There is no contrivance for protecting hives from the weather so complete as a bee-house one, which also admits of an easy inspection of the hives ranged therein. This arrangement is especially convenient for lady bee-keepers.
The folding doors behind the bee-house have only to be opened, and the hives are at once exposed to full view. If the cover of the bee-hive be lifted as well as the shutters opened, the hives and the glasses may be deliberately inspected, without any danger of molestation from the bees. Thus the progress made by the busy multitude in building and filling their combs may be watched by the bee-keeper, from day to day with great and increasing interest.
Back View of the Interior.
Here our engraving shows the back view of the bee-house, the interior being furnished with two of our 'No. 5 cottage hives. Two suspended weights will be noticed; these are to balance the top hives which cover the glasses; the cord for each, runs on pulleys, so that the covers can be easily raised and as easily shut down again when the inspection is finished. We may here remark, that it is not well to keep the glasses long exposed to full light and view.
The front of the bee-house being closely boarded, a passage way is contrived for the bees by which they have egress and ingress, without being able to gain access to the house. The hives must be kept close to the front boarding of the house, so as to prevent the opening of any crevices which the bees might mistake for the entrance to their hives, and so find their way into the house. The front view of this bee-house shows the ordinary contrivance for entrance; the sliding zinc entrances may also be advantageously fixed as shown in the engraving of a "Bee-house to contain twelve hives." In many parts of the country, hives and honey are sometimes stolen from the garden; the bee-houses we furnish have a lock and key to prevent depredations of this kind.
Care must be taken to keep the bee-houses free from spiders and other insects. In some districts ants are numerous and troublesome. The plan we recommend for excluding them is to put some pitch round the four supports of the bee-house; or, better still, strips of loose flannel or other woollen material that is absorbent, which have previously been soaked in lamp-oil. We use sperm oil, being the slowest drying oil we know of. A piece of string will keep the flannel close to the wood, and then neither ant or any other insect will pass up; so that by this simple means the hives may, so to speak, be insulated and placed beyond their reach. As the oil dries up it can easily be renewed. We have found this an effectual remedy against these insidious enemies of bees.
BEE-HOUSE TO CONTAIN TWELVE HIVES. No. 40.
