Worldwide Beekeeping
Beekeeping => General Beekeeping => Topic started by: Yankee11 on October 18, 2014, 08:28:53 am
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I am not promoting these or have nothing to do with them, but, I held one in my hand yesterday and I bought one.
If this works I can see me using it. I remember several times doing inspections and finding swarms cells. I start looking for the queen and
can't find her. Put it back together saying Oh well, guess I'll loose this one. Now if these work and I can't find her, I'll throw this on the front, move on
and hopefully catch her and all the bees I would have lost.
http://orrbeesupply.wix.com/obs/swarm-bandit#!__swarm-bandit
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You post this just when I thought I had everything. To my novice eye it appears to be a workable tool. I may have to get a couple for next spring as I have a couple of hives that are loaded, loaded with bees.
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I'll post some pictures of mine when I get it.
My only concern is getting all the bees and queen out from inside the box once you move it.
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It also traps drones? Jack
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Yea, but that's not a problem is it?
I would just put it on if I find a hive with swarm cells then remove it when they swarm.
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They won't swarm without a queen, and if the swarm about to leave is in the bottom box with all the drones and workers wanting to leave, the queen would be hard to find? Not trying to give you a hard time Yank ??? but i have something similar that was made for the same purpose (made from wood dowel pins,back in iddee and tec's days). It didn't work for me, that is if we'er talking about the same thing? Jack
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From what I understand the queen leaves the hive and gets trapped in this box.
All the workers come out and go through the queen excluder. The queen comes out and gets caught in the box. You close off the entrance on back
of box and remove it. Then insert it into a new hive and open it up and the queen then leaves box and into the new hive.
Makes sense to me but we will see if it works in the spring.
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If it works I will be getting one or two myself, in fact may get one to try out this spring anyway.
Ken
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Interesting, and my first question was about drones as well (just like Jack :o).
I wouldn't want to leave these on if away for any length of time as the new queens would be hatching out and the old girl would still be stuck there.
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Yea,
here is me.
In an out yard doing inspections. Open a hive , tada, swarm cells and old queen hasn't left yet. First I try to find her and no luck. But man I really need to get the rest of inspections done. Running out of time.
So, I could throw this on the entrance and check it again the next day, no swarm check it next day or so.
I had this happen several times to me this spring and I lost the swarm a day or 2 after the inspection.
If I can find the queen and remove her while I am there I will do that, if not I'll throw this on for a few days.
I figure it's worth a shot.
They say some commercial beekeepers have been testing them and they work. I figure for 30 bucks it's worth try.
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Holy Schmoly! I could have use this last spring with my 10 swarms.
I would like to see a vid of it tho ~
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Maybe this spring I'll have one
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That would be dandy ;) However I think the company should have a vid ~ I'm still not exactly clear on how this works
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yea i agree.
When I get mine I'll take some pictures and I think it will make more sense.
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I could see the virgin queen skeedadling through the excluder slots because she might be small enough to fit.. But used as mentioned to catch the old queen seems a viable option for even larger apiaries.. just used in the specific situation mentioned only a few per apiary would be necessary..
I can see myself wishing i had about 5 of those next spring...
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Those who get this, please keep us posted. It looks to me like it has potential.
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FYI,
I emailed the company about getting the queen and bees out from inside the trap once the queen enters. His reply is below.
Hi Steve,
Sorry for the delay in response, our internet has been down.
After you have swept the bees from the exterior, you simply move the remaining bees and queen that is trapped inside the Swarm Bandit to the entrance of the new hive. Reopen the sliding door and yes, the queen will file into the new home in a matter of minutes. They are looking for a new home, you’re simply providing it for them.
If you can provide them a couple of frames of drawn out comb, either empty or from the hive they swarmed from, the queen can go to work immediately. The Swarm Bandit also allows you to control the amount, or numbers of bees, that are swarming so not to weaken the swarming hive too excessively.
The best part, it ALL takes place on the ground, not on a ladder or in a tree!
The whole processes takes approximately 5-7 minutes after the swarm has settled.
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I won't be buying one of these.
It is not convenient for me to return to my out-apiary every day or two to check on the device. I would be concerned that if it works as promised then the parent hive could be left strong with a crop of queen cells. That could be a recipe for "after swarms". If "after swarms" didn't occur then there would arrive a newly mated queen in a strong hive. Such a situation could mean a long wait for the new queen to start laying.
If I had a non-swarmed hive with a crop of Q cells and I couldn't spot the queen, I would do a splitting manipulation taking account of the situation. It might take slightly longer at that visit but be a time and labour saver overall.
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my computer does not recognize the orrbeesupply link. I am GUESSING this is a redo of the old drone trap design which should also trap queens or virgin queens.... I would be extremely leery of any claims made about some device that is 'reinvented' on a 40 year cycle whereby the old becomes new again.... fad are fads and none seem to work very well or last very long. If it is the same device (ie a drone trap) then after about 24 hours the trapped queen will likely be dead which I guess would limit swarming. Also without some exit for drones (and if it has one would the device still work as suggested???) the device will become clogged pretty quickly with dead drone bodies which at least here would encourage lethal results.
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Tec:
Thanks for the above post. I was contemplating ordering one of these contraptions. You saved me some bucks. Good on you for sharing your vast knowledge.
Lazy
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Yes I appreciate your comments as well Tec, as I stated in another post, I would like to see this in action. But in my case, my swarms land on the bank behind our back fence, so I would be able to check this apparatus daily.
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I emailed the company and asked them the below the questions and their response is below my questions. I held this in my hand and it looked to me like it would work.
Not sure I can speak to Tecumpsehs claims about it being a 40 year old do-over of a fad. We will know come spring :D
Darren
Has this been tested?
How long do you have, once the queen has entered the trap, to remove the device?
Do the drones clog up the entrance?
Thanks,
Steve
We tested the Swarm Bandit for two years before producing it for the public and before attaching our name to it and patenting the Bandit. We worked out the sliding gate issues first, then eventually added an extended roof and porch for landing.
We have had such a great response, we are now looking toward producing a more “permanent” solution to the weather wear and tear instead of limiting it to white pine.
We purposefully left a swarm alone for three days to see what would happen if we didn’t catch the swarm immediately. They stayed clustered to the front all day, at sunset, they all filed back into the hive. The next day was repeated, swarm, cluster, re-entry. This happened for three days in a row before we finally relocated the swarm. If someone misses the swarm the first time, they will have a second chance. If the bees are not eventually relocated, the two queens will finally meet and the victor will emerge.
We also recommend that you leave the entrance open for four to six weeks after the swarm for the new virgin queen to be mated.
The drones did emerge into the cage on front but did not drastically slow down any production. We did, however, find that if the Swarm Bandit is left installed indefinitely, you will have to manually clean the bottom board of the hive. The bees seemed to have a problem removing casualties.
We have reinstalled our Bandits for the fall feeding as we have found the bees can protect the hive with ease from robbing and hornets as well as other pests. Because the Bandit doubles as an entrance reducer, we leave them on through the winter as well.
If you need any more information, please don’t hesitate. We’re here to help as always.
Thanks,
Darren Orr
Orr Bee Supply
www.orrbeesupply.com
828-581-4494
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Here arepictures of all 4 sides for those who might be interested.
I will know for sure if it works comes spring.
Trap door closed
(https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs30.postimg.cc%2Fkhfk08f8d%2F20141025_105918.jpg&hash=9b53d8082ccc5eaaf05a7375f6a574e3842a170b) (http://postimg.cc/image/khfk08f8d/)
Trap door closed
(https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs28.postimg.cc%2Fx22nuivnt%2F20141025_105933.jpg&hash=269815822b776320106401f59345fee53e84fd8f) (http://postimg.cc/image/x22nuivnt/)
(https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs21.postimg.cc%2F5cloyfun7%2F20141025_105941.jpg&hash=f60b9980ef15598ba9a2b41f01ada10586350865) (http://postimg.cc/image/5cloyfun7/)
(https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs3.postimg.cc%2Fdjadmqskf%2F20141025_105949.jpg&hash=0d8dd007d2e2f3c0f6c03705b5816f118b92bd97) (http://postimg.cc/image/djadmqskf/)
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Thanks for the pics.
I am puzzled. Do they tell you how to get the swarm out of the trap ?
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Yes, the swarm will most likely be hanging on front of box and inside. The workers can get out through the excluder. The queen get trapped inside box.
You slide the trap entrance closed, this keeps the queen inside the box. Shake or brush the bees into a new hive. remove the trap and slide it in the entrance of the box that you just dumped the swarm in. Open the trap doors and the queen exits trap into the new box.