less honey.”
Since it is not possible to stop a colony from swarming once they decide they are going to swarm, I figure I should try to cash in on their reproductive tendencies. A package of bees with a queen costs around $75. I put a dense cardboard swarm trap in a tree near my future beeyard. It is tucked just out of sight behind a few dogwood trees. There is a small opening on the end with comb guides connected to the base of the swarm trap. If a swarm turns this trap in to a home, they will begin to build comb along the guides as they build up their new colony. I will then take off the cover and relocate their comb in to a hive box for them to live in.
Equipment swarm
Beeyard
After an extensive landscaping weekend, my beeyard is ready for some bees. Every book i’ve read states that location of a beehive is very important. The bees want early morning sun to warm them up and get them moving. In the afternoon, they want shade so they do not have to work so hard cooling the hive. The local beekeepers say that too, but always add on “bees don’t really care”. Apis mellifera is very adaptable. They will start a new hive in full sun, full shade, a langstroth box, a wall, inside a tree, on a tree limb, etc. They don’t really seem to care.
The beehive pictured faces West and the early morning sun is fully shaded until around 11am. Then it receives full sun until the early evening. Not exactly the “ideal”, but they should survive. I’ve been to a few beeyards in the area that were more shaded. The location is good for being out of the way. Positioned about 50 feet from my porch and over 100 feet to the nearest neighboring house. The bees flight path should not go anywhere near people and the only problem could be if they choose the water fountain as their water source over a bucket I intend on placing near the hives.
Bee Hive bee, beeyard, hive
