Making Honey Bee Swarm Traps (Layens Bait Hives)

We currently have one Langstroth style bee hive in the orchard, but we would like to have a few more hives. We can buy a packaged box of bees that includes a queen for about $125. However, we may be able to catch local honey bees that are swarming, usually in the Spring. There are lots of YouTube videos about catching your own swarms, but the best resource I've found is horizontalhive.com. They have all the free plans to make your own Layens horizontal hive, bait hives and frames, or buy their ready made hives with frames. We decided to build our own swarm traps and a layens horizontal hive.

The swarm trap boxes were made mostly with repurposed wood from an old blue pine chest that was here when we bought the property. After the glue-up, a coat of Kilz primer was applied, and then the final coat of exterior paint.

The swarm trap boxes were made mostly with repurposed wood from an old blue pine chest that was here when we bought the property. After the glue-up, a coat of Kilz primer was applied, and then the final coat of exterior paint.

I made a jig to help keep each frame square and flat. I used wood glue and 3/4 inch crown staples to assemble the frames.

Stacks of frames ready to install. Next up is to build the Layens hive.