394 



The Country Gejitlemmis Magazine 



%kz <|lpiarian. 



TRANSPORTING BEES. 



N some favoured districts bees remain 

 from the beginning of the year to the 

 end of it. The trouble or expense of re- 

 moving them to a locahty supposed to be 

 better, would not be covered by the additional 

 income. In other localities the heather is at 

 so great a distance that it is not considered 

 worth while to remove bees so far for the 

 chance of having a harvest of moorland honey. 

 But earnest men, who keep large strong hives, 

 find it profitable to remove them to good 

 pasture. We remove ours twice every year, 

 first to the clover, then to the heather ; but 

 our neighbourhood is a very poor one for 

 honey. If left at home, our best hives would 

 not gain i lb. of honey each daily in favour- 

 able weather during the months of June, 

 July, and August, whereas on the clover and 

 heather they gather from 2 lb. to 6 lb. each 

 daily. When the bee-keepers of this country 

 awake to see the value of large hives, in the 

 vast stores of honey speedily gathered by 

 them, the practice of removing bees to better 

 honey districts will become as general here 

 as in some Continental parts, where carts are 

 made on purpose, shelf over shelf, to carry 

 hives. In hot weather, inexperienced persons 

 find some difficulty in removing full hives, 

 the combs of which are so apt to fall down 

 and melt by their own heat. Great care is 

 required in removing such hives, for when- 

 ever a hive is closed up to keep in the bees, 

 natural ventilation comes to an end, and 

 moreover, the commotion of the bees caused 

 by the first and continued motion of the hive 

 increases its internal heat. The bees of hun- 

 dreds and thousands of hives are suffocated 

 in being removed to the moors. Young 

 gardeners generally steam or stew to death 

 their first plants of cucumbers, and young 

 bee-keepers often destroy one or more hives 



in their first effort to transport their bees. In 

 rainy seasons and cold winters, weak hives 

 suffer most, but in being transported from 

 place to place they suffer least. When suffo- 

 cation takes place, it is almost always in one 

 of the best hives. 



In considering this subject, the value of 

 cross sticks in each hive to support its combs 

 will be seen : indeed they are indispensable, 

 for if combs are not supported and kept 

 steady by these cross-sticks they are easily 

 shaken down. Sticks are otherwise of great 

 advantage in hives, being used as by-lanes 

 by bees in going from comb to comb. 



There are various ways of saving bees 

 from suffocation in removing them. The 

 admission of plenty of fresh air into their 

 hives is the secret of success. By admitting 

 air enough, and confining the bees to thei.i 

 hives, we can safely transmit them by cart or 

 waggon or rail, one hundred miles, or five 

 hundred miles if need be. 



Our mode of confining bees for removal 

 from one place to another is as simple as it 

 is safe. The doors of our hives are pretty 

 large, and the holes in their crown are also 

 large, some 4 or 5 inches in diameter. ^Ve 

 nail a piece of fly-proof wire over their 

 mouths and crown-holes, then tie the hives 

 tightly to their boards with strong string or 

 cord, and sometimes drive three 2-inch nails- 

 through the bottom rolls of the hives into the 

 boards. They are thus prepared to bear 

 pretty rough handling. The fly-proof wire 

 at the doors and on the top secures ample 

 ventilation for hives as full as they can be ; 

 indeed, this ventilation is so great that the 

 heat of full hives is less at the end of a short 

 or long journey than it was before they 

 started. If hives are not full or crowded 

 with bees, we do not often use the wire oa 



