Beekeeping Tricks - Bee Traps

The apiary can be easily developed by using bee traps. It was thanks to them that beekeeping in its modern form arose. Even in ancient times, new apiaries were laid with their help.

Bees flock to a special trap hive and rebuild the foundation. If the swarm is strong, it can occupy a hive with 8-10 empty frames.

Bees should be caught in early spring when they start looking for a place to hive. Completed traps are taken out into the field or forest, and after a while, usually 20 days, they take the hive with wild bees. Layers from this hive are settled in the apiary. The next generation of bees gives more honey, since all conditions for the full development of bee colonies are created in the apiary.

A swarm of domestic bees can fly out, if the beekeeper does not keep track of him. Such a swarm can be moved to the apiary without forming layers, since the bee colony is not wild. Bee trap during the flowering season it can catch two strong swarms of bees.

Making a trap

The most effective bee bait is a mixture of wax and propolis. Bees flock very well to the smell of this mixture. The frame of the trap will be a homemade beehive made of chipboard. To make it, you need to fasten with hardware four boards with holes drilled in them for ventilation. Then, using wood glue, you need to fix the structure on the base for the hive. It is made of a coarse mesh, which is installed on supports. For supports, you can use wooden blocks 4-6 cm thick. Bars 2 cm thick are installed on the base to create a gap. After the hive is dry, all holes must be closed with a net, leaving only the bottom gap through which the bees will fly into the hive. Then one or two empty honeycombs are placed in the trap hive so that the bees have somewhere to collect honey. It is also necessary to install 8-10 empty frames in the hive, which the swarm will build up with honeycombs. Together with them, two waxes with honey are set into the trap so that the swarm feeds at first. Despite the fact that the chipboard is susceptible to moisture, the impregnation of a mixture of wax and propolis will protect the hive from destruction.

The trap is set in a meadow or forest where there are many flowering herbs. If a beekeeping professionally, then you cannot do without bee traps, since breeding families takes a lot of time.

It is best to paint the traps outside for added moisture protection. But the paint takes a very long time to erode, so traps need to be prepared two months before they are installed.