Aussie Swarm Collection

[Pete]

I am going to start to slowly get kitted out for swarm and colony collection so i am ready to go in spring.

I am wondering what every has in their swarm collection kit for a) regular swarms and b) colony removal?

Do you just take a nucleus hive, or a plastic tub with rails to hang frames, how many frames do you take, how many bees/how much room do you need; eg do you take a 10 frame deep or an 8 frame standard or a few frames nuke?

I will obviously take my video camera and my bee suit.

For colony removal is the bee vac really worth the effort, is it that good? If it is i guess you want it to be transportable. Maybe a plastic tubbed hive with drawn frames? A lightweight version of this http://robo.bushkillfarms.com/beekeeping/bee-vac/ ? or is it easier to use what will be the new home of these bees right from the start and suck them into a pre built hive?

[Meadlover]

There's heaps of threads on this subject, try Tools for the cutout sticky thread

I made a beevac but it sucked (pun intended) and killed most of the bees. I'm half way through making version 2 which will suck them directly into their new hive and hopefully cause minimal deaths.

ML

[Pete]

Love to see some pics. Are you using a nuc as the box, vac at one end with fly screen and tube into hole at the other?

[philinacoma]

I have started building a vac, but not got around to finishing it yet...

I have been on a few swarm and colony collections now. For a swarm I have managed so far to get away with a five frame nuc. For colonies, they vary dramatically. One I managed to fit in a single nuc. The one that OzBuzz and I pulled out of the chiney took 2 nucs to fit it in.

I went on a collection yesterday that the brood took up an entire 10 frame deep on their own. I'm going to put the pics in a fresh post, but essentially I could not fit all of the bees and brood in one 10 frame box.

My suggestion is when you go on a swarm collection take a nuc and an 8 frame (or 10 if that is what you use) and pick the box that fits the number of bees the best.

On a colony collection take a nuc, if it is small. If it turns out bigger have a deep with you. Be aware that if it turns out to be a monster you could need 2 deeps. If you have to remove walls or other obstacles to get to the comb you will not know ahead of time how big it is. Be prepared, take a range of boxes.

If it is a feral colony removal, be prepared for a long day. They can take anything from an hour up to 6-7 hours to complete.

And where do they end up after I have collected them? I have given most of them to beginners as their first hive. 2 of them last year went to a semi commercial/large hobbiest who had lost more than 1/2 of his hives to a crop spraying, but I prefer to donate to begginers.

[Pete]

I also have a plastic tun from bunnings with a piece of wood screwed into each end and it hold 8 full frames perfectly. I use it to hold frames of honey in prep for extracting. Not an ideal hive, but a cheap alternative you could use in a pinch.

[Meadlover]

Love to see some pics. Are you using a nuc as the box, vac at one end with fly screen and tube into hole at the other?

I am modelling my beevac off Robbo's beevac.
1/2 way through building it, hopefully get it done this weekend.

I am making it to fit a 10fr hive as that's what most of my boxes are, and the increased surface area over a nuc will create less force on the bees and hopefully less die this time 

I will add some photos once I've finished it.


ML