Tim Vaughan said, about QMP:

> Can this be used both to attract stragglers after picking
> up a swarm, hive in house, etc..

Yes.  Works great.  I keep several QMP "straws" in an airtight
metal cigar tube (mostly to stabilize temperature) as a part
of my go kit.

> and also to attract new swarms in beeyards and such?

Sorry, no.
Intact swarms have their own queen, with her own unique mix
of pheromones.  QMP will certainly attract a few bees away
from a swarm, but not the swarm as a whole.

If you mean as "bait" in a swarm trap, then I think you
mean "Nasarov pheromone" rather than QMP.

There are those that say that Nazarov pheromone can attract
swarms to traps, and quite a bit of it gets sold, much of it
with swarm traps, but I don't know of any studies that showed
any statistically significant advantage over traps baited with
"old comb".  I also don't know of any studies that showed any
statistically significant advantage to using old comb as "bait".

I bait my homebrew traps with "old comb" (hey, it is free...),
but I wire little 8-mesh enclosures around the bait comb to
keep the wax moths away.

What bothers me is that the same people who make and sell the
bulk of both the QMP and Nasarov pheromones persist in marketing
"Fruit Boost",
http://www.pherotech.com/fruit_boost_with_qmp_for_polli.html
one of the many options offered as "aids to pollination" or
"bee attractants".  This application of pheromones has been
shown to not have any significant effect in controlled studies,
which forces one to wonder why any responsible firm would continue
to market such products in the face of such conclusions from
impartial and experienced scientists.

> This sounds like a great idea, especially with large swarms
> in high bushy trees, sometimes you really can't get them all.

By the time the swarm is high in a tree, one has lost the
chance to "attract" the swarm.

The use of a "swarm trap" presumes that one will deploy them
before "swarming season", in hopes that scouts will find it
and appreciate the enclosure.  What I don't understand is the
thinking behind the "bucket-type" swarm traps.  Why would any
scout bee prefer an enclosure with such a large and impossible
to defend "entrance"?  Why would a bee select an enclosure with
a interior not much larger than a 5-gallon pail?

Why do these things not have a "lid" with a smaller opening?
Why are these things not larger?

Around here (Virginia), swarming's over, and supers are on.
Now if it would just stop raining for 3 days at a time!
5.6 inches this month!


                jim (Who knows how to make a pheromone...
                 ...knock down his pyramid!)

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