i would like to show what i make uh swarm traps from um in my ability i use medium frames and i actually use foundation strips instead of the whole foundation it's just cheaper for me um medium frames langstroth was originally created out of a wine box so that's what i'm using for my swarm trap that's the cheapest way to go i got this box at costco for free and i saw a wine boxes at harris teeter and other grocery stores so what i do is i put a little piece of scrap wood over here to make sure that my frames are resting on it and also i have a little bit of space from the bottom so the frames are not sitting on the bottom and these have some space to go and make sure i have space over here so i can cover it on the side now let's go with what i'm going to cover i'm going to cover this with a screen mesh i'm using um it's just a mesh that i use for windows used for window screens and i use it in my hives and what i do with them imagine this is your regular five box i put the screen on the top and then i put an extra box on the top without any frames and then i put a top uh telescoping cover whatever you would call it i have on some of my screens i have scored an x over here if i need to feed my bees the way i use my feeder the type of feeder i use is just the grocery bag filled with syrup then i open those flaps stick the grocery back with syrup in here they drink it i'll take it out through the way close the flaps off no bees flying up when i use it so this is this little mesh was used in my nuke box that's why it's more narrow you can also use to collect propolis it's so soft right now but you put it in the freezer and then you just it becomes bristle and you move the mesh like this and you collect the propellers i also use a bigger piece of mesh in my hives for the purpose of covering and growing my frames faster for example i have put it just here i have uh five frames in my hive box i will put the mesh like this and put something in here uh like a big towel just to cover up the space and keep this in here and put the cover on top that will help the bees to figure out that the only space they have to fill and build the foundation is this much versus the whole box and they become overwhelmed with the space they have to keep or cool and i use bigger piece of screen mesh for this this is actually left over from the product from a project anyway this also is covered with propolis where i was going was this i have frames this my wine box will fit nine frames instead of regular eight frames or ten frames then i'm going to cover with the mesh it doesn't have to be perfect but i think i'm going to use from the nuke because it has more propolis in it and then i'll have a cover that i made out of plastic and i'm going to put the string over just to make sure it doesn't fly off i made this i'm a real estate agent and i ordered signs for my my real estate signs and this came in the box this is actually the size of a real estate sign but it was on top of the whole box of real estate science i scored it over here used the construction stapler to staple it not the office table construction stapler and of course the staples were sticking up and i had to use the hammer to bend them the issue and i can make it nice and pretty in color but it's just a temporary solution the difficulty and challenge i had is folding it not this way because see the the stripes are going this way it was easy to fold but folding against the grid so i had to use my pliers just kind of bend it a little bit to make sure i can fold it this will be my top on the side for the entrance now where's my edges it's actually the other side i have two entrances one on this side and one on the opposite side and i have these closers on the entrance the inspiration was oops sorry the inspiration was this closing of the entrance it's just a plastic i bought several of those and then i figure out why am i buying this i can make this again this is my old real estate sign i cut out a whole bunch of circles and made this into my uh closers uh make sure that you don't tie it too tight because you won't be able to turn so for the trap i'll have it this way when i catch the bees i'm going to turn it this way for the ventilation when i transport the bee so they don't die why did i make it on both sides i don't know which tree i'm going to put it on and if the branch is growing this way i can't make this opening available for the bees so i'll have this side open for the bees you can also use this box as an emergency equipment right now is nectar flow and i'm actually ran out of boxes and uh before i make more boxes this was my uh temporary solution for another box as well uh one of the frames i have is it's a drone comb and i just stuck it in and put some um wooden shims in and i put it close to the entrance so they smell honeycomb and i'm going to put a couple of drops of lemongrass no more than two drops because lemongrass is very very strong and it can repel the bees if you have too much of it and i'm going to go like this and put it on a tree and hopefully i'll catch them let me show you another variation of the wine box when you get your mine boxes to make sure they're proper height because not all of them have the same height in a minute for example this one is not as tall as my previous one and on this one my frames will just sit flash and for this one i use it last year i actually didn't build any uh frame rests i just put the frames like this and they were not wobbling they fit tight and they were sitting against each other and for the top i used the top of the wine box and use this mature if it's visible this is just a piece of leather it's a part of old leather pants for this to have flapped and for the side again same real estate sign but i use the cup hooks i use cup hooks most of the time because i don't have to have a drill where i can tighten or untighten make it loose or very tight when i transport the bees otherwise with the other system i have to have a drill with a proper drill bit so this is my solution how else i use my wine boxes that's another wine box it's also not as tall as the first one but you can use this for splits when you have one frame of honey and one frame of beast we have entrances from different sides and i put a partition board in here the box actually came with this slots i didn't make them they came and this was a piece of um back side of a bookshelf you know how they have it's not a cardboard i don't know the material but anyway you can have it here two frames will fit here you can put two frames actually my entrance is on this side you can put two frames once that your split a new growth you can move this partition board and keep building that's my it's not my creation but that's what i do and i wanted to share this tip with you uh this is the part of the wine box and i am going to i have one one box that's kind of broke and i'm using this pieces to create partition boards like that for my regular hive that's my experience that's what i do and i hope you liked it and if you have other ideas what you do i'll be happy if you share it so we can all see and share exchange the ideas and create new ideas