I’m going to spend ‘extra time’ (hahaha) this coming winter building capture boxes. Is this time of year still good for luring swarms? In live in So. California. Oh, and one more question: Would those cardboard or cloroplast nuc boxes be good for trapping swarms? I save old cloroplast (corrigated in the middle) campaign signs and was thinking of copying a cardboard nuc that I have.
Getting late, but I have seen bees swarm or abscond in San Diego as late as October. You won’t see many though.
Cardboard, not so much. According to my mentor, they last a maximum of about 3 weeks outside. I haven’t tried coroplast for any length of time, but if you have free signs to cut up, why not try. I would guess they will get brittle from the sun after a while, but if they are free of charge, and I can watch “Vote for Trump” fall apart, I am all for it.
Very few Trump campaign signs in California to fall apart, he didn’t bother to run here since we are an overtaxed, over regulated and underfunded, hard left blue state. But they’re still spending money on election campaign signs, so after the elections, I gather them up early the day after polling and use them for a variety of projects. Just a few uses include- mats to work under my car, roofing for coops and other area’s that need shading, watertight fish ponds and raised and sided- table mulch beds, underlay weed blockers along paths and around tree’s, bark protectors for young trees, and now Bee Boxes. My motto is- “If it’s free- it’s for me”. I’m big into 2nd life recycling
Just love your attitude @Dusty. I think @JeffH has a similar approach. He is always second life-ing free stuff. In fact, I think he even has a video showing that.
Thank you @JeffH. I love your videos. You must be very busy right now, as I haven’t seen any for a while. I now know that they are hard work to make, but I truly appreciate the contribution that you and Wilma make to the beekeeping community around the world.