Backyard Apiary

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.