Transporting Bees. 



395 



their cro\vn holes. The wire at their doors, 

 and a few thin wedges or penny-pieces 

 sHpped in between the hives and their 

 boards, before they are tied together tightly 

 with the string, prevents suffocation. They 

 travel safely. The nails are used to make 

 all doubly secure. If hives travel over a 

 rough road on a cart, the jolting sometimes 

 causes them to move on their boards, es- 

 pecially if the bottom of the cart is not 

 level. The nails, either through the rolls of 

 the hives, or outside of them, driven partly 

 into the boards, prevent the hives from 

 moving laterally or off their boards. Of 

 course hives are thus prepared for travelling 

 either before the bees go to work in the 

 morning, or after the out-door labour of the 

 day has closed. In this way not a bee is 

 lost, and the cool of the day is the better 

 time to transport and transplant hives. If 

 the weather be cold or rainy, the bees may 

 be all caught during the day, confined, and 

 their hives tied and secured as described 

 already, and transported. In fact, the colder 

 the weather is, and the less the bees are at 

 work when about to be transported and 

 transplanted, the less danger there is, for in 

 cold weather the bees need far less ventila- 

 tion. We take our bees 20 miles to the 

 moors, part of the way on carts, and the rest 

 of the journey by railway, without having 

 misfortunes and breakdowns. Indeed we 

 cannot conceive a more efficient, safe, and 

 easy mode of insuring the safety of hives 

 while being moved from place to place than 

 the one now described, and which we in- 

 variably practise. 



Hives without cross-sticks, sucli as bar- 



frame hives, are exposed to great risk in 

 being moved at all if they are not full of 

 combs. Sometimes they are turned upside 

 down while being transported, in order \.o 

 prevent the weight of the combs helping to 

 detach them from their holding points. 

 Even in this position they will suffer much if 

 slightly shaken or jolted. When the distance 

 is short and the combs insecure, hives should 

 be removed on hand barrows in their natural 

 position. 



When hives are so full that some of their 

 bees are clustering outside, they should be 

 enlarged with ekes or nadirs one or two days 

 before they are prepared for removal to a dis- 

 tance. When such hives are to be removed 

 but a short distance for the convenience of 

 watching them swarm naturally, they can be 

 safely carried on hand-barrows after ten 

 o'clock at night, without closing their doors 

 at all. Like well-behaved people, bees keep 

 to their homes after that hour. 



On arrival at their destination, all hives 

 should be speedily placed where they are to- 

 stand, the wire on their crowns removed,, 

 and their own lids put on, then covered, and 

 their doors opened. If the weather and time 

 of day be favourable for honey-gathering, 

 when the bees arrive, they will begin to 

 work in less than fifteen minutes after having 

 been set at liberty, if they have not suffered 

 during the journey. How quickly bees find 

 honey-flowers and return with loads from 

 them may be seen in placing hives in* a 

 strange locality on a fine day. If they have 

 suffered from being over-heated, the bees will 

 not go into full work for one or two days after- 

 wards. — A. Pdtigreids Handy Book on Bces^ 



