How to entice a swarm of bees into your hive

To entice the wild colonies into the hive, you need:

• A 3-4cm nugget of old honeycomb from another hive
• 2 drops of lemongrass essential oil
• A cotton bud (or pastry brush)

To attract the swarm:

Start by staking some old honeycomb inside the hive, ideally to the base. Then, drop the lemongrass oil on your cotton bud or pastry brush. Simply rub the oiled cotton bud or pastry bush around the entrance to your hive. Lemongrass essential oil is believed to mimic the pheromone released from the abdominal gland of the scout bees which they use to entice the swarm into an empty hive.

Once we nestled some comb into the hive and applied the lemongrass oil, scout bees arrived within minutes and shortly after the rest of the colony, a huge swarm of as many as 20,000 bees arrived, led by their queen. We now have a happy and healthy colony of wild bees.

When to attract a swarm:

Do this during swarming season, on a calm, dry afternoon. Swarming typically takes place from late April to early June, which is perfectly synchronised with the nectar flow of the surrounding flowers.

More about natural bee keeping:

Matt Somerville’s approach to encouraging more wild bee colonies is gaining followers largely due to its simplicity as there’s no expensive equipment to buy or complicated rules to follow. Once he’s turned a natural log into a hive and put it in place, as he’s done on our farm, the bees usually find it within days’ and start building a comb.

There’s no need to inspect the hive and there’s no chemical intervention. Surplus honey can be harvested in the autumn but our goal is more about housing wild bee colonies, rather than taking honey. This approach also encourages strong, healthy colonies that are much better at resisting varroa and other viruses.