In this video we go over assembling and baiting your swarm trap before hanging.
Brief Instructions:
Separate the halves of the trap, placing the gasket side down. Insert six medium frames (either wood or plastic). Bait the trap using one of the two vials of swarm lure that are included. Use the 4 included nuts and bolts to seal the two halves together.
Once your trap is baited and assembled it’s time to hang it.
What You’ll Need:
Bungee cords, zip ties, or rope. Ladder or step stool.
Where to Hang:
Find a tree away from your home, preferably on the enge of your property and with close proximity to water (i.e. a stream or creek).
Congratulations! You’ve caught a swarm…now what?
Transfer your hive to your apiary, situating the trap near the desired hive. (Removing duct tape and mesh bag.) Allow approximately 24 hours for the bees to acclimate to the new location.
Once your new colony is adjusted to the new surroundings, simply open the trap and place the medium frames in the size hive box of your choosing.
Once baited and hung, you’ll start to notice activity around your swarm trap.
These are scouts. Scouts are honey bees sent out in various directions in search of a new home (and why the term “refubees” applies to our trap). Before the entire colony will leave their current location, a majority of the scouts will need to agree on a single location.
Here are a few tips and behavior patterns to look for to determine if you’ve just got honey bee “lookers” or “buyers”.
Before finalizing the product we went through a prototype testing phase. Here we used 3D printed models to sample what worked and what didn’t.
As luck would have it, on the very first swarm we caught, my wife and I just happened to be out in the yard one late spring morning to catch it all on video.
A rare yet powerful sight to behold, and one we hope you’ll experience.
More video of transferring a swarm from the trap to a hive.
Although a smaller swarm, in this video you can see how easy it is to remove the medium plastic frames and place them in a five frame nuc box.
We can’t stress enough how easy it is to open the trap up and transfer the frames.