Well actually the second. The first didn’t go into the trap. They just gathered in a big ball in a tree nearby and then flew away before I could catch them.
The swarm trap sits at the edge of my mother’s yard. Tuesday she called me at work to let me know she had just watched a swarm enter the box. She said it looked like a bee tornado and took about 15 minutes for them all to get inside.
That evening I got the last hive ready and into the bee yard. Wednesday after work and once all the bees were inside the box I closed the door and moved it. I set it on top of the hive and opened the door.
Thursday after work I moved the bees into the hive. I was surprised at the amount of comb they had created in just a day and a half. There were four bars with significant comb and several others with a line started.

After a puff from the smoker this guard was the only one that wouldn’t leave her post.

With the cover off you can see the bars and the corner of the bait (q-tip and lemongrass oil) bag.

Here is the first bar.

Here is the second.

The third.

And the fourth. It only has comb about the size of a silver dollar.

Looking into the box you can see the bait bag and all the bars have bees covering them steadily trying to build a home.

To give them a head start and save me some work in the future I added 2 bars of comb that I stole from another hive. Both had a small amount of honey as well.

By placing the full bars of comb in between the ones they are building it will help them stay on the bars. I have guides but they still drift off track sometimes. Adding the full bars prevents this. It is also that much comb they don’t have to build so the queen should be able to start laying eggs sooner if not immediately. I’m sure the workers will have to go through and clean and inspect the cells before the queen will even consider using it but that will still be faster than if they had to build first.

I have run out of bars so I have to make some more before I can reset the trap. It’s going to rain this weekend so that is probably near the top of my inside list.

I will be selling any future swarms. Because 5 hives is enough for now. If you are local and interested contact me and I will start a list of interested individuals.