Natural Beekeeping International Forum

[froggy]

Hi, what are Bait boxes ? if I need one, does anyone have a photo or "plan". should I need one, I hope this is something that I could make myself . many thanks Terry.

[Adam Rose]

Bait boxes are small hives that you set up in order to attract swarms. Because you're only going to use them for a couple of months during late spring and early summer, they don't have to be particularly robust, so people often make them out of plywood rather than timber. Typically people put old brood comb in them, rub wax onto the bars and put freezer bags with drops of lemon grass oil near the entrance to help attract the swarms. The recommended size is 40 litres which for a TBH is around 12 bars or perhaps two warre boxes.

[catchercradle]

I tend to use full sized hives, (whatever I have empty) for bait boxes. And yes, 40litres is what the book (professor Seeley) says but swarms have moved into a national nuc box when I wasn't looking and into a Perone which is a lot bigger. You would think that in Cambridge at least, the bees would have read the book!

[froggy]

many thanks

[ingo50]

Google Thomas Seeley and bait hives and you should find a free article by him on bait hives on the Cornell University site. Most importantly make the bait hive the correct width for the type of permanent hive you plan to transfer the bees to. Topbar and National are same width, Warre is narrower. It prevents a lot of problems later.

[newbeekeeper1]

Bait box is for catching swarms. You can use regular hive or NUC box.