On Saturday, March 21st, 2026, about 25 of your fellow SIBA members met at Jim Orem’s honey barn to learn about trapping swarms. Jim has been trapping swarms for several years and puts up about 50 swarm traps each year. With the swarm season about to begin, the topic was timely and the presentation was very informative.
Jim kicked it off by explaining why bees swarm, what they do when they swarm, what they are looking for in a new home, and many other aspects of the swarming process. He also went into some detail on swarm trap design and construction, and covered how he assembles, baits, and places his swarm traps. He covered the difference between catching a swarm and trapping a swarm. When you catch a swarm right after they have left a hive, they are typically very docile and are usually receptive of being placed into a hive with frames. Once a swarm has chosen to move into a swarm trap, and the queen starts laying eggs, they have established the trap as their new home, and they will defend it against any intruders.
Jim leaves his traps up throughout the summer and up to the first frost in the fall. He feels strongly that any swarm he catches is one less swarm that might end up in someone’s house! It was a great presentation with a lot of conversation about swarming and catching swarms.
We all then went outside and Mike Champlin gave a talk on the methods he uses to place swarm traps. Mike covered a couple of methods he uses to make traps easier to install and remove from trees. He also shared a swarm trap design that utilizes a deep Langstroth hive body rather than a swarm trap box. Don Burkart covered a few tips and tricks for the process of moving bees from the trap to your hive.
It was a perfect morning for both experienced and new beekeepers.
Jim is considering holding these types of events each month, on the Saturday following our SIBA meeting. Stay tuned for more information on that in our monthly newsletter.
