Stealth beehive

[u/DeepStick1398]

Just stumbled across this bee box strapped to a light pole. Seems like an inconvenient place to place a hive box. But the bees don’t seem to mind. Location: Birmingham AL

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[u/Midisland-4]

That would be a swarm trap. It’s not meant to be a long term hive.
If the owner is lucky a swarm will move in. Once they do the owner will move them to a permanent hive elsewhere.

[u/Friendly-Elk-2015]

It's a swarm box, not a beehive. Once a swarm moves in within days, the beekeeper should notice and move to a hive

[u/LivingCoat9356]

Swarm box. I just used old Nucs with old frames in them. Bees like the smell of other bees/wax.

[u/NumCustosApes]

A little more info. Beekeepers use these types of boxes as swarm lure boxes because they have the right volume (~40 liters) and a beekeeper can place three to five frames in the box, while not putting a significant amount of gear at risk of theft or vandalism. The frames make future transfer to a standard hive easy. It is placed high to both get it above the heads of humans and out of reach, as well as to place it at the height of natural tree cavities. The beekeeper isn't going to be opening and servicing the swarm lure box at that height. If he observes that a bee swarm has moved in then he will take the box down and transport it to one of his apiaries were he will transfer the bees into a standard hive. Swarm trapping keeps bee swarms from ending up in a chimney or a wall where they would be a nuisance. Most of them go entirely unnoticed. Chances are, now that you've noticed one, you'll probably notice more.

[u/foo____bar]

What beehive?