Bryan has been so excited to try and catch a swarm this year to add to our back yard. Basically a swarm trap is built to lure in bees who are trying to find a new home for their colony.
And here it is! These sneeky little bees decided not to go inside the trap but to congragate on the outside of the trap and start building their new home there.
This is all the closer I decided to go...eventhough "they say" that bees will not sting when they are swarming. Ummm, ill just take my chances from a safe distance with a good zoom!
Under normal circumstances the bees would go inside the box and then Bryan could have just sealed up the entrance, unscrewed the box from the tree, and brought the whole thing home. But in this situation the bees were all on the bottom so he had to get another box to drop the bees into so he could bring them home that way.
Get ready... Give the box a good thump or two...they all fell into the lower box...
Make sure they are there...Close the lid and we are off!
By the time we got home it was getting quite dark so I only got one good picture. All he really did at this point was to open the box and dump them into the top bar hive! And by morning they were off and foraging!
Bryan has been so excited to try and catch a swarm this year to add to our back yard. Basically a swarm trap is built to lure in bees who are trying to find a new home for their colony. 
And here it is! These sneeky little bees decided not to go inside the trap but to congragate on the outside of the trap and start building their new home there. 
This is all the closer I decided to go...eventhough "they say" that bees will not sting when they are swarming. Ummm, ill just take my chances from a safe distance with a good zoom!
Under normal circumstances the bees would go inside the box and then Bryan could have just sealed up the entrance, unscrewed the box from the tree, and brought the whole thing home. But in this situation the bees were all on the bottom so he had to get another box to drop the bees into so he could bring them home that way. 
Get ready... Give the box a good thump or two...they all fell into the lower box...
Make sure they are there...Close the lid and we are off!
By the time we got home it was getting quite dark so I only got one good picture. All he really did at this point was to open the box and dump them into the top bar hive! And by morning they were off and foraging!
That's awesome! I dream of top-bar hives (soon, soon!) but I'd never heard of that swarm trap!
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