I had to have one of these.

[Jen]

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.

[Yankee11]

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

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

[Yankee11]

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

Trap door closed

[Barbarian]

Thanks for the pics.

I am puzzled. Do they tell you how to get the swarm out of the trap ?

[Yankee11]

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.