Catching bees

[stuckmotor]

My grandfather kept bees for a short time, probably in the 1940s. I remember him saying to make a swarm land, people would beat on a plow point. I know very little about bees and think this might have been an old wives tale. Does it work?

 

[Moxie 15]

I asked google if honeybees were attracted to sound.


"Studies have shown that bees can detect the air-particle movements associated with airborne sounds and can detect sound frequencies up to about 500 Hz. This means that bees are attracted to music with a 250-500 Hz frequency as it is reminiscent of the sounds they produce in the hive.May 14, 2021"

 

[oosik]

My fathers bees would occasionally swarm. Usually the swarm would "gather" in one of our fruit trees. Dad would smoke the heck out of the swarm and brush it into the bottom portion of an empty hive.

I don't think I would be for trying - "beat on a plow point". At least, until I saw somebody else do it and it worked.

 

[5030]

Hopefully your father collected the queen and put her in the super as well. Without a queen the worker bees won't stay. Like all good workers, they have to have a 'boss' present for them to remain.

 

[jaxs]

I've never understood why they are called old wives'tales when it;s old men that teli them.

 

[oosik]

He must have got the queen. These swarms were always the start of a new colony. We never got a whole lot of honey. The bees were to ensure good pollination of our fruit trees.

 

[stuckmotor]

I've never understood why they are called old wives'tales when it;s old men that teli them.

Me either. I've also not understood why urban legends are often set in the country.

 

[stuckmotor]

I asked google if honeybees were attracted to sound.


"Studies have shown that bees can detect the air-particle movements associated with airborne sounds and can detect sound frequencies up to about 500 Hz. This means that bees are attracted to music with a 250-500 Hz frequency as it is reminiscent of the sounds they produce in the hive.May 14, 2021"

I should have stated that grandpa probably used a plow point as an example of any kind of metal that made a loud noise.