754 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Conversations w^ith Doolittle 



At Borodino, New York. 



MOVING BEES. 



" I wish to know something about moving 

 bees, especially the details connected with 

 it, which are usually left out by those who 

 write on this subject." 



Much depends on how far bees are to be 

 moved. In moving them to and from an 

 outyard, from three to five miles away, I 

 have been fairly successful — so much so 

 that I never had any trouble by injury to 

 the bees, to the horses, or to myself. I place 

 the hives carefully on a sjiring wagon, just 

 as they stood in the apiary, bottom-boards 

 and all undisturbed, and cover them with a 

 large canvas, such as is used to protect hay- 

 stacks before their completion. In hot 

 weather this way of moving bees requires a 

 cool cloudy morning or the close of the eve- 

 ning. If the wagon is not overloaded, so 

 that the sj^rings hit, or the hives jostle to- 

 gether on a rough or stony road, the bees 

 will hardly come out from the entrance. 



Much depends on those who load the colo- 

 nies. If they can not pick the hives up and 

 put them in the wagon so carefully that the 

 bees remain quiet, or nearly so, it is better 

 to use smoke until the colony is subdued, 

 and then ])ut them in the wagon without 

 even so much as stopping up the entrance, 

 and drive off with them. Naturally one 

 would think that many of the bees would 

 leave the hive and go away; but only a few 

 will do this. One year I moved some bees 

 in this way about fifteen miles. I started 

 out with them on the evening of a very 

 sultry day, over a rough road. A neighbor 

 had bought them in the month of June, just 

 before swarming, when the hives were full 

 of bees, and we had no trouble in moving 

 them. The hives were set about six inches 

 apart, so that the bees from one hive would 

 not be liable to run over into the neighbor- 

 ing hive on either side. When we arrived 

 with them the larger part of the bees were 

 on the outside of the hives. They were 

 allowed to stay thus until the early twilight, 

 when, with the use of a little smoke, we had 

 no trouble in putting them on the stands. 



But when bees are to be moved long dis- 

 tances it is' better to prepare for this by 

 giving ample ventilation, which is an im- 

 portant item in the successful moving of 

 bees whei'e they must be confined to the 

 hive. This is always the case where tliey 

 are to be shipped through any transporta- 

 tion company. I find a rim three inches 

 deep, the same size as the hive, covered with 

 wire cloth, none too much; and if the colo- 

 nies are very strong, four inches is better. 

 Put one of these on the bottom and one on 



tlie top, and fasten securely. After trying 

 many kinds of fastening I have found noth- 

 ing better than lath, such as is used in 

 plastering houses. For length, cut so they 

 will leach from the top screen to the bottom 

 one, being a little " shy," so that the ends 

 will not catch against other screens or any 

 thing on which they are loaded. Use four 

 to each hive, nailing one at each corner to 

 bo!h hive and screens, this making a most 

 secure method of fastening firmly both 

 screens and hive-bodies. It gives even the 

 strongest colonies plenty of ventilation, and 

 plenty of room and space to cluster away 

 from the combs of brood. In this way little 

 or no loss occurs to either brood or bees. 



With ample provisions by way of honey 

 1 ha\e shipped bees to many of the West- 

 ern States, and some to California, or near- 

 ly across the continent. Some claim that 

 water is necessary, and it might be for ship- 

 ments across the continent during July and 

 August ; but so far I have never used any, 

 and have had no loss reported. In the front 

 end of the bottom screen bore a %-inch hole 

 when making the screens. This makes an 

 entrance for the bees, and thus allows put- 

 ting the screens on several days in advance 

 of the day of moving. It gives the bees a 

 chance, too, to fly when they arrive at their 

 destination, just as soon as the hive is set 

 on the stand they are to occupy. Under 

 these circumstances the unpacking can be 

 done more at leisure than would be the case 

 if the first flight were to come with the un- 

 packing. To stop this hole when moving, 

 use a cork or plug. I generally get a lot of 

 dry corncobs, pushing a piece of the right 

 size in the hole, and twirl it around until it 

 wedges in tightly. The frame for long-dis- 

 tance shipments should be securely fastened 

 in the hives, so that they will not slide to- 

 gether nor swing. Where self-spacing frames 

 are not used, pieces of lath of the length 

 of the inside of the hive can be used to 

 fasten the frames securely, nailing one at 

 each end (on top) down through the end of 

 eacli top-bar and the hive. The nails should 

 be long enough to reach into the wood of 

 the hive from half to three-fourths of an 

 inch. Now tip the hive up on end and stuff 

 old newspapers in the bee-space between 

 the ends of the frames and the end of the 

 hive. If the hives are to be moved by wagon 

 it is important to load them so that the 

 combs run sidewise in the box, as the great- 

 est strain on the combs is from the box 

 swaying from side to side. When shipping 

 by railroad, the combs should run length- 

 wise of the car. 



