Hudson Valley Sojourner

Dr. Thomas Seely, author, Cornell Professor Emeritus, and world-renowned bee scientist, will give a talk on Zoom/in-Person
Bait Hives: How to get high-quality bees for free.

Dr. Thomas D. Seeley is the Horace White Professor Emeritus in Biology at Cornell University. He is based in the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, where he teaches courses on animal behavior and does research on the behavior, social life, and ecology of honey bees. His work is summarized in six books: Honeybee Ecology (1985), The Wisdom of the Hive (1995), Honeybee Democracy (2010) Following the Wild Bees (2016), The Lives of Bees (2019), and Piping Hot Bees and Boisterous Buzz-Runners (2024).

His Talk

Bait hives: How to get high-quality bees for free
The basic process of capturing honey bee swarms with bait hives is extremely simple. You just put up a box of the right design in the right location and at the right time of year. This talk will discuss (briefly) how the scout bees in a swarm choose their new home and will explain (in detail) how to catch swarms using bait hives. This is an efficient and fun way to get good, locally-adapted bees.