. British bee journal & bee-keepers adviser. Bees. Dec. U, 1899.] THE BRITISH BEE JOURNAL. 495 shelter beneath the floor-board of a hive in the orchard, and had been busy comb- building there. Not wanting to increase my stocks I thought it a good opportunity to observe what happened to a swarm, left to themselves. The floor-board of the hive was 22 in. square, having a fillet 3 in. deep on three sides, an alighting board 4 in. wide on the front, and standing on four splayed legs a foot high. The bees of the truant swarm were therefore sheltered from the weather. The hive in question stood
. British bee journal & bee-keepers adviser. Bees. Dec. U, 1899.] THE BRITISH BEE JOURNAL. 495 shelter beneath the floor-board of a hive in the orchard, and had been busy comb- building there. Not wanting to increase my stocks I thought it a good opportunity to observe what happened to a swarm, left to themselves. The floor-board of the hive was 22 in. square, having a fillet 3 in. deep on three sides, an alighting board 4 in. wide on the front, and standing on four splayed legs a foot high. The bees of the truant swarm were therefore sheltered from the weather. The hive in question stood facing the south, and was occupied by a fairly strong stock working for extracted honey. The first point I noticed was the complete amiability of the two colonies—the swarm below and the stock above both working busily without the least friction, though the bees in the basement made frequent use of the alighting board. The combs were built from south to north, and at the end of the season there were ten combs, the largest being Sin. deep by 18 in. long, deepest about 2 in. from the south front and taper- ing from there to nothing at the back. The honey gathered was all stored in the centre of the swarm, close up to the top, out of reach of ma- rauders, and during the warm weather pollen and brood were to be seen down to the bottom I noticed more. A TRUANT SWARM. edges of the centre combs, comb was built than was actually needed either for storage or rearing purposes. I think it gave shelter to the out- side seams of bees at night. The swarm throve and did well until the weather broke, and when the losses were no longer made up by the number of bees hatching out, I expected to see robbing; but no, they never left any honey exposed, so strangers left them alone. At last the time came when the stock above them needed attention, and so, after removing all surplus, the stock was shifted to enable me to turn up the floor-board and drive ray interesting swarm into a skep. They were
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Keywords: ., bookcentury, bookdecade1870, bookpublisherlondon, booksubjectbees
