Multifunctional Nuc boxes for EZ Swarm catching.

Some swarms are easy to collect and can be done simply with a white sheet, a bucket, and a nuc hive whilst others require a bit more effort. My main piece of kit is a multi-functional box swarm box.

This box is set up to take the Langstroth frames that fit into the normal hive so that bees can start building their new home from the moment they are in the box as these are the frames that will go into their hive. This is a key function to how I collect swarms. It is possible to collect them into a box or other container and then transfer them across but I prefer to put them straight onto the exact frames that they will live on as a colony. I have had swarms that have laid down large amounts of wax in the first few hours of transport so this is a really good tip.

You could easily do this with national or other shapes and sizes of nuc box, but I have used Langstroth as this is the size of all my hives.

In my old job I had access to a laser cutter so was easily able to make the parts. A standard wooden Nuc box is taken and set up with a bottom slider. The slider rim has a 4 mm spacer and an outer edge with a 5 mm overlap. I use 3 mm thick coloured acrylic and 4 mm thick clear for the spacer. This screws onto the bottom of the nuc box and allows the rectangular slide to come in and out. On the top I have the same set up with a 4 mm spacer, a 3 mm rim, a 4 mm spacer and then the top rim, again in 3 mm. This screws into place allowing me to have two sliders on top. This is really useful when it comes to switching form one top to another.

Sliding tops.

For the top and the bottom slider I have the choice of a completely blank sheet, ventilated, a large hole and a Queen excluder. The large hole has the right dimensions to take a 1 way bee pass. The QE is set at 4.7 mm spacing. This now gives you the versatility to switch between the different tops at will without releasing all the bees.

Bee Vac