Swarm lures

[Yorkbees84]

Hi all, has anyone tried the mann lake swarm lure envelopes? I'm curious to know how these work as the envelope says 'do not open ' but inside there are two sealed vials...how does the pheromone get out the vial? Am I being stupid? (And yes, I opened the envelope 🫢)...

[Alfred]

Not sure if it's the same product but I once bought a packet (blue sachets?) of lure -waste of time.
The instructions said keep refrigerated but a May weekend in the back of a couriers can somewhat puts that into perspective
It's lemongrass oil.
Cheaper to buy a little bottle off ebay.
I just put a dab on the back lug of one of the frames and some propolis scrapings in the bottom of the box
I don't put any wax in as I want to lure bees not waxmoth.
Works a treat.

[NigelP]

You could load all the swarm lures you like into any amount of hives in my area and non would work.....I have never captured a swarm in my area in 15+ years of beekeeping, including any from my own bees. (With queens wings clipped it simply doesn't happen). I put this down to being one of only three known beekeepers in a large area with nearest being 2 bee miles away who has 2 hives.....although I did pick up a couple of his lost swarms last season that were causing problems for a local in his village. The nearest swarms I have ever picked up have been at least a a mile away.
So be sure there are other beekeepers in your area....because some areas simply will not have the number of hives nor the correct topography for swarms to follow after they have left the hive.
About 6 miles away I have a friend who seems to live in "swarm alley". Several swarms a year, always in the same tree in her garden and no know beekeepers in the vicinity.....it's mad...

[Yorkbees84]

Thanks all. Swarm lures have worked for me in the past but likely just luck. I'm currently using lemongrass oil too in other traps I have set up, so I guess the proof may be in the pudding. I'll let you know!

[AdamD]

I too bought a couple of little vials from Thornes many years ago. They didn't work at the time. I did buy some lemongrass oil one year - that didn't work.

Last year however, I had two 'free' colonies:-
One was on a hedge by my out apiary one Saturday morning - I walked up to the hives and saw it there. Assuming it was one of mine, that had flown out that morning, I captured it and then went through each and every hive looking for the one that had swarmed and found the queen in each one. That was NOT what I had planned to do that morning.
The second swarm was in a bait hive 200 metres away from my out apiary. It consisted of three frames of old brood in a Paradise polyhive, 1 foot off the ground. On both occasions, I know not where the bees came from.