Bait hive - anyone found anything we can re purpose?

[abm]

I've collected a swarm from a square, plastic large dustbin with a warped lid ( green waste here in notts ) they had just started to build comb.

 

[Eyeman]

Some of us like designer bees, designer hives so why not designer bait hives!
It's all part of the fun and enjoyment of beekeeping.
Would you dare go out of the house without your Rollex!

 

[mintmoth]

...for the floor with a 15 sq cm hole in it gaffer taped on....

Would that be one of Pargyle's holes? I didn't know he sold square ones as well as round ones.

 

[Finman]

Some of us like designer bees, designer hives so why not designer bait hives!
!

In USA they have designed. Big paper pulp pots.
. Light to handle.

 

[For want of a better word]

In USA they have designed. Big paper pulp pots.
. Light to handle.

You could obtain similar as used in Hospital... Men's surgery sluice room?


We have a bee tree and another location on top of an old wall, swarm every year on both for past 7 years.. intersection of 7 ley lines in each case!

Yeghes da

 

[Finman]

You could obtain similar as used in Hospital... Men's surgery sluice room?
da

40 litre zluice pots?

 

[philipm]

40 litre zluice pots?

He's taking the p*ss

 

[Erichalfbee]

In USA they have designed. Big paper pulp pots.
. Light to handle.

bee-equipment that were Mann lake here sell them

 

[philipm]

Why not just use a stong cardboard box with something over it to stop it getting wet.

 

[Fritillary]

As others have pointed out - there's the matter of transferring the bees into a hive afterwards. My best swarm-catching devices - so I think they would work as bait hives with a plastic bag over the top - are old Ali Baba style laundry baskets. Bees like it in there, and have start building comb quickly. And with the lid on, almost bee-tight, so nice for moving your swarm. The trouble is, they really like it in there, and aren't keen to be shaken out! - And they can hang on very well to the walls.

 

[mbc]

Being somewhat lazy

Your initial laziness will likely be dwarfed by the potential problem of transferring any collected swarm from your 'repurposed' container to your real hive.

Picking something that will accommodate your frame size is the obvious starting point. I used 14 x 12 nucleus hives with a nucleus sized shallow below. That allowed simple transfer, if shifted early, or some expansion if in situ for a few days. It also gave a volume close to the recognised 'preferred' cavity size.

So, 'repurposed' hive boxes are the obvious preferred choice. Reinventing the wheel is unecessary and it will often entail more work than taking the simple options available - and the bait hive can be re-purposed as an over-wintering hive for a nucleus colony with little effort (for a lazy beekeeper).

If you're new and don't have "retired from front line" equipment to repurpose then a quick bid on dodgy old lots at a beekeeping auction will pick you up ready made ready sized swarm traps for a quid or two. A thorough scrub with a strong washing soda solution and as fatshark suggested a correx top and bottom and voila, a perfectly servicable swarm trap that will fit frames, smells of bees and is approximately the right volume.