[log in to unmask] wrote:
>
> I set up several bait hives this year, some with pheromone lures and some
> without.  The only success was without, but with smelly old brood comb.  Most
> years I get a stray swarm in the stack of supers in my shed.  My view is that
> the pheromone lures are in their infancy.  Try them from time to time but
> compare their performance with old comb.  They may get a better formula
> eventually but at present there seems to be a missing ingredient.



I've built up my small apiary with swarms caught in "traps" using the
phermone lures. I have not tried with old brood instead of phermone but
would expect success with that as well. What I consider to be the real
secret to my success is timing. I place my traps in persimmon groves
about two weeks before Memorial Day (USA), and by the end of May, or the
first of June, I have bees. It has worked two years in a row and I'd
almost bet a paycheck I can pull it off again next year - almost.

AL