# Side viewing window in a conventional brood box or Ulster nuc?



## Phoebee (Jan 29, 2014)

The teacher of a young lady in our bee club has several brood boxes into which she has cut windows with covers. These allow her to pull the cover an peek inside of a conventional hive.

I have a little Ulster, but the observation section on those is way up at the top. I managed to volunteer myself today to try to video waggle dances. I'm thinking the odds of catching a waggle dance in that top section is fairly poor. I would expect recruiting to occur lower in the hive. 

Does anyone here have experience with cutting a large window in the side of a deep box? What are the odds this would allow a waggle dance to be spotted?

I think I can figure out how to cut one of these in reasonably neatly, but tips would be welcome. For one thing, I don't have a power planer and I would think it would make sense to thin down the board that covers the window.


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## Garinder0 (May 2, 2016)

I used a scroll saw to make the cutout because it has the thinnest kerf of the saws I own. I then used a router to route out a groove on the inside that was the same depth as the glass so that it would sit flush and used epoxy to glue it in. I also don't own a planer, so the cover sticks out a little bit, but I made two little latches out of wood to hold it in. I don't know how to attach a picture or I would.


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## Phoebee (Jan 29, 2014)

Thanks! Pretty much what I was thinking, except I don't have a power scroll saw. I need to see what thin-kerf blades I have available that could be used for a pocket cut. A saber saw cut usually is not very straight.

Worst comes to worst, I guess I can throw away the center piece and replace it with another board, rough cut the opening and then finish it with a router on a guide.

Have you ever witnessed bee dances thru your windows?


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## Garinder0 (May 2, 2016)

If you don't think you can make a straight cut, make a purposefully curved cut and call it creativity.


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## shaneTX (Jun 7, 2016)

Im too lazy to get out the router to rout out a groove for the plexigass. I decided to just cut my plexiglass to take up the entire size of the side of the box. I figured that would eliminate any interesting flaws that the bees would want to adjust. Seems to work ok so far.


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