May 16, 2022
Besides being the first words to a cheesy Rod Stewart song, it’s the night we retrieve our first swarm trap. The location in Fulton has had activity for at least a week. This afternoon I went to the location to see for myself. I saw lots of activity, but couldn’t get a good picture.
Things to get ready
The smoker
First I had to test the smoker to make sure I had an idea about how to handle it. It’s just a little smoke, can’t be that hard. At least I hope not.
I bought this smoker at the Tractor Supply store in Fulton. The store has a pretty good selection of bee keeping equipment.
A smoker is used to mask your pheromones from the bees and their pheromones from each other, making them more docile. In other words, it may prevent you from getting stung. Beekeepers used to use and some still may a favorite cigar for the same purpose.
Protective equipment
Fortunately I had tried on the jacket and gloves recently, so they were good to go.
A plan
This will need to be done onsite. Should be an easy thing to do. Time will tell.
The event
We got back to the location around 19:30. It was still fairly light out. I checked the trap. There was still some in and out traffic. Better wait some more.
So, we sat on the couple’s deck for a bit and visited with them. The plan of attack when the time came was for me to use a little smoke at the entrances and then close them. Then I would ride up in the bucket of the tractor to remove the strap and set the swarm trap in the bucket.
Around 19:45, I checked the trap again. Still saw a bee or two. At around 20:00 I couldn’t see any more traffic. Time to move.
The plan worked amazingly well. The trap was in the bucket and driven off in about 5 minutes. And a few minutes later we started home.
Video
After we got home, we walked the trap back and placed it by the permanent hive. I do hope that we really caught something.
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