Bait Hives
Published by Steve Jacklin in Beginning Beekeeping · Monday 06 Jun 2022 · 2:45
Tags: Bait, Hives, attract, bees, backyard, simple, effective, lure, swarm, start, hive.
Tags: Bait, Hives, attract, bees, backyard, simple, effective, lure, swarm, start, hive.
Bait Hives

A Bait Hive is something that every responsible beekeeper should have in their arsenal.
So, what is a Bait Hive. Well, a Bait Hive is essential just an old hive that is past its useful working life, but it still has one advantage. Its smells of Bees and as anybody who has been beekeeping for a long time, they know that Bees are attracted Bees. The Hives I use (I have two) are both in the region of 80 years old. I can tell they are that old by the design. They stopped making that design in the second world war as wood was on short supply and this design used too much wood. Saying that these two hives I have where my first hives and came to me probably 4th hand.

How do I set them up? If you read the books, it should just be an old box with nothing in it, but Bees do not read the Books. I just use an old hive and I fill it with old comb, but that is not always enough. I also soak a tissue in lemon grass oil and put that in as well. Lemon Grass oils is remarkably close chemically to the pheromone given off by a Queen Bee.
I love having a bait hive in the garden. It is one of the joys in life sat watching a swarm arrive and it is something I think I will always have in the garden. Even when I have given up full time beekeeping and I am into my dotage I will have a bait hive. I will just call the local Swarm Collector every time it fills up.