On behalf of a local charity that has been set up to grow and cook food for people who are unable to provide themselves with hot meals, I have been setting up a new apiary. There’s very little money available, so for the moment I shall be loaning kit and the work will rely on the services of volunteers. To provide the bees, we’re hoping to catch a swarm.
The first job therefore is to set up a bait hive. Here I have one containing mostly foundationless or starter strip frames, with one frame of really nasty old comb that I’ve had in the freezer for a few days.
Because I’m a bit short of kit thanks to so many swarms turning up this May, I used a pair of supers rather than a single brood box, on a floor of my own construction which has a 38mm hole for an entrance in one of the walls.
We were donated the posts and rails for the fence (as long as we removed them from their existing location). At this point the ground was very dry due to lack of rain and putting the posts in was slow and energy-sapping work.
Now we just have to see what happens with the bait hive…