On March 7th, I set out two 8-frame swarm traps hanging from crepe myrtle limbs. I also prepared two hive stands as 8-frame swarm traps. Each trap contains:
- 7x deep frames with either foundation or plastic starter strips
- 1x deep frame of dark comb
- 1x slow-release tube containing lemongrass oil
Immediately the traps were visited by scout bees, though I waited 64 days before a swarm would select one. Here I share my 2021 swarm experience - so far.
On May 3rd, I set out two 40 liter (2441 cubic inch) swarm traps which contain similar elements as above except that there are just 5x deep frames in the top half and considerable volume (space) without frames beneath this tall and narrow configuration. I'll share more details and photos of the 40 liter trap in future blog posts. If you are keeping count, I now have set out six swarm traps.
On May 6, the Nextdoor website mentioned that a swarm had landed at gusto! on Ponce, a restaurant near Clermont Hotel. Last year I used Nextdoor information to locate and capture two swarms. Nextdoor continues to be my main source of social media knowledge of local swarms.
On May 9 mid-afternoon, active scouting began at one swarm trap and by late afternoon two other traps had active scouting.
On May 10 noon, all six swarm traps have scouts with the most intense active scouting focused at one hanging swarm trap. I went for a 30 minute dog walk and in that short time I missed the swarm arrival. At 3:30 I captured the attached video of bees completing their move into the 8-frame hanging swarm trap.
On May 11 dawn, I lowered the hanging swarm trap, closed its bottom entrance and set the left-right leveled trap onto a 3-step A-frame ladder. In following days, I moved this 'ladder + trap' configuration at dawn 3 meters (10 feet). I repeated these moves until I reach the desired backyard hive stand location. Moving the trap created bee confusion and including a nearby closed patio umbrella in the move seemed to reduce this confusion. On May 19, I transferred deep trap frames into a deep 8-frame box with a screened bottom board. Every frame contained bees building new comb with the majority of bees found on the frame of dark comb.
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