Hi All
 
I have been enjoying this thread.
 
In south africa, many people trap swarms. I myself have a few
trapping sites, the best of which, using one bait box collected nine
swarms over a three week period which was the peak swarming season.
(This site was directly above my solar wax extractor which I placed
in a crook in a wall facing the rising sun)
 
There are two common trapping techniques employed in south africa.
One is to use specially made boxes and place them in suitable spots
where bees will naturally scout. (eg  on cliff faces, on sun facing
walls of buildings etc). These boxes are made to hold between four to
five frames and should have an internal volume of 50 litres (about
ten gallons of some sort I think) if one wishes to trap european
bees. (I think the reference for that volume is in Honeybees and Wax,
HR Hepburn) For african bees the volume is less important, but in hot
weather the trap must not exceed an internal temperature that will
melt wax. The inside of the box should be smeared with melted wax and
propolis. I have found the gunk left over after cleaing wax up is
fine. (In this regard the plastic ammo crates used by some armies, as
well as the old M16 and South African R1 rifle ammo boxes are the
exact right size to take 4 frames)
 
Alternatively, one can rotate all old colonies into new boxes, and
use old boxes as bait hives. This works exceptionally well. There is
a commercial beekeeper to the north of me in Durban who routinely
moves in a thousand old boxes into metropolitan durban where he nets
a full catch of swarms by the end of the season.
 
Apparently in Bulawayo in Zimbabwe beekeepers there have charted
routes through the city where bees move each year, and know the best
places to place catch boxes.
 
In the Natal region many beekeepers have built special attachments to
pu on their land rovers/range roves to allow them to move through
saligna (type of eucalypt) groves and check/remove full catch boxes
nailed on racks up in the trees.
 
In my area, a number of people place catch boxes at sights where bee
removals have been done. Every spring this stops the owners of houses
saying 'my bees are back in my
wall/airbrick/ceiling/rainwatertanck/potplant etc.
 
In my experience it is not as much the wax that attracts bees to a
site as it is propolis.
 
Hope this is of help
 
Garth
 
---
Garth Cambray       Camdini Apiaries
15 Park Road        Apis melifera capensis
Grahamstown         800mm annual precipitation
6139
Eastern Cape
South Africa               Phone 27-0461-311663
 
On holiday for a few months     Rhodes University
Which means: working with bees 15 hours a day!
Interests: Fliis and bees
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this post in no way
reflect those of Rhodes University.