Bait hives to lure swarms – Guest Blog by Keith Pierce

No matter how good we are at beekeeping, we all lose swarms. Each year a huge amount of swarms are lost completely because we have offered them nothing convenient to take up residence in and they then fly off. With bait hives we are stacking the odds in our favour by creating an attractive location with the desirable conditions that bees want for a new home. Luring swarms with bait hives can be an easy way to get started in beekeeping. If it works, who doesn’t like free bees?

This guest blog is very kindly and expertly written by Keith Pierce.

Location of bait box

Think Safety First!

Location has a lot to do with luring a swarm and an important part is putting the hive in the right place. Ideally the bait hive needs to be in full sun with an entrance that is facing south. It should have no flight obstruction and be between 9 to 15 feet off the ground. This height naturally gets them far enough up off the ground and away from most of their predators. 15 feet might be the most ideal height. But wherever the bait hives are placed they will need to be taken down. Working on a ladder trying to balance a hive full of bees can be a nervous experience and no swarm worth getting injured over.

Most of my bait hives are at about 2 metres. Nine to fifteen feet off the ground produces the best results but placing it within arm’s reach will work nearly as good. While some of my swarms are caught at around 7 feet, I’ve also caught swarms on low hive stands.

Bait hives vs unsuitable cavities

When there is nothing else that has got their attention, swarms will happily move into air vents, cavities, attics, porch canopies, and roof spaces. If we all had bait hives out, then it would stop all this inconvenience to the general public.

A swarm might be a prize to a beekeeper but it’s a very intimidating pest to your neighbours. Hence, once a swarm has flown away, it’s a lot better for it to go into a bait hive than into the roof of a neighbour’s house.

Bait hive size

Size matters when it comes to choosing your bait hive. Swarms will be sending out their Scout bees (surveyors and architects) to check out all the local cavities for several weeks before they actually swarm. They are looking for a cavity that will be large enough to allow them to move into and then expand into a full-size colony.

Prime swarm

A prime swarm’s preference is a space of about 40 litres (a little larger than a National brood box). The entrance should be near the bottom of the hive and only about 2 to 3 inches in length which is small enough for the bees to defend.

Casts and second swarms

For second and subsequent swarms that issue from the same colony, then a Nucleus size box might do but generally bigger is better. The problem is, you don’t know the potential size of the swarm that is checking out your bait hive and if you don’t offer them enough space then they may pass up your bait hive for another bigger cavity.

I have had scout bees intensely checking out a Nuc box in my garden and then the activity ceased. It then started up again a week later and had a small swarm (cast) arrive soon after. This meant that the main or prime swarm with the old queen turned down the Nuc because it was too small. However the smaller size box was an acceptable size for secondary smaller swarms or casts.

How many bait hives should you put out?

Empty hives that are sitting idle in your shed won’t catch anything. Get them out and put some old brood frames in them before the swarming season. Having several swarm traps out increases your odds. I put out as many traps as possible.

At what distance from an apiary should you place a bait hive?

Swarms do not generally move very far from their parent colonies and an average distance is less ½ mile (800m). However, they will travel further if there are no desirable cavities in the area.

The waggle dance is a unique figure-eight dance of the honeybee. It is performed by worker bees so that they can give their colony information about the direction and distance to the best nectar, pollen, water sources and to potential new hive locations in their area. Bees can’t give a precise distance for anything under a hundred metres. At distances less than 100m, the waggle dance can only convey that the attraction is just in the general area. It is a lot easier for them to pinpoint a bait hive that is placed well outside your apiary.

I put one bait hive in my apiary and then place another out about 100 hundred metres or more. Watching bee activity increase at the entrance of the bait hive in my apiary is a good indicator of swarming activity.

Swarm lures and attractants

You need to bait your traps as effectively as you can, and the key is the attractant. Virtually every action taken by bees within and outside the colony is based upon pheromones. Swarming and preparing bait hives are no different.

Used Hive Equipment

To try and ensure that the scout bees will pick your bait hive, you need every attraction at your disposal to enhance the attention of the scout bees. The best things that attract bees is used hive materials. A brood box or nucleus that has been well used is excellent. The equipment has absorbed the smell of its previous tenants and therefore making it the best natural attractant. Used solid floors and pre-used crown boards, in fact pre-used everything is best.

Try not to use open mesh floor. If that is all you have then cover the mesh with cardboard. This gives a better secure feeling for the bees.

Old brood frames

Old brood frames produce the best results but be especially careful of the source of your old comb. It can introduce disease to a new colony.

As soon as a swarm arrives, I will shake the bees off the old frames and give them new foundation. On several occasions I have heard the loud buzz of a swarm arriving to the back garden. I have then quickly removed the old comb before they have even entered the bait hive.

In the absence of used brood comb, I have used drawn out supers over an empty Brood box. This will work as well. Foundation has some attraction and is clearly better than nothing. However, if it is used in conjunction with other pheromones or attractants it greatly increases your odds. This is because bees have a distinct preference for pheromones and the more the better.

How many frames should I place in my bait hive?

If your bait hive is somewhere that is monitored regularly like the roof of your garden shed, then space is everything. Place no more than 5 spaced out frames in a full hive or 3 frames in a nucleus box. One central and one near each edge. With this set up, we are trying to give the scouts the illusion that there is plenty of space for the colony to grow to their full potential.

If the bait hive is in an out apiary and you will not be back for over a week, then place 2 used brood frames near front of the box and fill up the rest of the hive with frames of foundation. You can also place an empty super underneath as this gives them the feeling that they have enough space to expand into. Furthermore, it prevents the swarm from filling out wild uneven comb in the empty space in-between the frames.

Commercial Pheromone lures

There are commercial swarm lures available, and some have good success. Most commercial lures attempt to copy the Queens pheromone. Queen pheromone is a natural attractant to honeybee scouts and has somewhat of a Lemony fragrance.

These Pheromone swarm lures can be purchased from most bee supply companies and come in a small plastic tube which slowly releases their vapours. Google swarm lures and you will see what is available. Find a full directory of Irish Beekeeping suppliers here.

Lemon Grass Oil

Pheromone scent lures can get expensive especially when setting out several traps. As time goes by the scents start to fade. Lemon grass oil is the base ingredient for nearly all commercially bought lures. If you are new to beekeeping you might not have access to old comb. An alternative to use then is Lemon Grass Oil. Lemon grass oil has good results and can be purchased at most health stores.

When using Lemon Grass Oil only a small amount is needed as it is strongly scented. It can be refreshed from time to time. You only need a few drops per bait hive, so a small bottle lasts several years. I use an Ear cleaning cotton Q-tip and dab the oil inside the hive. A drop inside the entrance will make it more inviting. You can add another couple of drops directly onto top of the frames. Three or four drops at the most and then place the Q-tip at the back of the box. It can be repeated every couple of weeks.

You can also put four or five drops of lemon grass oil on a piece of paper towel and put it in a Ziplock bag. Pierce several small holes on one side of the bag and place it at the back of the hive, hole side up.

The use of Lemon Grass Oil combined with Old Dark Comb is an extremely good attractant.

Scout bees

If the bait hive is positioned where it can be observed, it can be very entertaining to watch the different types of scout bee behaviour at the entrance and to know what is behind it.

For weeks before a colony will swarm, scout bees will have been checking out all the available cavities. This could be up to a dozen sites or more. Most of the scout bee activity at the bait hives will be between 11 and 5 in the day. The activity will diminish as the day gets later.

At first there will only be a few bees showing interest. These are the first of the scout bees assessing potential new homes. They are the surveyors and architects and are measuring up the interior before reporting back to the parent hive with their waggle dance. Their enthusiasm is then transmitted to other bees that will also visit the site. Sometimes you will see a forager with pollen on it legs checking out your bait hive on its way home.

Reaching consensus

After exploring various spots, the bees will then start selecting and rejecting potential sites. They do this until they come to a decision on their final choice. This is done by gradually ignoring the scout bees that are dancing for a location that is not suitable. It can also be done by physically head-butting the performing dancer to get her to stop.

As swarming looms nearer in the parent hive, activity will be increasing at the entrance of your bait hive. If the number of scout bees rises to about 50 at any one time, then your bait hive has made it to the final selection. You will often see scout bees getting over excited at the front of the hive. Some bees may actually giving a waggle dance on the front of the bait hive to other scout bees. When you see this level of activity, you can be fairly sure that a swarm is about to arrive in the next 24 hours.

Sometimes you get huge activity and then it goes quiet for a half an hour just before the swarm arrives. You might see a lot of activity at the entrance one day and none the following day. Then your potential swarm has either picked a more suitable home, or a beekeeper have managed to get their swarm control done in the nick of time.

Competing swarms fighting

Sometimes you will observe competing scout bees from different hives fighting at the entrance of the bait hive, and you should set up a second bait hive not too far away.

Swarm arriving at bait hive

When the swarm finally arrives, there will be tens of thousands of bees swirling around in the air. It can be a very intimidating experience for your neighbours. However, from a swarm arriving to all the bees having entered the bait hive is 20 minutes or less. If nobody was around to see it, they would know no difference.

In case you have not seen the swarm arrive and are unsure whether it is just a lot of scout bees, then watch the action of the bees. If the bees are hovering backwards and forwards in front of the entrance, then it’s probable still scout bees. If there is a steady stream of bees flying straight in and out with pollen on some of their legs then a swarm as arrived.

Moving the swarm

If you are going to keep the bees in the same area as where the bait hive was located, then you will need to move them straight away. I have moved them within minutes of all the bees entering the bait hive. But the best time to move your bait hive with the captured swarm is in the cool of the evening after the bees have stopped flying. It can also be moved first thing in the morning before they have started flying again.

Build it and they will come!

Keith Pierce is a Master Beekeeper based in Dublin, Ireland. He has been beekeeping for more than 25 years, selectively rearing dark native Irish queens Apis mellifera mellifera. Very active as an educator, he also is the Administrator of the very popular Facebook Group Irish Beekeeping and has his own YouTube Channel.

Hanna’s notes:

First, I would like to thank Keith Pierce for giving so generously of his time and expertise. He is a great resource for so many Beekeepers, and his Facebook Group Irish Beekeeping is a great meeting place for us beekeepers.

I have very successfully followed Keith’s advice in setting up my own swarm lures. I use old brood boxes and screw on a solid floor so that they are easy to move. Because I am usually very busy at swarm season, I always try to fill my bait hives with frames. Just in case I don’t get out to check them before they have built comb. However, to give the bees a sense of space, I put one or two frames of drawn comb or foundation on the sides, and then fill up the middle with old brood frames that I have cut out the wax, leaving only a strip at the top. Add to that a few drops of lemongrass oil and place in a good spot. And Voila! This is what happens: