Preventing the swarming behaviour in bees is a major problem for any beekeeper. Beside the consequent weeakening of the colony after swarming, the worst thing that can heppen is for swarm to escape. It sometimes occours that the swarm lands on high branches of a tree or on some other location withc is very hard to reach. A searm can also leave hive when the beekeeper is not around.

For all of the above reasons we are offering a swarm catcher.

This catchet in simply attached to the bottom board of the hive. When the queen attempts to swarm, the catcher will hold her back. Since the swarm does not contain a queen, all the bees will return to the hive and hang on the catcher.

If you want to start a new colony, you simply detach the catcher from the hive and place it in the hive where you want the swarm  to go. You may also choose to crush the queen which means that the bees will return to the hive.

The drones represent another problem - they are bigger than the queen and they also get caught in the part, intended  for the queen. A removable small net on the swarm catcher allows drones to be removed. Bear in mind you must not attach the swarm cathcer on the hive and then just disappear for nome time (several days).

Just to stay on the safe side, you better open the upper entrance as well. Should the drones cover the exit surfacers, the colony will not suffocate but will be able to fly out.