Bee Attractants

Whether you want to attract bees to your garden to help pollinate, or you would like to attract a new hive of bees to live in your managed apiary, there are several things you can do to try and get the bees where you want them. New and experienced beekeepers will often put out bait hives or swarm traps in the hopes of collecting another hive of bees for free.

A swarm trap can be a full hive, a nucleus colony, or even a planter box trap. Basically, anything dark that the bees can live in. Once you decide what trap is suitable for your bees and requirements, you need a bee attractant to use to maximize your chances of catching bees.  

• Lemon- grass oil.

Lemon-grass oil comes from the lemon grass and it actually mimics the queen bee’s pheromones. Lemon-grass oil extracted from lemon grass is actually used as a repellant for most insects, however, honey bees are attracted to this unique smell. When scout bees are looking for a new home, they will smell this familiar scent and be attracted naturally to the area that smells of their favorite bee – the queen. 

• Old honey comb and wax

Bees like the smell of their home and of other bees. Using wax comb can be a great way to get the scout bees’ attention. Putting old combs in a new hive not only attracts the bees but it saves them a lot of work once they move in. Building honeycomb from scratch is extremely taxing and although when they swarm they stock up on food so they can be productive in their new homes, with honeycomb already in place the queen can begin immediately laying eggs to produce more bees.

• Borage flowers and Calendula (Marigold)

Borage flower has a clear blue color. The leaves to this flower are edible to man. The star shaped flower stands out in a farm due to its bright color. Borage is an annual flower. It has the ability to attract bees. It has pollen and nectar which release a nice fragrant that bees like. This, and other bee friendly plants, is a great way to get bees into your yard without actually becoming a beekeeper.

These are a few natural bee attractants. The source of natural bee attractants is nature itself. Plants and flowers are natural and most used attractants.