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Offline Zweefer

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First trap out
« on: March 11, 2016, 02:09:35 pm »
So I found this hive of feral bees in the woods right next to my house.



Entrance is approx 20 ft up.

It has been suggested that I use pipe to get them down, and set the cone portion at waist height, making it easier to handle the box of trapped bees.

It was also suggested that I would need to ventilate said pipe using screen or something of that nature.   My questions are thus:

Would the screen up top for ventilation be the place the bees come back to (taking from ideas speech they see it like a fence) or not because it isn't a cone all around?

Given the fact that this knobs out from the tree what would you experienced trappers do to get this tight?

How long can I have the pipe up before trapping?   I won't have access to a medium frame of eggs until April, but not sure if I want to wait that long to get set up...
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Offline Perry

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Re: First trap out
« Reply #1 on: March 11, 2016, 04:08:54 pm »
Me? I have a 24 foot ladder and I would just build a bracket up there and set a hive body on it. It looks like it would be a straight forward cone set up with that nice raised knob.
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Offline LazyBkpr

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Re: First trap out
« Reply #2 on: March 11, 2016, 05:45:46 pm »
What Perry said. Screw a couple eyelets or handles to the box before you take it up..  Then you can tie a rope to it and lower it down without moving your feet.
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Offline riverbee

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Re: First trap out
« Reply #3 on: March 11, 2016, 06:04:14 pm »
good luck zweef!!!
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Offline Lburou

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Re: First trap out
« Reply #4 on: March 12, 2016, 12:11:13 am »
Zweefer, you can probably rent a ladder & some knees at Rental One...  ;)
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Offline Jen

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Re: First trap out
« Reply #5 on: March 12, 2016, 12:52:31 am »
Yay Zweef! Go Get Um! Keep us posted with pics. I love this time of year  ;D
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Offline apisbees

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Re: First trap out
« Reply #6 on: March 12, 2016, 01:21:29 am »
Zweefer I am not totally clear. Do you have a hive or access to frames with eggs in them for the bees to raise a new queen. I am a bit confused by some of your other posts you have made about hive loses and finding feral colonies. If you have the resources to get the frame of eggs, then you still want to wait till you are sure you have enough drones in the area to have a good mating. If you don't have access to a frame with eggs then I would not do a trap out until I did. In this case I would set up swarm traps and see if you could get the swarm with the queen. Then you would have a colony.
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Offline Zweefer

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Re: First trap out
« Reply #7 on: March 12, 2016, 05:05:44 am »
I do not have access to eggs yet, as my bees were all dead outs. I do have some ordered, as well as nucs from LazyBkpr eventually. My thoughts were to prep as much as possible beforehand.  I was hoping to trap sometime in mid April, but wanted to get set up as much as possible now before work hit (I have my days off until end of April).  If I could get the queen, I would be in heaven, but as I understand it it is a crap shoot at best on a trap out.   Part of this this thread is due to idle hands, and an eagerness to get started, knowing the actual task is still a ways off...   I just want to be prepared, and not screw this up :D. This is a new facet of keeping that I am thrilled I get a chance to try, and I hope I am not putting the cart too far before the horse.
Thanks for the suggestion on the drones, I'll be sure to hold off till then.
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Offline Lburou

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Re: First trap out
« Reply #8 on: March 12, 2016, 10:34:10 am »
Nothing wrong with being a 'Prepper' Zweefer!     ;)
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