bait hives for honey bees

8/3/2019 Bait Hives for Honey Bees

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Information Bulletin No. 187A Cornell Cooperative Extension Publication

Bait Hives forHoney Bees. e .

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By Thomas D. Seeley,Roger A. Morse,and Richard Nowogrodzki


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'111ispainting by anunknown artist waspurchased ina market inNairobi, Kenya. EastAfrica has a tradition ofbeekeeping andharvesting beeswax andhoney that goes back-veral thousand years.beh year, beekeepers gel~"lial!!ll!lllii~~' new colonies by placingempty handmade hiveswhere they will attractswarms. Details in thispainting are biologicallyand cultur:..Llyaccurate.The hive is an appropriatesize, well off the ground,

. .. . ! "i iI II C 'd ' . .. .. \ l I , .md shaded but easily-g~ .. visible. The shape of thetree shows the effects d

the winds on the Nairobij]l'iI!5!i;=~~~!iI;1lain. The men picturedare Masal, with theirtypical red dress, shields,and spears.

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IntroductionIn most parts of the United Statesmany colonies of bees live in hollowtrees and buildings. They are descen-dants of bees that escaped from bee-keepers' hives and reverted to naturalnests like those of their remote ances-tors. By using special hives called baithives or bait boxes, beekeepers mayharvest swarms that issue from theseor other colonies.

An understanding of how swarmschoose their nest sites helps us designand situate bait hives to make themmore likely to attract swarms. Observ-ing the way a swarm selects andbuilds a new nest can provideimportant background informationfor successfully pursuing the art ofbeekeeping,

In many areas, the number ofhoney bee colonies in trees andbuildings probably exceeds thenumher in human-made hives. Allthese colonies have chosen theirhomes. By studying naturally selectednests and experimenting with varioustypes of hives we have developedbait hive recommendations forbeekeepers.

In the Ithaca area of central NewYork State we have captured swarmsin 80 percent of the bait hives we setout in good years-nearly a hundredswarms in some years. In our poorestyear, fewer than 20 percent of the baithives were occupied.

Capturing swarms can be an easy,inexpensive way to begin inbeekeeping. However, a newlycaptured swarm, like a newly in-stalled package of bees, rarelyproduces a surplus of honey for thebeekeeper the first year. In fact, aswarm captured late in the seasonmay need supplemental feeding tosurvive the winter.

What Is a Swarm?When a colony of honey bees be-comes large, it divides into two units.About 30 to 70 percent of the beesremain in the parent colony; the restleave as a swarm. The bees in theswarm are predominantly workers,but a small fraction may be drones(males). Typically, each swarm hasone queen, usually the old one fromthe parent colony (who is the motherof all the bees in the colony).

Some prosperous colonies castmore swarms in the days followingthe departure of their first C'primary")swarm. Each such "afterswarm"includes one or more young, virginqueens. We estimate that coloniesin trees and buildings cast swarmsnine years out of ten; those managedby beekeepers cast swarms lessfrequently.The number of bees in a swarmvaries greatly-from about 2,000 tomore than 50,000. The swarms withthe lowest populations are probablyafterswarms, which tend to be muchsmaller than primary swarms. Verylarge swarms probably result fromtwo or more swarms becomingconfused and joining. Other factorsaffect swarm size, such as the volumeof the nest cavity. Because a colonycasts a swarm when its residence hasbecome congested, colonies in smallhives tend to swarm more frequentlythan those in large hives, with fewerbees per swarm.

Swarm populations average 10,000to 12,000 bees, about the number in athree-pound package of bees. Aswarm or package of bees weighingthree pounds, installed in a hive inthe spring, is considered a goodstarting unit for a beekeeper.

A swarm contains bees of all ages.Thus, even the day a swarm is hivedthe population declines due to thenatural death rate. For the beekeeper,it is important that the queen begin tolay eggs and make replacement beesas soon as possible. A period of 21days is required to grow a worker beefrom egg to adult. Adult workerstypically live only four to six weeks.Thus a swarm is a fairly frail unit.

In fact, eighty percent of swarmsthat move into natural nests fail tosurvive the first winter. Even the bestbeekeepers lose some coloniesthroughout the year, particularlyduring the winter. Good beekeepinginvolves reducing losses to an accept"able level.


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When Does Swarming Occur?Successful use of bait hives, especiallytimely harvesting, requires knowingwhen swarming is most likely to occurin one's area. In central New YorkState, 80 percent of swarming takesplace between May 15 and July 15(see Figure 1). Nearly 20 percent takesplace between August 15 and Septem-ber 15. The remainder-only 1 to 2percent=-occurs between mid-Julyand mid-August.

A similar pattern presumably holdsin the rest of the United States, exceptthat swarming starts earlier toward thesouth. Swarming in Maryland starts inApril, for example, and in Florida inlate February or March. For NewYork, we recommend capturing andhiving spring swarms only; latesummer and fall swarms require toomuch feeding and other attention tobe worthwhile, and even then maynot survive the winter.

In general, a honey bee colonyswarms only if the bees are relativelycongested during the swarming season.This means that colonies that swarmtend to be those with populations thatbuild up the fastest. Thus the timingof spring swarming is closely tied tothe speed of colony buildup.Population growth is affected byvarious factors, including the availa-bility of food, the ease with which thecolony can control its hive environ-ment (for example, colonies withdamp bottom boards have moredifficulty controlling the temperaturefor rearing brood), the age of thequeen (young queens generally laymore eggs than old queens), and thepresence or absence of disease.

The amount of space available alsocontributes to crowding. When beesselect their own nest they prefer cavi-ties smaller than the hives that aregenerally used for bee husbandry. Thesmall nests tend to encourage swarming.

As shown in Figure 1, only three ofthe more than 200 swarms we ob-served emerged before May 1S. Twoof these were cast in different yearsfrom the same bee tree, at a lowelevation on a hill west of Ithaca. Thefact that swarming in this spot oc-curred exceptionally early indicates

the importance of microclimate forhoneybees.

Microclimate should be consideredcarefully when selecting sites for api-aries. The more favorable the condi-tions, the more likely that colonieswill grow rapidly and prosper. For anatural, unmanaged colony, this canmean more swarming, or swarmingearlier in the season; for a beekeeper,it can translate into greater honeyproduction.

The departure of a swarm from itsparent colony may take only five toten minutes, hut noticeable prepara-tions begin up to 10 days in advance.For example, colonies send out scoutbees to search for new home sitesseveral days before the entire swarmissues. Searching scouts can he seenflying up and down tree trunksinvestigating knotholes and otheropenings. In Central New York, thesearch for homesites may begin asearly as the first week in May, so baithives should be in place before then.

During this period of preparation,in many workers the four pairs ofwax glands on the underside of theabdomen go through development.Thus the bees in a swarm are primedto build new comb rapidly. A bee-keeper can take advantage of this anduse a new swarm to draw goodcombs from foundation.

Bait hives should be inspected andharvested frequently because withinweeks of occupying a new home aswarm can make a great quantity offragile new comb. This may makemoving full bait hives difficult, asoverheating may cause the comb tomelt, or undue jarring may breakcomb and kill bees.

Other swarm preparations aremade by a colony. Queen cells arebuilt and provisioned, and the queenlays eggs in them. Generally, by thetime the primary swarm issues forth,

Figure 1. The dates of swarming in theIthaca, N.Y., area (data from 1971through1976).Each dot represents a swarm thatemerged on the date shown. Thisinformation indicates that ban hivesshould be in place by May 1 to attractscouts and be fully effective.

SWARMEMERGENCEDATES, 1971-1976

May

June

July

August

September

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the cells arc capped, which means thedeveloping queens are in the late lar-valor pupal stage. The old queenloses up to one-third of her weight inthe weeks before swarm departure,which enables her to fly with theswarm.

House Hunting by BeesThere is division of labor in a honeybee colony; individual bees specializein different tasks. For example, all thefood gathering is done by the olderworkers. Among these, a smallfraction (5 percent is probablytypical) act as food scouts, They findnew patches of flowers and thenrecruit other workers to collect thenectar and pollen. The recruits rarely,ifever, explore for new food sourceson their own, relying instead oninformation from the scouts.Atswarming time, scout bees (pre-sumably the same ones that func-tioned as food scouts) seek out andevaluate new nest sites. In experimentsaimed at learning which nest charac-teristics are important and what thescouts prefer, we offered bees spe-cially built bait hives (usually cube-shaped) in pairs; within each pair thehives differed inonly one respect. Foreach pair, we recorded which of thehives was chosen by a swarm,Results of choice tests for manyswarms yielded 12 recommendationsfor bait hive design (see box).Some factors remain to be re-searched. Bait hives that meet all thecriteria are passed up by someswarms for unknown reasons.The color of the hive exteriorappears to be unimportant, exceptthat darker boxes may overheat in hotclimates unless they are fully shaded,Colors that provide some camouflagereduce human vandalism without dis-couraging the bees.The boxes pictured in this bulletinwere made with %-inch-thick ply-wood, but other materials can beused. Both sturdy cardboard boxesand lightweight molded papier-mache plant pots (available fromnurseries) have been used success-fully in areas with dry climates.

Recommendations for Bait Hive Design1.HE I GHT : about 15 feet (5 meters) above the ground.2. S HA DE A ND V IS IB IL IT Y: well-shaded, but highly visible. Bees avoid or

abandon bait hives in direct sun.3. D lST A NC E FR O M PA RE N T N E ST: not important.4. TOTAL E NT RA N CE A RF .A : about llfl to 2 square inches 00 to 15 crrr');a circular opening about 1 1 / 4 inch (3.2 em) in diameter is suggested.S, E NT RA NC E S HA PE : not important.6, E NT RA NC E P OS IT IO N : near the floor of the hive.7. E N TR A NC E D IR E CI lO N : facing south preferred, but other directions areacceptable,8. C A'v lT Y V OL UM E: about 1.4cubic feet (40 liters). This is about the volumeof one standard ten-frame Langstroth hive body (see Figures 2 and 3).9. C AV IT Y S HA PE : not important.10. O RY NE SS A ND A IR TIG HT NE SS : dry and snug, especially at the top.

11.TYPE OF WOOD: various types acceptable; many types of trees have beenoccupied. Bees may avoid new lumber.12.ODOR: the odor of beeswax isattractive. However, putting in pieces ofcomb is not advisable, as comh also attracts wax moths and can harbordisease organisms. If a hive body is used as a bait hive, a good solutionis to insert a few wired frames, each containing a strip of foundation,Commercially available chemical lures that smell like lemon grass andapparently mimic the scouts' communication scents work well and canbe used in bait hives of any shape.

Figure 2. We tested bait hives of varying sizes. These had volumes of 10,40, and 100liters. When hives were mounted on trees a few meters apart, swarms usually chose themiddle-sized (40-liter) one, shown in detail in Figure 3.When only the smallest andlargest boxes were available, some swarms accepted the large box (100 liters) but noneaccepted the lO-liter box. We found no relation between the population of the swarmand the size box selected.


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20" 15"

1\ 1 . . . . Diameter Enlranee Holewllh Nail Across iL

Removable Floor Held on w,lhEye Hooks

Figure 3. Most of the experimental bait hives were IS-inch 08-em) cubes made of5/S-inch (Lti-cm) plywood. We found that the shape of the bait hive isnot a majorfactor but the volume isquite important to honey bee swarms. Our data suggest that asturdy box about the size of a standard lO-frame Langstroth super issatisfactory,

Building a Bait HiveA bait hive attracts scout bees and aswarm only if built properly, so besure to follow the recommendationslisted in the box at left. The dimen-sions of the wooden boxes used inour research are shown in Figure 3.We used only cubes after dataindicated the shape of the hive is notimportant.

The box should be built so it canbe opened easily to examine the nest.A removable top makes transferringthe bees into a permanent hive mucheasier. An excellent approach is tonail a top and a bottom to a standardLangstroth hive body (often called asuper) and use it as a bait hive. Thetop will be easy to remove later if thenailheads are left slightly exposed,rather than driven in flush with thewood.

The bait hive must have a project-ing piece of wood or some type ofhanger so it may be fastened to a treeand later removed. It is frustrating tofind that a box has fallen to the groundbecause of poor nailing or to strugglewith removing a box from a treebecause it was nailed in place toosecurely. Also, a nail or piece of wiremesh across the entrance holeprevents birds from nesting in the bait

hives while maintaining free accessfor the bees.

Dryness and snugness are very im-portant. To prevent any light or waterfrom entering from the upper portionof the nest, all cracks must be sealed.Duct tape works well for this.

Positioning Bait HivesSuccess in using bait hives dependson proper site selection. A good loca-tion for a bait hive is about 15 feet (5meters) above the ground, highly vis-ible (to maximize the likelihood ofdiscovery by scouts), and fullyshaded. Figure 4 shows three well-located hives. The picture on page 2illustrates an ideal site in Kenya, EastAfrica, where bait hives have beenused for centuries.Even the most carefully chosen lo-cation may be ignored or rejected bybees. Inducing scout", and thenswarms, to enter bait hives is only thefirst step. We have observed swarmsmoving into bait hives only to rejectthem an hour or a day later. Over-heating of the hive seems to be acontributing factor. Once bees havebuilt combs and have brood, how-ever, they rarely abandon a newhome.

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Inspecting Bait HivesIn our experience, leaving bait hivesin place to overwinter is a poor prac-tice; very few colonies survive. Al-though we have no data, we believethat bait hives are not as protected astree cavities and that the winter deathrate of colonies left in bait hives ismuch higher than the normal 15 to 20percent loss of established colonies intree holes. But it may not be signifi-cantly higher than the 80 percentmortality of colonies in bee treesduring their first year after moving inas a swarm.

Bait hives should be checked fre-quently, both to obtain data aboutwhen they were occupied and to pickup the bees. It is much easier to takedown a recently occupied bait hivethan one that has been left in placeuntil the weight of the honey and thepopulation of bees have increasedsignificantly.

The key sign of occupancy is beeflight around the entrance. However,such activity may merely indicate thatthe hive is being investigated by scoutbees. The surest sign that a swarmhas moved in is incoming bees carry-ing loads of pollen. Home-seekingscouts do not carry pollen. Not allbees collect pollen, however, and atcertain times of the year in certainlocalities there may be a dearth ofpollen. Also, a colony with only 2,000to 5,000 bees may show markedlylittle activity at a hive entrance.

Another useful distinction betweenscouts from a swarm and foragersfrom a colony that has taken upresidence is the pattern of flightaround the hive. Bees scouting apotential nest site move repeatedly inand out of the entrance, some limestaking short flights but returningagain and again for further inspec-tions of the interior. Most foragers, incontrast, either leave the entrancequickly or stand there for a while,rapidly groom themselves, then fly offdirectly. Sometimes, especially in theearly afternoon, bees leaving anoccupied hive are young bees takingorientation flights; they trace widen-ing figure-eight patterns in the air.


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Taking Down a Bait HiveConsider safety when bringing downa bulky hive. It is not an easy objectto carry on a ladder. An occupied baithive may weigh as much as 60 to 80pounds (27 to 36 kilograms). In someareas bait hives get heavy early in theseason when there has been a goodhoney flow. If nectar is abundant, acolony can harvest several pounds ofhoney in a single day. Even a hivewithout much stored honey cancontain many pounds of adult beesand brood.

A beekeeper can approach andhandle an occupied bait hive as he orshe would any other colony, butthere are special considerationsbecause of the awkwardness ofworking on a ladder. Placing theladder against a tree and climbing itmay arouse guard bees and makethem more likely to attack before youcan smoke the entrance.

A smoker should be lit and readybefore the ladder is placed against thetree. It may be possible to allowsmoke from below to drift up to theentrance before approaching thehive, but this is usually difficult to doeffectively. Climb the ladder with Careto keep vibrations to a minimum, andsmoke the bait hive entrance quickly.

It is important to tie an occupiedbait hive into place carefully withrope before removing the nails thathold it to a tree or other object. Useone end of the rope to secure thehive and place the other end arounda limb above the hive and tie it to theladder. Remove the nails, then untiethe end of the rope attached to theladder and allow the hive to slidegently down one of the side rails ofthe ladder, or let the hive hang free ofthe ladder and slowly lower it to theground.

Remember that new comb is weak,lacking the old cocoons and propolisthat strengthen old comb. It is espe-cially susceptible to damage withoutthe wired frames and woodenwarepresent in a hive. If comb is brokenas a bait hive is lowered to theground, there is danger of killing beesand losing honey. Honey drippingfrom a bait hive causes a mess and,when nectar is scarce, may causerobbing.

To avoid breaking comb, keep thebait hive right side lip while loweringit to the grot! nd. Problems may beminimized if the bait hive is madefrom a super and is provided withwooden frames holding strips offoundation for comb building.

Figure 4. These baithives were amongthose occupied byswarms. Theirplacement illustratesthe types of locationsthat arc appropriate.The signs show thenumbers assigned tothe locations, and thearrows indicate thedirection of the baithive entrance (straightup would mean itfaced north).

Transporting a Bait Hive to anApiaryAfter a bait hive has been takendown, it can be transported to anapiary. Screening the entrancefacilitates the moving operation,Attach the screening at a time whendarkness, cool temperatures, or minkeeps all the bees inside the hive.

First gently smoke the entranceand any bees clustered on the outsideof the hive; carefully smoked beesshould crawl into the hive. Then useduct tape to fasten wire screeningover the entrance. Nails or tacks canalso be used, but hammering stirs upthe bees. Eight-mesh hardware clothis a good type of screening to use.Ordinary fly screening, which has 12to 14 wires per inch, is also satisfac-tory but is not as strong.

The screening should be removedas soon as possible after the bees arein their new location. Under nocircumstances should a hive remainscreened all day, especially if it isexposed to the sun, because over-heating can kill the colony and with aclosed entrance the bees cannotregulate hive temperature.

Screening must be undertakenwith caution. Bait hive entrances aresmall and ventilation is limited. In a


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hive filled with bees, brood, andfood, the excited bees may generateso much heat that combs begin tosoften and break and bees begin tosuffocate.

Moving bees in the cool of theearly morning helps prevent theseproblems, but sometimes otherapproaches are also necessary.Migratory beekeepers moving largenumbers of colonies rarely screenindividual hives. They generally useclosed, refrigerated trucks or opentrucks on which a large net mayscreen the entire load. Each colonyentrance is left open so the bees cancluster outside their entrance ifnecessary. Reducing the mass of beesinside the hive prevents it fromoverheating.

Transferring Bees to a MovableFrame HiveAn occupied bail hive lacking mov-able frames is illegal as a permanenthive in most states. This is becauseadequate inspection for disease isimpossible. In addition, such a hive isinefficient. All captured swarmsshould be transferred to movableframe hives.Transferral must be done earlyenough in the season that a colonyhas time to store sufficient pollen andhoney for its winter food. The first ofAugust in the northern states isprobably the latest appropriate date,and even that date may be risky. Littlecan be done with a bait hive later inthe season except to feed it as well aspossible, place it on a hive stand,provide some winter protection, andhope it survives until the bees can bemoved to a permanent hive in thespring.

There are several ways to carry outthe transfer. If the swarm has builtlittle or no comb, remove the top orbottom of the bait hive and dump thebees unceremoniously into or in frontof an unoccupied standard hive withdrawn combs or frames with founda-tion. Occasionally bees reject such ahome, but including a frame witheven a small amount of brood greatlyincreases the chance of acceptance.

Bees are much less likely toabandon a new home if they arehived in a light rain or in the evening.Direct sunlight, dampness, the odorof new wood and paint, or otherphysical disturbances sometimesprompt a swarm to abscond. If aswarm does leave the hive, it usuallysettles nearby in a bush or tree, andyou may try again to hive it in thesame manner. Bees that have rejecteda hive once may accept it on thesecond try.

A bait hive in which the bees havebuilt significant comb should behandled differently. Well-establishedbees are much more reluctant toleave, and the brood and food storesrepresent a valuable resource thatshould be preserved if possible.

If the bait hive has been suppliedwith wooden frames and the combhas been built in them, the transfer iseasy. Otherwise, a fairly simplemethod is to place the bait hive on ahive stand, remove the top (orbottom, if you've turned the bait hiveupside down), and place a super ofempty combs on top. This is espe-cially convenient if the bait hive itselfis a super, or has the same dimen-sions as one. The bees expand theirhome into the upper super, as it isnatural for the brood nest to developupward.

Check the upper super for broodin a week Or two. If it contains eggs,place a queen excluder between thetwo units with the hope that thequeen is in the upper one. Check theupper unit again after three days. Ifthere are eggs, the queen is there; ifnot, remove the excluder for a fewdays and repeat the process.

After the queen has been confinedin the upper super for 24 days, nobrood will be left in the combs belowbecause no new eggs will have beenlaid and all the worker and dronebrood will have hatched. Place theupper super on a bottom board andthe transfer is complete.

Then harvest the wax comb fromthe bait hive for rendering and rinseoff any spilled honey; the bait hive isready for reuse. Small remnants ofbeeswax and propolis from the

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previous use will make the bait hiveall the more attractive.

A method of speeding up thetransfer is to use drumming, acenturies-old practice used to removebees from straw skeps and boxes.Place a new super of combs abovethe bait hive (the new super musthave a cover, as bees will not druminto an open box). Then, using handsor a lightweight rubber hammer, beatrhythmically on the side of the baithive. If a moderately slow, steadybeat is maintained, the bees shouldabandon the hive (even leaving theirbrood behind) and march upward inan orderly manner. Drummed beesdo not become angry, but at theoutset of drumming always smoke acolony carefully.

Still another method of transferringbees from a bait hive is to remove thecover, cut the combs from the hiveone by one, and shake the bees into asuper of drawn comb. This methodcauses much alarm and the air mayfill with angry and confused bees.Bees adapt to a new hive morerapidly if it contains a frame withsome brood. If the queen can befound and caged in the new hive herpresence will attract and calm thebees. This system should not be usedwhen there are other colonies in theimmediate vicinity, as lost bees maydrift into the other colonies and per-haps ball the resident queens.

When bees are transferred frombait hives with comb there is a choiceof discarding the brood and comb orsaving some by cutting and tying itinto a frame. Saving comb is not easy,but it can be done. The easiestmethod is to lay several pieces ofstring parallel on a flat table, place awooden frame without wires over thestring, and put large pieces of combin the frame. Be sure to place thecomb in an upright position, just as itwas in the bait hive. Then tie thecomb in the frame. Use colton string,which the bees can chew apart andremove from the hive in a few days.By then other bees wilt have fastenedthe comb in place with wax.

New combs made in this way arerarely satisfactory for brood rearing or


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honey storage. In the long run, theyare usually discarded in favor ofbetter-built wired combs. Theiradvantage is that young bees fromhrood comb saved in this mannerholster the colony population, andkeeping brood in the new hive aids inpreventing absconding.

Special ConsiderationsSome captured swarms may beundesirable additions to an apiary.They may well be from stock with ahigher-than-average tendency toswarm or may have other drawbacks,such as being unusually likely tosting. of course, the beekeeper canalter these and other inherited traitsby requeening.

Another important consideration isthat a swarm may harbor disease thatcan spread to other colonies if theswarm is installed in an apiary.Therefore, inspect and monitor newlyhived swarms carefully, checkingespecially for signs of Americanfoul brood or parasitic mites.

Thomas D. Seeley is an associate pro-fessor in the Department of Neurobi-ology and Behavior at Cornell Univer-sity; Roger A. Morse is a professor inthe Department of Entomology, NewYork State College of Agriculture andLife Sciences at Cornell University;Richard Nowogrodzki is a researchspecialist in apiculture in the Depart-ment of Entomology, New York StateCollege of Agriculture and LifeSciences at Cornell University.

Aornell Cooperative Extension Helping You Put Knouiledqe to Work

Further InfonnationThe following publications areavailable from Cornell CooperativeExtension.Beekeeping: General Information

139-IB-90.Identification and Preoention ofAmerican Poulbrood in Honey Bees139-LFS-92S.00.Package Bees: Tbeir Installation andImmediate Care 139-IB-7.Small-Scale Queen Rearing by Bee-keepers in the Northeast 139-IB-209.

For ordering information, including afree catalog of publications, films,slides, and videotapes, visit anyCornell Cooperative Extension countyoffice or write to:Distribution Center7 Research ParkCornell UniversityIthaca, NY 14850

This publication is issued to further Cooperative Extension work mandated by acts ofCongress of May8 and June 30, 1914. Itwas produced with the cooperation of the U.S.Department of Agriculture and Cornell Cooperative Extension, College of Agricultureand LifeSciences, College of Human Ecology, and College of Veterinary Medicine atCornell University. Cornell Cooperative Extension provides equal program andemployment opportunities. lucinda A.Noble, Director.Produced by Media Services86/155 rev. 10/89 3M MS E90J76

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