By: Bill Patton
This article originally appeared in the Spring 2021 issue of BEEKeeping Your First Three Years
As a beekeeper for a few years, I have always enjoyed catching swarms primarily spawned by the desire to get free bees instead of buying. Via neighborhood postings and notices on local social media, I got tons of inquiries and captured 10-12 swarms last Spring. But over the years I learned some lessons. I found holding a box or something under the swarm and shaking or brushing the limb to be awkward. Once you shake or brush, lots of bees begin flying and if your intentions are to locate them away from the swarm perch, a great many bees will not find the queen after you have taken her away. Your efforts might get most of the bees but you can only hope the queen is captured. You might have to return and do it again – I have. After a few captures, I said to myself “There has to be a better way!”
So, I designed a rectangular net that would encompass the entire swarm without disturbing many bees. After closing the net, you can shake the swarm, clip the limbs away and easily relocate the bees!
My capture net has two adjustable sides and the top is closed by dowels inserted in the top edge of the net. The design allows the net to wrap around a horizontal limb by adjusting the side zippers depth when the top is closed. It also includes a rope to wrap around a tree trunk or any structure to allow easy brushing bees off their perch. It is helpful before netting them (if you do not already), spray the cluster with sugar water to minimize disturbing the bees and then spend a few minutes clipping away small branches that would keep you from easily using the net to surround them. Carefully reach out and approach the swarm from the bottom. Once the swarm is enclosed, bring the dowels together and shake the swarm off the limb and clip any vegetation away. Once you are free from the bee perch, curl the top dowels to shut the net. When the swarm is relocated, the side zippers and/ or bottom zipper can be opened to dump the bees into your hive or opened all sides and lay the net flat creating a ramp to allow the bees to march into the hive.
You can view a YouTube demonstration video by typing onto the browser line tinyurl.com/swarmnet.
See the diagram below for assembly. Approximate costs of the materials are about $25 and is very easily assembled with the help of someone that sews. All dimensions given can be adjusted as you wish or find necessary.
The only materials needed:
6′ x 48″ nylon window screening material. Any color is fine but I preferred light gray. It allows you to see the swarm better.
2 – 22″ (size #5) zippers
1 – 34″ (size #5) zipper
2 – 5′ – 6′ sturdy dowels
1 – piece of rope about 10 feet long
Assembly instructions:
With a 48″ wide and 6′ long piece of nylon window screening, fold lengthwise to form a 24″ x 6′ shape. This is the basic shape of the net. (# 1)
Along the top of one side, fold the top edge down about 1 ½’ and sew the full length of the net. Repeat for the other top edge. These are the channels the dowels are inserted into allowing you to reach out and to open and close the net. (# 2)
On each side of the top, sew the channels closed on one end only. This prevents the net from sliding up the dowels when you push the net into a bush. (# 3)
Along the top of both looped channels, cut the looped channel (but not through the stitching) at about 6″ from each end. These cuts will allow you to insert or remove the dowels through these slits. (# 4)
Along only one top side and approximately the middle third of the length, cut two holes in the channel. These slits are for the rope to be threaded through the channel. (# 5)
Sew onto each narrow side of the net a 22″ (size #5) zipper with the pull tab at the top and to be pulled downward to open from the outside. These zippers allow you to adjust the depth of the opening and allows the net to be laid flat on the ground. (# 6)
In the middle of the bottom fold of the net, sew the 34″ (size #5) zipper with the pull tab on the outside. Then cut the net to provide a hole. (# 7)
With each of the 3 zippers sewn in steps 6 and 7, trim off any excess netting inside the zippers to prevent the netting being caught in the teeth.
Insert the dowels. (# 9)
Thread the rope through the channel via the openings along the top. (#10)
Now, go catch a swarm!
