Before baiting your local hive, you need to ensure that it is free from pests. In order to be sure that it has no pests and/ or get rid of existing pests, dig a small hole in the ground in an appropriate place and put dry grass in the hole. Light up the fire and put dry cow dung on the fire to keep the fire burning for a long time.
Eradicating pests
Put beeswax, bee combs, and propolis on the fire to make the smoke smell nice for the bees. set the hive to cover the fire such that the smoke from the fire goes through the hive and cover any outlet with cow dung leaving only the entrance. This will chase away any existing pests in the hive.
Tie layers of banana fibers around the hive to protect it from the rain since local hives are often disturbed by the rain.
Baiting local hives
Melt beeswax and propolis and spread the mixture into the hive using a brush. You can do it weekly until when the bees colonize the hive.
Put a cover made of banana fibers at the bottom of the local hive and then smear the cover of the hive with cow dung to prevent the entry of pests.
Each time you harvest from the local hive, you need to always replace the cow dung on the cover that you remove while opening the hive.
After baiting it with wax, hang it and fasten it on a tree most preferably during the swarming season.
After setting out your hive, ensure that you do regular checking to see if the hive has been colonized.
