Update!

To make a very long story extremely short, I have bees again! And boy, do I ever! This post is going to be long, really more for documenting this journey than for just enjoyable reading, but here goes!

Some time ago, a couple of years in fact, I tried to build a bee swarm trap. I was successful at building it, but unsuccessful at catching a swarm. When I lost the only colony that I owned, it kind of took the wind out of my sails, but I really did enjoy trying to raise bees and they were so fascinating to watch and learn about. In the back of my mind, I wanted to try again, but it seemed that timing was everything and ordering bees was kind of tricky and expensive and I was struggling with what to do. About 7 months ago, I called Dadant to put my name on the list for a nuc of honey bees. Dadant is the company that I purchased my first colony from two years ago and I thought that I would go ahead and do that again. That idea was quickly squashed when I was told that they don't offer nuc service anymore. My other options were to order a package of bees or try to find a friendly, local beekeeper that would sell me one of his young colonies. Both options are expensive and not really something I wanted to do.
 
I then decided to consider swarm trapping once
 again. The website from which I learned about swarm trapping in the first place is a wonderful site to learn about beekeeping and the guy's videos are very informative and I felt like connected to what he was saying. I learned that he had written a book about catching swarms and so I purchased it. The book really doesn't say much more than what was in his videos, but I enjoyed reading it and I learned a lot about swarms and bees in general.  I learned that swarm season in Texas starts about the middle to late March and that traps needed to be placed during that time. By the time I found out this information, it was already close to March and I needed to build my traps and decide where to place them and pretty quickly. I already had one that I built a year earlier and I decided that I would build 3 more for a total of 4 traps. I had been on a frugality kick lately, so I thought I would try to build them out of scrap wood or anything I might find cheap or free. I ended up deciding on used wooden fence planks I got from a friend who was repairing some of his fence. For a beginner, 4 traps is pretty good I guess, but I have heard of people having 20 traps that they place all over. I had become resolved to the fact that since
this was my first official year and without having very many traps to improve my chances, I would be okay not catching a swarm. This was going to be a year of learning.


Once the traps were built and ready to deploy, I needed to find a place to put them. I really didn't want to put them too far from home, but I needed to place them in different locations. A neighbor of ours, down the

Swarm trap in back yard

hill toward the highway had a yard sale one weekend. I went to the sale and started talking with the gentleman about different things and I found out that he owned acreage across the  highway. It's a large field that's primarily used for hay. Along the back side of the field is a tree line and creek that runs the entire width of the field. Thinking about the book I read, I knew that a good location for a trap is at the edge of a forest or tree line next to a field. I also thought that the creek would also be a good place. I didn't read that in the book, however. I asked the man if he would allow me to place a few traps at the edge of the field. He said that was fine as long as I would give him some honey. I chuckled and said I would be glad to, but I really didn't have much hope. I really was not wanting to set myself up for disappointment.

Trap by creek's edge

Well the days passed and life happened. I really don't remember the exact day that I put the traps out, but I know that it was way passed the middle of March. And I think it was closer to the end of April, maybe even May. That's why I should keep this blog updated. I would be about to know for future reference. Anyway, it was late and I knew my chances were not very good. I placed one trap on a nice sturdy tree about 6 feet from the ground. It was about 10 feet or so from the fields edge and out of view. It was also about 20 feet from the creek. I hung it, baited it and left. I placed another trap probably about 300 yards away along the same meandering tree line and not far from the creek. I also placed this trap about 6 feet off the ground. I then placed a third trap on a tree in my backyard.  I know that's only 3 of the 4 traps. I just never got around to hanging the other trap. So then I waited. I checked the traps about once a week and nothing had changed. In fact, one of the traps close to the creek had become a home for a bunch of roaches and rollie pollies. We had had some rain, and the fence boards that made up the trap had soaked in a lot of moisture and the bugs loved it. I had to kick out the unwanted bugs several times. I thought that if I was a bee, I wouldn't want to live there.

Then, during the week leading up to Memorial Day, I walked down to check the traps by the creek. I came to the first trap and to my surprise, I saw bees coming and going from the trap. I couldn't believe it! It's hard

Bees in trap

to explain the kind of feeling I had when I saw those bees. I immediately realized that if nothing else happened, then this year would be a success! I almost skipped to the next trap, not really caring that it would probably be empty. the next trap indeed was empty except for useless bugs that had yet again moved in. I dumped them out and re-hung the trap. I went home at a more happy pace and tried to figure out what to do next.