Last spring, we were blessed with two swarms of bees.
It’s a joke between me and George because before I knew anything about honeybees, I thought you could just put a hive outside and the bees would come. He explained to me that this never happens and that you must buy bees as NUCs or Packages. Sometimes you are lucky enough to get a swarm, he said with authority, but they are usually too far up in the trees or need to be extracted from a building with tools and know-how that we didn’t have.
Lo and behold, we received two swarms on our baby plum trees just feet away from our apiary and only two feet up in the air.
It happened in early spring of this year, and we were not prepared. We borrowed two NUCs and used them as swarm traps from George’s mentor. We saved the bees.
After doing some research, he read about Dr. Tom Seeley of Cornell University and his approach to building swarm traps and set about making his own. George’s traps hold 5 deep frames. The traps are sized at about 40 liters with a 1.5” diameter entrance, which is close to what Dr. Seeley recommends.
They are made of ½ inch plywood and ready for you to paint, bait, and hang your frames. $65 each!
We use exterior Kiltz on the outside of ours and then paint them in shades of green to camouflage and protect them from moisture damage, so they will last longer. You can paint them any way you like, though, maybe paint it with the kids. He is making a few for his local bee club, as some do not have the tools or time to make their own. If this is you, please let me know how many you’d like to purchase. Email me at info@threeriveroaksfarm.com.
♥bee happy♥
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1 Comment
Just_A_Reader · November 11, 2025 at 8:37 pm
Thank you for your contribution.