here is a link for some pictures of me hiving my first swarm taken from inside a wall of a barn. http://oregonsparkie.tripod.com/
LOL sourtherngurl, Its never to late to start. Only about $20.00 in wood cost and $75.00 in plexiglass(of course real glass would be cheaper).
How hard to build, and how do you set it up for the bees to go outside? Is it easy to open and stuff?
I used a table saw and a router/router table but I could have done it all with a dado blade on the table saw. Its not very hard to make just need to pay attention to detail. The plexiglass lifts straight up to get the bees inside. The pics on my web page show a small block of wood holding the plexiglass up and a sheet on the ground I then shook the box over the sheet and they eventually went inside. One end of the OB hive has an entrance feeder and the other end has a clear plastic tube about 1" in diameter that goes through a board in the window. This allows them access to the outside. I shouldnt need to open the hive unless I want to extrace honey or swap frames with another hive.
I wish.... the wife forgot the camera....sometimes I wonder what would happen if her head wasnt velcro'd on...LOLOLOL...
What's a dado blade ? Also, wouldn't you get bees in your house if you opened it? (they're inside right?)
A dado blade for a table saw is several blades in one. you can add them together to make variable width cuts in a board which is needed to make the slots that hold the frames and slots to hold the glass. If you open the hive in the house you best just pack up and move. Bees are extremely quick and once the find a opening then the just come out in groves.
