April: Boone Regional Beekeepers - swarming

Our April meeting will be held at the Animal Sciences building on spring swarming. Topics will cover the population dynamics that drive honeybee colonies to swarm. We will demonstrate and discuss capturing swarms in bait traps and in open field situations, how to lure bees into traps, where to deploy traps, and how to best place bees into hives. Submit your favorite and unique swarm capture techniques and gadgets to demonstrate!

Agenda and presenters:

• Tom Coudron - swarm biology and colony decision making
• All - prevention of swarming
• Carl Korschgen--swarm boxes / bait hives and other swarm traps
• All - how to manage successful captures (verify queen presence, length of time to leave in trap, transferring to hive box)
• Carl Korschgen and All - capture of swarms in bushes/trees and on structures
• All - Bring or submit a photo of your favorite and unique swarm capture techniques and gadgets to demonstrate.

Sunday, April 19 at 3:00 pm. 2:30PM socializing

Background reading:

Dr. Leo Sharashkin who lives in southern Missouri has provided comprehensive information about swarms and swarm trapping on his website. Especially note his suggestions about where to place and how to bait swarm traps.

http://horizontalhive.com/honeybee-swarm-trap/bait-hive-how-to-catch.shtml.

He also has excellent plans for building swarm traps.

Dr. Thomas Seeley’s classic EXCELLENT publication about swarm trapping is here: https://ecommons.cornell.edu/handle/1813/2653. Seely is the swarm guru so his other publications and books are very informative.

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Host or Publisher Boone Regional Beekeepers Association