Our extra Warre box transformed into a bait hive

In preparation for beekeeping this spring, I read a number of books (you can read some of my reviews here) including McCartney Taylor's book Swarm Traps and Bait Hives. I thought it would be great fun to try and capture a swarm of feral bees. Ultimately, however, I decided to purchase package bees, at least this first year, to guarantee that we had bees instead of sitting around all summer twiddling our fingers. On of the upshots of deciding to build a Warre hive as opposed to a Kenyan Top Bar was that we have extra boxes sitting around and doing nothing right now. I decided to take an extra box (or two or three if I build more) and make them into bait hives.

According to McCartney Taylor, the ideal interior dimensions of a bait hive should equal 40 liters. I don't know about you, but I don't think in liters. Here's what it turns out to be in cubic inches:
- McCartney Taylor's interior dimensions are 19.25" x 13" x 10" = 2502.5 inches cubed.

Contrast that with the interior dimensions of one Warre hive box:
- Warre box interior dimensions are 11.8" x11.8" x 8" = 1113.92 inches cubed.

That ends up being about half of what Taylor recommended. What's the downside of a smaller box? Well, aside from the obvious (the bees might not like it as much and decide not to take up residence there), apparently smaller cavities are more easily accepted by Africanized honey bees (i.e. "killer" bees). Thankfully, we don't have Africanized honey bees in Minnesota, so, despite the smaller size I decided to go for it and build the bait trap. More likely I'll catch a swarm with a small box than if I don't put one out at all, right?

In the future, I may use two Warre boxes bungeed together to make a trap (that would be almost exactly the right size). Or if I decide to make specific bait traps, I could make one double long, but still fit my Warre top bars. Then, after the trapped bees have started building comb, I could move the correctly sized top bars to a waiting Warre hive. That's all in the future, however, so I'll just show you what I did for now.

First, I cut out a single piece of plywood and screwed it on as a cover. I chose a single piece here, to keep rain from dripping onto the bees.

Then I cut two pieces to use as the bottom of the trap. I didn't have a big enough piece of plywood left over to make a single pieced bottom. I figured it didn't matter as much on the bottom if there was a seam, no rain water would leak in there anyway. Then, near the edge of on of the bottom pieces I used a jig saw to cut a 2" hole, and I staples some straightened out paper clips across the hole to keep birds out.

And then I attached both these pieces to the bottom with screws. And that's really about it. Taylor adds a piece to the back that he uses to hang it from. I think I'm just going to set one out on a little deck we have that we never use, and if I make another, I'll bungee that to a tree (level of course) in my father-in-law's backyard.

It's nice that we made our boxes with windows. It will be easy to check on any swarms we happen to catch to see how their comb construction is coming a long.

Here's the last picture. You can see the 2" hole near the back of the box.

Book reviews and preparing to build our first hive

Well. It's been over a month. I fully intended to write some reviews of the books I've read sooner but got swept away in orientation at my new job as well as by a much needed family vacation. So here's what's happened in the last month:

1) I've read four beekeeping books and am in the middle of a fifth.
2) I've decided on the Warre Hive ("The People's Hive") rather than the Kenyan Top Bar Hive
3) I've been rather indecisive and tossed back and forth between whether or not I want to trap bees or purchase packaged bees. And...
4) I've set a date with my father to go out to his place and build the hive.

Here's a little more detail on each of the happenings for the past month.

1) The books I've read are:
 "Top Bar Beekeeping" by Crowder and Harrell
- This is an EXCELLENT resource for anyone interested in beekeeping, whether or not you will be utilizing the top bar method. I got this one from the library and will definitely be purchasing it later. When I do get it again, I'll  put up a more detailed review. My only issue with the book is that all the information provided is in regard to beekeeping in New Mexico. Not so user friendly when trying to keep bees in Minnesota!

"Beekeeping" by Ryde
- This resource was not as good. Besides having factually wrong information in certain places, the information that was provided was too simplistic to actually help anyone keep bees. If this were the only resource I had available, I feel that I would fall flat on my face. It was a good, simple book, for my boys to browse through, however. Got this one from the library and won't be getting it again.

"A Short History of the Honey Bee" by Readicker-Henderson
- This book wasn't necessarily on beekeeping methods, but more on the honey bee itself. The information provided was beneficial for someone, like myself, who was just getting involved in beekeeping and didn't actually know much about honey bees. In addition, the pictures are breathtakingly beautiful and mesmerizing! Got this one from the library, and while I may not purchase it, I will definitely check it out again if for nothing else that to get lost in the photographs.

"Bait Hives and Swarm Trapping" by Taylor
- More of a field guild of manual than a book. Don't waste the money on a full, printed edition. Just get the less expensive Kindle version. That being said, there was excellent, practical information if you'd like to try trapping bee swarms to expand your apiary for free. And he guarantees a 30% success rate!

And, finally, I'm in the middle of "Beekeeping for All" by Abbe Warre
- While a bit tiresome at times as he goes into explicit detail about why "The People's Hive" is superior to the other common hives of his day, it was fun to read about the strenuous process undertaken by Warre to produce a superior beehive. It is especially helpful, as this is the type of hive I ultimately have decided to build. Plus you can get it as a free PDF download, and who doesn't like free?

2) Why did I decide on the Warre hive?
Well, for a couple of reasons. First, it's still a top bar hive, like the Kenyan style hives, and, as such, the bees will produce more comb themselves, rather that use foundation. Plus, without frames, I'll be able to use the crush and strain method for extracting honey, thus eliminating the need for an extractor, and providing a surplus of wax to make candles out of (and my wife can really go through candles!). Second, the vertical style seems to more naturally mimic the hollowed trees bees would be using nature and appeals to their preference to build from the top down, rather than side to side as they would in a horizontal hive. Third, it will be easier to adjust the hive's size by adding or removing boxes. Fourth, I can use a queen excluder if I want to, to keep her from rearing brood in the honey stores. Fifth, from what I've read, there is less hive maintenance to perform in a Warree hive as compared to a Kenyan style hive. And, finally, as I've toyed with the idea of using bait hives to capture my first swarm, I thought it would be nice to be able to utilize the boxes from the Warre hive as the bait traps themselves, rather than needing to build a Kenyan hive, along with three or four bait hives.

3) So am I gonna trap my first swarm or purchase packages bees?
As I mentioned, I've gone back and forth. I originally intended upon trapping bees. I'm a little strapped for cash, having just finished school and started a new job, and the idea of free bees drew me in. Plus it sounded fun. And, if I'm building boxes for the Warre hive that are the right size for bait traps, why not just use them as such? However, as I get closes and closes to the beekeeping season, I feel that I just really want to guarantee that I've got bees. I mean, how much of a let down would it be to hype this up with my kids (their using the beehive as a science fair project for goodness sake) and then not end up with bees? I'm a little late to the game to purchase packaged bees, however. Most places I've contacted have been sold out for about a month. I've got one more email out to a local beekeeping supplier, and I guess when I hear back from them I'll know if I'll be purchasing or trapping, right?

4) When is this all going down?
The boys and I are heading over to Grandpa's this Saturday to build our hive! I've got the plans, and we'll try to get to the lumbar yard before then, but if not, we'll just go with Grandpa, no big deal. It's so exciting that this is finally happening! Hopefully another blog post soon... with pictures!!!