first check on swarm capture

 

 

Two swarms are left undisturbed and this is the first check of their comb building.

First photo - A small swarm (captured March 13th) built comb on 4 out of 5 deep frames, but just along 1/4 of the frame length near the hive entrance.

A medium sized swarm (captured March 23rd) built comb on 5 of 8 deep frames and mostly away from the hive entrance.

Not surprising, comb building is proportional to swarm size.

Last photo - I added a cloake board (with its metal tray) beneath the medium swarm, all of which sits atop an over-wintered hive (without its inner cover and telescoping cover). Later, the metal tray will be removed and the bees can communicate through the cloake board's built-in queen excluder.  The maker of cloake board did not have this non-queen rearing purpose in mind, but it works for me.

tulip popular flower windfall

Today I discovered the first 2018 windfall of the tulip popular flower kind.  Tulip poplar flowers could be a valuable nectar flow for the bees if the weather cooperates - no hard rainfall please.

In late February for one hive and mid-March for the other hive, I checkerboard the honey cap using foundation-less frames with no drawn comb. Both overwintered hives are flying with nearly equal vigor and have an amazing low number of small hive beetles during hive inspections, but are not drawing comb as I expected.

On March 29th I hung 8-frame deep swarm traps from crepe myrtle trees and now wait for the first scout bees - apparently I'm waiting impatiently.

off-label use of cloake board

I purchased the cloake board with an intention to raise emergency queens, but I've drifted into off-label territory.  My success with two swarm traps catches and limited bee yard space encouraged me to combine the swarms with the cloake board.  Both entrances face in the same direction and the movable floor is removed.   For several weeks, these swarms have been connected by way of the queen excluder which is integrated into the cloake board.

2nd swarm trapping

This morning it's not clear whether I'm observing active scouting or a move-in at the hanging swarm trap.   After a few more hours, I looked again and now convinced there's a move-in - see the large lump of bees attached to the bottom of the box that was not previously present.  Tomorrow the forecast calls for rain - so, I'm glad they'll stay dry.  This is my 2nd successful swarm trapping this spring.

This is my largest swarm ever, I always say that.  In a few days, I'll transfer the frames and can really judge the size of this swarm.

This hanging 8-frame deep contains 1 frame of brood comb, 7 frames with foundation and a swarm lure.   A hole saw was used to create two entrances - one that you can see and another on the bottom side.

Hanging swarm trap advantages:

• no ladder climbing required with this rope hanging scheme
• large volume created by 8 deep frames
• movable frames can be transferred into other deep boxes without cutting comb 
• bottom entrance encourages complete move-in and discourages comb building beneath the box
• sustainable alternative to splitting

Hanging swarm trap disadvantages:

• requires foundation as the swarm trap is not left-right level

The best element of the hanging swarm trap scheme is the safety of no ladder climbing. My next steps include using window screen and duct tape to cover the bottom entrance and to gradually move the trap to its final location.  I'll move small distances every day or every other day to minimize bee entrance confusion.