Making Lemongrass Bait.
The other day, my friend Jackie was looking for some old frames to fill her nucleus box to use as a bait hive. She was driving south homewards and stopping en route at an hotel in Perthshire to set up a bait hive to, hopefully, catch a potential swarm from a colony of honey bees ensconced in the building. This is all in a good cause in the hopes of preventing any further stress to future wedding parties being photographed in the grounds. On a previous occasion the bridal party were lined up and smiling for the cameras when a swarm erupted with a roar and flew down the garden close by causing mayhem. Who needs confetti with a swarm around!
I have some disease-free but old comb with drawn foundation to donate. It is best not to use really old comb, which should be destroyed, but the odour of old comb is attractive to scout bees.
Lemongrass Oil
Lemongrass mimics the attractant pheromone that worker bees emit from their nasonov glands near the tip of their abdomens when they need to draw the colony together. It works well when you rub a cotton wool ball soaked in oil around the hive entrance. I also place a couple of balls in a plastic bag with holes punched (I know plastic is not great but I still have old bags to use up) and place this at the bottom of the hive where the odour is slowly released. If you can’t smell a whiff of lemongrass as you pass by you can top up as required. This method works well for me and last year those scout bees above brought the rest of the colony to my bait hive.
This is really fascinating to learn……………….. for one who was totally ignorant of the bee world, other than they stung you, if you cornered/trapped them by mistake in your hair!
Ouch! Ouch! and what a ghastly face afterwards. Just like a boxer after a round in the ring!
I have learned so much about another world right here before our eyes on this very same planet. I would never have believed it.
Bees are endlessly resourceful, fascinating little creatures. They are another world to observe and to absorb our time and our energy. What would we do without them?
Without bees, our diets would be boring. Porridge, oatcakes, bread and more starch at meals, NO honey, and few fruit and vegetables. Sales of laxatives would increase!