Whenever possible I just drive my minivan up to the tree, climb on the roof, and hang the trap from there (I have a wide board strapped to the roof rack to serve as standing platform). Otherwise I use a 20-foot extension ladder.
There are several ways to attach the trap to the tree. The quickest option is to tie a piece of wire around the box right under the rim of the telescoping cover (four screws hold the cover in place). Twist the wire to make a 2” loop in the center of the long side that will face the tree. Drive a screw into the tree and hang the box on it, like a painting. Then secure it to the trunk with a ratchet strap.
Another possibility is to pick a tree with a large limb at the needed height. Put the swarm trap on the limb and strap it to the trunk with two ratchet straps. I position the ratchet straps loosely in place before raising the trap into the tree.
Finally, you can raise the trap on a rope. Swing it over a branch, tie around the trap, and pull. Tie your end of the rope, climb up and strap the trap to the trunk with two ratchet straps. You can then release the rope — the straps will hold the box.
Tilt the trap forward just a bit so rainwater does not run in through the entrance. If you use foundationless frames (or just top bars), set the trap as level as possible, so the bees build straight comb.
This fence row oak is an ideal swarm trap site that stands out. Prominent, highly visible, easily accessible, fully shading the box, adjacent to natural vegatation, and close to a creek.
Of course a good swarm trap is only part of the story. As much depends on the presence of honey bee populations, proper baiting, and trap placement. The guidelines are widely known: see, for example, Bait Hives for Honey Bees by Thomas Seeley, Roger Morse, and Richard Nowogrodzki (Cornell University extension publication no. 187, download free from their website). Seeley’s Honeybee Democracy offers a fascinating and complete discussion of swarm’s behavior and how they choose their new home. Here is a list of key success factors that can be gleaned from these and other publications, from talking to experienced swarm catchers with consistently high success rates, plus from my own experience.
Baiting — if the box was not previously occupied by bees, I scent it with propolis. Warm it in your hand for a few minutes and when it becomes supple and sticky, thoroughly rub all interior surfaces. Then apply a few drops of lemongrass essential oil — right into the trap or, for slower release, on a cotton ball in a Ziploc bag, of fill a micro centrifuge lab tube and put inside the trap. The commercially available slow-release pheromone lures should work even better. Make sure to keep them frozen or refrigerated until use.
Dark comb — the scent of wax and old comb is attractive to swarms. Add at least one frame of dark comb if you have it. Even the frames that you would otherwise discard make a good addition to the trap. Make sure they come from healthy colonies and sanitize by freezing for 48 hrs to kill pests. I’ve never heard about wax moths posing a problem for swarm traps — possibly because traps are set out early in the season.
Ideal height — 12–15 feet off the ground is best, as confirmed by numerous studies. It is possible to catch swarms in traps positioned lower, but scout bees seek sites offering good protection from predators and damp ground, so they first look higher up. Together with baiting (scenting) the box, the height is reported to be especially important.
High visibility — if you cannot see the trap from 100 feet, the bees will have trouble discovering it. Traps hidden behind leaves and branches are rarely occupied.
Full shade desirable — bees reject a box if it overheats. If you do not have full shade, at least put it in partial shade or on the north side of the tree trunk.
Light box color — by the same token, do not paint the box with dark paint to avoid heat buildup. You can leave the trap unpainted, but priming and painting it in a light color (e.g., white, light gray, etc.) will significantly prolong its useful life. If swarm trap theft or vandalism is a potential issue where you live, you can paint it in a light camouflage pattern that blends in. In Russia many beekeepers glue a thin layer of bark all over the trap. It gets heavier, takes additional work, but becomes almost invisible to human eyes.
Large landmark trees work best — on the edge of the woods, along country roads, power lines, in fencerows, yards, etc. Bees see fork shapes particularly well, and I had lots of luck with trees that have a clear trunk with large boughs coming from it.
Proximity to swarming colonies — it surely helps to know the location of bee trees and bee yards. But do not put the trap too close to the existing colony. Winston (The Biology of the Honey Bee) cites studies suggesting the good range from several hundred feet to 1 mile from the hive. My traps on bee trees or right by a bee tree never worked. But swarm traps positioned as little as 50 or 100 ft from the known colonies were repeatedly occupied.
Places bees visit — the scout bees that look for a new nest site are the same bees that were previously foraging for nectar and pollen. They will first look in the places familiar to them. This is why “high traffic areas” — gardens, orchards, and especially areas with a rich diversity of wild nectar plants (meadows, bottom fields, glades, old fields reverting to natural vegetation) are particularly suitable. Areas with little bee food (e.g., pastures or conifer forests) rarely attract a swarm.
Source of water — water is an everyday necessity for any bee colony. I am finding that 100% of the swarms I catch occupy traps hung within several hundred feet of a creek or pond. This may be especially relevant for locations with hot, dry summers. In dry areas in Russia some beekeepers hang plastic water jugs right by the swarm trap. (Usually a 2-liter soda bottle or a 1.5-gallon drinking water jug.) They pierce a pinhole in the lid, reverse the jug and let water slowly drip on a piece of board attached by the trap. Bees discover the “fountain,” come to collect water, learn the location, and the swarm trap is more easily discovered.
Spread traps 1–2 miles apart — this maximizes your chances. If you hang traps close by, scouts from the same swarm may discover two or more of them — and, the traps being identical, will have a hard time deciding which one to choose!
Swarm trap materials — wood, plywood, and wood pulp are all acceptable. Natural tree hollows have rough wall surfaces, so no need to try to make them too smooth. If you use wood, rough-sawn boards are actually preferable (and cheaper) to planed lumber; if plywood — regular construction grade works perfectly well, no need to invest in sanded plywood. If you walked on the walls, you’d surely appreciate some traction, wouldn’t you?
Entrance orientation — some studies have shown slight preference for south facing entrance exposure, but in practice I have not yet met a beekeeper who diligently orients swarm traps with compass in the hand. The majority of my swarms fly into traps with north-facing entrances! If anything, the entrance orientation should be convenient so you don’t have to get out of your vehicle (or, in case of my daughter, get off her horse) to see if the box is occupied.
Stick to your lucky trees! The trees and sites that caught a swarm keep attracting more swarms — later the same season and in subsequent years. So putting up an empty trap as you take down the one with the swarm is a very good idea. Bees can see forked shapes and big tree limbs particularly well. This V-shaped sycamore by a stream at the woods’ edge consistently attracts swarms every season.
After hanging the traps early in the season, you go about puffing dandelions and reciting your favorite swarm-catching charms, all the while experiencing the high of playing at a high-stake lottery. Check traps occasionally. If you see lots of bees at the trap entrance (congratulations!) come back to collect the trap at nightfall, after all foragers returned from the field. Before pulling it down, place your ear against the trap and gently knock on the wall. Loud vigorous hum indicates a resident swarm. If the box is silent or you can hear a few bees but it sounds hollow, what you have seen during the day were the scouts that discovered the box, and the swarm is likely to arrive within the next day or two. Please come back later.
So if you see bees visiting the box, it does not yet mean the swarm moved in. It can be scout bees (usually dozens, but sometimes hundreds of them) that discovered the box. After the scouts appear at the box, it usually takes 2-5 days for the swarm to arrive (although occasionally the swarm never shows up at all). Checking the box after dark is the surest way to tell if the swarm is inside. Here are some additional cues:
If you see a large mass of bees covering the box or adjacent trunk like a beard, this is a swarm that has just arrived; they will move inside within an hour or so.
Bee movements: scouts move briskly, going in and out of the box many times, hovering around it in jerky movement (as if bumping their head against it), many leave and many new come, newcomers don't find the entrance straight away; scout numbers increase as time goes by.
If you see some bees arriving with pollen (small balls of yellow, white, gray, or pink pollen on their hind legs), the swarm is surely in the box — scouts never carry pollen.
Weigh the box — if it’s much heavier than the empty box, the swarm is inside.
Just visit the trap one week after you first saw the bees in and around it. If you still see lots of bees after a week, busying in and out, the swarm is in.
If the swarm is inside, the trap is ready to be moved. If there is a bunch of bees chilling out on the front wall by the entrance, I take a gulp of water and spray them from my mouth. It looks like it is going to rain, so they move inside no questions asked. I cover the entrance with #8 hardware cloth (mesh wire) and staple it in place.
If the swarm trap tree is from 30 feet to 3 miles to where the permanent hive will be located, I first take the trap 6 miles away and leave it there for a week (with open entrance!), then bring and set it by the permanent hive. Without this procedure many bees leaving the hive will be flying to the original swarm trap location and congregating there; moving them away for a week resets their orientation system. If the hive is right under the swarm trap tree, no such precaution is necessary.
When working with occupied swarm traps in twilight, I use a headlamp with red filter. Bees can’t see red light — so you can see them without being noticed. Very handy.
If the weather turns rainy after a swarm arrives, I give them several pounds of honey lest they starve to death.
The transfer of bees from the swarm trap into the hive is very simple. Pull the frames from the trap and insert them into the hive in the same order. Whatever bees remain in the trap dump on a piece of plywood propped up against the hive’s entrance.
If the swarm you are transferring has not been in the swarm trap long enough to have brood, there is a small chance that it may abscond (fly off) after the transfer. This never happened in my practice; but if you want to be absolutely sure, giving the colony a frame of open brood from another colony helps anchor them to the permanent hive and prevents absconding.
Most beekeepers remove swarm traps from trees at the end of the main swarm season. In southern Missouri it is around the 4th of July. But I leave mine up until late September. While I never caught any swarms in July or August, there is a small spike of swarming activity in September. These late swarms are usually relatively small — 2 to 3 lb. They can be united with an existing hive. But I prefer to keep them in the swarm trap and let them build comb and forage until the first hard frost. After that I carry them inside and connect the trap entrance to the outdoors. Given 5 or 6 lb of honey they survive until the spring and develop into robust colonies the following season.