STOCKING AN APIARY 23 



supply may be waived and the bees fed with 

 sugar syrup. ' 



Skeps of bees should certainly not be bought 

 by beginners on their own responsibility, and in 

 fact it would be best if they ignored them alto- 

 gether. Disease cannot be detected at all in a 

 skep, as the combs are fixed and cannot be ex- 

 amined without cutting them out. An expert, if 

 he wanted bees, would take the risk, cut out the 

 combs and examine them, afterwards transferring 

 them to a frame hive if healthy; if otherwise, 

 destroying the combs arid treating, the bees as 

 an artificial swarm or driven lot. This work, 

 however, is quite beyond the beginner. If he 

 buy skeps at all he must be prepared to take 

 the risk, and this is not advised. If by, any. 

 means he comes into possession of any, the safest 

 way of dealing with them is to place them on a 

 stand and allow them to swarm, hiving the swarms 

 into frame hives. As skeps are only acquired 

 nowadays as adjuncts to frame hives, this method 

 is to be preferred even in the case of healthy 

 skeps to the usual method of dealing with them, 

 which consists in transferring the bees and combs 

 as mentioned 1 before. The state of the combs 

 matters little in this description of hive. They 

 should not be too black, but that is the only, thing 

 that need- be insisted on. The usual price for 

 skeps is from 12/- to 15/- each', but the latter is 

 a top price. 



Swarms are usually recommended for beginners, 



