After reading McCartney Taylor’s book “Swarm Hives and Bait Boxes” I got excited about building my own. I don’t want to be on a swarm hot line list because it’s hard for me to drop everything to chase one down, I’m going to try my luck in capturing some.
I’m making these to accommodate top bars for either the Kenyan top bar hive, the Warre hive, or the log hive. The boxes measure 17 x 12.5 x 11.25. That equals 2390.625 cu. in. So it’s close to the 40 liters (2441 cu. in.) that is recommended in the book. (I used an App called “Convert” to get cubic inches to liters)
The whole idea is to place the box where the scout bees will fly by/over it. Then when they sniff the essential oil, they’ll wheel around and see how spacious it is. Then go back and do their waggle dance to advertise their find. I’m hoping by placing 8-10 of these bait boxes, I’ll be able to catch 3 swarms.
Here are six boxes of them built ready to hang.
Hope I can find enough friends who will let me hang them on their properties.
Adventures in Natural Beekeeping 
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