The unicomb hive may be stocked in two ways. The bee-keeper may either select the comb upon which the queen is found, and put it into the hive, and so form an artificial swarm as directed under that heading ([Chap. V. § vi.]), or he may take six brood combs, and by that means stock the unicomb at once. The former plan is, perhaps, the more advisable, because new comb has to be built within the five frames; for in this case five empty frames must be put in. It is a better plan still if artificial combs are placed in each frame, so as to afford an interesting opportunity of watching the formation of the cells therein. The' combs are sure to be dark in colour when taken from a stock hive, and new combs, being whiter, have a better appearance in the hive. The comb upon which the queen was introduced may be taken away after the artificial swarm has made combs within some of the other five frames; when the queen is on one of the new combs, opportunity may easily be taken for opening the hive and removing the old dark comb, which, with the unhatched brood, may be deposited in any square hive that needs strengthening.
If the possessor of a square Woodbury frame hive wishes to start a strong unicomb colony, and does not object to appropriating the stock, he must take out of the Woodbury hive any six combs on the frames, and put the unicomb in its place so as to receive all the returning bees that happen to be abroad; the remaining combs can be inserted in any other frame hives in which there may be room. We have had this hive in operation, stocked in such manner, and found it to answer remarkably well. On a lawn, placed on a suitable ornamental stand, it formed a pleasing and instructive object.
In unicomb hives there is considerable difficulty in keeping the bees alive through the winter, but where the combs are removable, this can be avoided by the transfer recommended in [Chap. V. § xx]. In some degree to moderate the variations of temperature we have used treble glass with a space between each square; greater warmth is thus obtained, and the view is not intercepted. Opportunity should be taken for cleaning the unicomb hive when empty.
§ XVIII. NEIGHBOURS' UNICOMB OBSERVATORY HIVE—INDOOR.
This hive is well adapted for those persons who are desirous of having the opportunity of closely examining the workmanship of the industrious and interesting inmates. It is particularly intended for a window recess or an indoor apiary, and will also be found an interesting addition to the greenhouse. Bees cease to appear disturbed when exposure to the light is continuous, and this discovery enables the bee-keeper to obtain a full inspection. The hive should be screened from the direct rays of the sun, which would worry the inmates, and be otherwise prejudicial. An aperture should be cut in the sash corresponding with the entrance to the hive, through which the bees may find egress and ingress, without being able to gain access to the apartment, as described under the "Ladies' Observatory Hive" ([page 120]). As the hive is now made to revolve on a wheel like the preceding, this passage must extend eighteen inches within the room to enable the revolution to be made clear of the window. The passage may be glazed over. The process of stocking is identical with that in the last section.
Although this hive is constructed of double glass, to keep up a more uniform degree of warmth, still, from the cold nature of that material, and the close contact into which the bees are brought with it, it is advisable to place flannel against it on the outside. Such precaution is found essential if the bees remain in this hive during winter, and very much adds to their comfort on cold nights at most periods of the year. In the daytime, in summer months, the hive being of double glass, the whole may be fully exposed to view, and if the temperature of the apartment in which it stands be kept up to 60 degrees, this extra care will not be needed.
At the annual International Exhibition of 1873, at South Kensington, we had two of these hives in full operation, an opening being made so that the bees had full access to the pasturage of the Horticultural and other gardens of the neighbourhood. Among the many visitors whose delight it was to watch the hidden working of the hives thus laid bare for inspection was His Grace the Duke of Sutherland, and he commissioned us to place one of these unicomb hives at the window of an anteroom adjoining his library at Stafford House, St. James's, which we accordingly did, the bees having an open flight over his own garden and St. James's Park, as the entrance faced that way. For a time this was an unfailing source of interest and gratification to His Grace and his visitors; but unfortunately a reverse came over the spirit of our dream. The hive was without the Venetian blinds, thus depending on the window-blind being carefully drawn down when the sun was shining. An oversight prevented this being attended to one day as usual: it was on the occasion of the visit of the Shah of Persia to Stafford House, when the servants were so much occupied that the secluded room which the bees were in was wholly neglected. The, consequence was that the rays of the burning June sun so distressed the bees that they hung out in clusters, the queen among them, at the outside entrance; the combs were at the same time melted, and fell from their foundations, and the brood was all ruined by heat '; in fact, the whole hive became a wreck. We managed after some trouble to save the bees, but His Grace was so disheartened by the catastrophe that, for fear of its repetition, though much to our disappointment, he declined re-stocking the hive.
At the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1855 we also exhibited a hive of this description in full working order. The bees left London on the 5th of July of that year, and were placed in the Exposition on the following morning. An entrance was made for them through the side of the building, as before explained. Our bees had no national antipathies, and they immediately sallied forth to their "fresh fields and pastures new" in the Champs Elysées, the gardens of the Tuileries, the Luxembourg, etc., whence they soon returned laden with luscious store from French flowers.
The Jurors of the Exposition awarded us a prize medal for beehives. A prize was also adjudged to us for the hive here described at the Crystal Palace Show in 1874; while a variation that we have made—consisting of four half-unicombs fixed cross-way like the sails of a windmill—obtained a like award at the Alexandra Palace Bee Show in 1876.