I've kept bees for most of the last 25 years, but a couple of years ago, during that really bad winter, I lost both my colonies. The following spring I built what's called a bait-hive. The bait-hive is different from a regular hive, since a swarm of bees will very rarely enter a regular hive. The bait-hive is set up specifically to have the right amount of free space inside it to attract the swarm. Anyway, I had mine set up the last two summers with no success.
This year, my wife put in a few drops of lemon grass oil, since I'd told her that the bees like that smell. Well, that did the trick and last Tuesday, a huge swarm of bees settled on the front of the hive, and in a few minutes they were all inside.
Here's the bait-hive. Only the top box is open, the other boxes are just stacked up to give the bait-hive the right height.
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Here's a close-up showing the guards at the entrance, now that they've moved in.
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This year, my wife put in a few drops of lemon grass oil, since I'd told her that the bees like that smell. Well, that did the trick and last Tuesday, a huge swarm of bees settled on the front of the hive, and in a few minutes they were all inside.
Here's the bait-hive. Only the top box is open, the other boxes are just stacked up to give the bait-hive the right height.
Here's a close-up showing the guards at the entrance, now that they've moved in.