§ XI. REMOVING BEES.
A very great advantage that frame hives afford is the safety and convenience with which a stock of bees can be transported in them to any part of the kingdom or abroad: by a few additional arrangements stocks have even been sent in them to distant countries. In many districts hives are removed to moors and heaths in autumn, for the purpose of gathering heather honey. In this operation the frames are a great support to the combs, very much lessening the risk of a break-down and consequent loss.
The proper course to pursue in this case is to remove the crown-board, and nail across from side to side two strips of wood with smaller pieces fastened on them so as to secure each frame in position. Then nail a sheet of perforated zinc over the top; or in default of that the crown-board may be screwed down, when, if the two strips are not over an eighth Of an inch in thickness, they will secure ventilation without allowing the bees to escape. The combs must be scrupulously carried lengthways, or they will break; and if they are new and the weather is warm, even with that precaution any but the most careful hand carriage is nearly certain to ruin them. If not going far it is best for the hive to be borne between two; but if this is impracticable the vehicle used must at any rate have springs.
It is most urgent in making such a transfer that the most ample ventilation should be allowed. The bees are of course gorged at the time, and in that condition they are most particularly in need of air; while on the other hand the fact of their imprisonment, together with the shaking attendant on carriage, irritates them and causes them to make such a commotion, that without stringent precautions they would very probably be stifled, and of course the finer the colony the greater is the danger.
With an ordinary skep this supply of air cannot be ensured at the top, so that it becomes necessary, if the journey is to last longer than an hour or two, to invert the hive. This must be done with great caution and always in the direction in which the combs run. A sheet of perforated zinc on a board, or a piece of coarse canvas or cheese-cloth, may then be nailed or otherwise fastened with string over the base, thus taking the place of the floor-board, and it is needless to say that this should be done in such a manner that not a single bee can escape. If the journey is likely to be one of more than a few hours it will not do to employ any soft material, as it would in that time be gnawed through; but wire-cloth would answer as well as perforated zinc.
As a preliminary to any remove, smoke should be blown in at the entrance repeatedly during half an hour, after which it may be judged that all on the wing will have returned. For carrying a swarm, either a skep or box or anything will serve, and it must be secured and carried mouth upwards in the same way.