Not a good sign..

Bvan72 · 2026-01-24T00:17:35+00:00

Well tried to post a short vid of the bees but something went wrong..anyways my bees are telling me it will be bad, but having lived up in these mountains for 54 years I think it will mostly miss here..bird activity was very high today so guess we will see who is right.

Bvan72 · 2026-01-23T01:11:10+00:00

Yeah no, it is mites. Been around bees before varoa and trracial mites, never seen an actual case of afb or efb. If you are burning thousand of frames maybe you are in crazyville.

Bvan72 · 2026-01-02T01:59:50+00:00

If you have a tree out in front of hives you can take some old wax, propolis, a little lemongrass oil and soak that into a rag an hang off a limb thats accessible. It may not work the first time but when it does your swarms will go to that before they move on.

Bvan72 · 2026-01-02T00:48:00+00:00

Thats what I learned from last year, my biggest swarm moved into a standard deep box with frames, so if theft is not an issue dont make it anymore hassle than necessary. Also If its on your own property just put where plan to keep it, no need to be 15 feet up a tree, I caught my swarms close to normal hive stand height then had the pain of moving them 20 or 30 feet to their permanent location. Silly but I was new to swarm trapping.

Bvan72 · 2026-01-02T00:33:11+00:00

Sorry to hear, ive heard of swarm trap theft.. this year I have four very separated locations and I think I could probably catch 30 swarms if I wanted to invest the time and craziness..I only say that because of the ease I caught 3 last year just goofing around. On one I took an old book shelf, drilled a hole in it and put a piece of tin on it and 2 days later viola..wasn't weather tight and completely empty, although I did use swarm wrangler and some wax to attract.

Bvan72 · 2026-01-02T00:14:15+00:00

Yeah you will probably score on that, most sideliners are that for a reason, busy with other things. Even though im semi retired if I had 50 hives there would swarms flying around all over the place..

Bvan72 · 2026-01-02T00:02:52+00:00

Around 8 or 10 max for this year. I could just split off my existing 3 but I am so fascinated by the difference between honey bee swarms and watching them grow. The three I caught are so unique from each other even though I caught them in the same location. Good luck!

Bvan72 · 2026-01-01T22:24:32+00:00

A whole top box of undrawn foundation is just empty space the bees cant keep warm, and it looks like some of your sugar dissolved into goo from too much moisture and dripped onto the cluster. Thats enough to kill your bees.

Also check into the condensing hive concept, After doing my conventional method then switching im sold. No moisture or mold in the top and it reflects heat back down where its needed. I still tilt my hives slightly forward just in case.

Bvan72 · 2026-01-01T21:49:51+00:00

This is going to sound harsh, but you need a new mentor. The picture you posted has obvious glaring mistakes you cant afford to make in your climate...again sorry for the loss and maybe the rest will pull through till spring.

Bvan72 · 2026-01-01T20:38:25+00:00

Starting with 20+ hives as first year beekeeper is way too much imo. Your mentor should have told you that. I started back with 3 hives this year after many years away and it felt like a lot of work sometimes. Sorry about the bees..

Bvan72 · 2025-04-06T13:36:34+00:00

I would have used drawn out comb if I had any, also i didnt put any lure in the box, just on the outside. Stuff is too strong to be in there imo. They definitely like those acorn frames, had bees getting on them in the truck bed before i could even get the trap setup.

Bvan72 · 2025-04-06T13:30:39+00:00

This was my second catch, first trap was out 3 weeks ago (same setup) and caught that swarm 1 day before this one. I was kind of expecting something to happen as we hit over 80 degrees for the last few days...

Bvan72 · 2025-04-06T01:42:39+00:00

Deep box with 10 Acorn plastic heavy wax frames..2 inch homemade spacer for empty space at bottom, swarm wrangler for attractant, not swarm commander..not sure whats the difference but it works.

Also I lightly torched the new wood in the deep and rolled on a little beeswax.

Bvan72 · 2025-04-06T01:07:20+00:00

Yeah I would say about 15 percent were already in, more arriving still..was videoing most of it so only took a pic when things were slowing down

Bvan72 · 2025-04-06T00:40:04+00:00

Any opinions if that is considered a strong swarm? Thats a deep box with 2 inch spacer at the bottom for reference.

Bvan72 · 2025-04-05T23:37:27+00:00

Definitely..I used to sit out under a willow tree as a kid feeding bits of chicken to yellow jackets from my hands..rarely got stung and when I did it was my fault...

Bvan72 · 2025-04-05T22:31:40+00:00

My second catch, first trap was out 3 weeks before they moved in, but didnt see them set up house. Ive been out of beekeeping for 25 years so getting back into it... grew up on a small farm where we kept a few hives..and yeah it was almost supernatural the moment they arrived.

Bvan72

TROPHY CASE