With everything that has been going on I haven’t had a chance to show how this TOB is going to work. I took some pictures back on 4/30 and I will show you now.
Hive body with a hole cut in order to accept flange.
The TOB is basically just an old hive body fixed to a bottom board. In the side there is a hole that mates up perfectly with the flang attached to the building (see Trap Out Day 1). This box is slightly different than the plans I started with. Due to the way things were situated at the firehouse the hole had to be in the side of the box instead of the rear. It was the only way to get it to fit between the building and the antenna tower.
After the TOB is in place for a couple of days I am going to place a frame of unsealed brood in the box. The theory is that the queen will come to investigate who has been laying in her domain. Mr. Hogan, the man who provided me the initial plans, claims that after about two days the queen should making her way back and forth.
Bee escape I made out of a Faberware funnel.
At that time I will place a bee escape on the inside of the TOB. I hope to keep her from getting back into the wall. I made the bee escape out of a funnel that has a 3/8 inch exit hole. It is glued between two pieces of wood. If this method works I will go more in-depth with construction information. Let me know in the comments if have any opinions or potential alterations.
Inside of TOB with bee escape installed.
This is what the escape looks like when installed. All ten frames fit inside the box even with the escape in place.
Flange fitted into side of box.
For completeness this photo shows the mating of the box to the flange.
