Central Oregon Beekeeping Association - Questions and Options regarding a Price-style Trap-Out

Reply to: Questions and Options regarding a Price-style Trap-Out

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<blockquote>Kathryn Kerby wrote:

Greetings everyone.&nbsp; I'm actually a bit north of most of you, up in western Washington just north of Seattle.&nbsp; I joined COBA specifically because I've been working with a Price-style trapout this year, and I figured at least some of you would have experience with that.&nbsp; I've had some issues and now I'm asking for input on options.

Back story: I'm on the swarm response list for my county, and I answered a swarm report at a residence in late June of this year.&nbsp; A honeybee swarm had found a gap in a home's brick wall, and taken up residence behind it.&nbsp; The homeowners are bee fans, but the new hive location was immediately next to their front door.&nbsp; They wanted to know if the swarm could be relocated. They definitely did not want to do a cut-out.&nbsp; So I set up a Price-style trap-out to try to lure the hive out of the wall.&nbsp;

Long story short, I've had a list of issues with this trap-out.&nbsp; First and foremost, each time I thought I'd found and closed all possible entrances to the hive, the bees found yet more gaps in the siding, the wall, the overhang above the wall, etc etc.&nbsp; It was a never-ending cycle of closing up new entrances, and trying to lure them into the hive.&nbsp; Here we are in late Sept, and I think I have finally closed off all those other entrances.&nbsp; But my next issue has been repeated instances with robbing, starting in August.&nbsp; I'm using internal feeders and reduced the entrance down to a single bee width.&nbsp; I've even closed up the hive for a few days at a time to try to break the cycle.&nbsp; But there's a massive feral hive not far away that keeps hammering on this hive.&nbsp; I think those bees recognize my truck and materialize out of nowhere whenever I drive over to refill the feeders.&nbsp; To be honest, I don't blame my target hive for not moving down into the trap hive.&nbsp; I've tried combs of sealed honey, drawn comb, brood comb, and the bees I'm trying to trap are having none of it.

So now here we are in late Sept, and I'm debating how much further into the year I should pursue this.&nbsp; The homeowners are still interested in the hive and want to see it "go to a good home", but we agree that it's a poor idea to try to lure the bees down in winter.&nbsp; And they don't want to get into hard core masonry work on that wall to get the bees behind it.&nbsp; The wall is against the bedroom of the family's resident elderly grandmother and they don't want to bother her either with all sorts of cut-outs and renovation work.&nbsp; So we're thinking to wrap up our trap-out efforts for this year and maybe try again next spring.

I'd love to know from anyone who has experience with this approach, what your recommendations might be.&nbsp; Do I pack up all my stuff, re-open their original entrance, and leave them alone until April?&nbsp; Do I leave my box up and continue to try to feed them?&nbsp; Something else?&nbsp; I don't want to give up on this hive but I definitely need a new plan.&nbsp; Thanks all.
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