© 2016, Springer Science+Business Media New York. The Boltzmann–Nordheim equation is a modification of the Boltzmann equation, based on physical considerations, that describes the dynamics of the distribution of particles in a quantum gas composed of bosons or fermions. In this work we investigate the Cauchy theory of the spatially homogeneous Boltzmann–Nordheim equation for bosons, in dimension d⩾ 3. We show existence and uniqueness locally in time for any initial data in L∞(1 + |v|s) with finite mass and energy, for a suitable s, as well as the instantaneous creation of moments of all order.