Subject: Re: Kinds of Hives

From: [email-masked] (Andy Nachbaur)
Date: Fri, 7 Jun 1996 02:03:00 GMT

*Ripped off the BEE-List, Good Info on Bee Hives.
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From: "Kerry Clark of AGF 784-2225 fax (604) 784 2299"
Date:         Thu, 6 Jun 1996 09:17:53 -0700
Subject:      Re: Kinds of Hives

   A remarkable hive design, with significance for ancient beekeeping, is
   the clay pot used for hundreds of years (and still) in Crete. It is used
   upright (like a large flower pot) and has moveable-combs as a result of
   top bars laid over the opening. I think pots with a similar design have
   been found in ruins (Knosus?) dating from 1000 B.C.

   I attended the Apimondia meeting in Athens (1985?) where there was a
   display which included a few examples. Since I was travelling to Crete,
   I made a point of asking about any working bee yards. The quest and
   touring was an interesting combination of objectives, and lead to
   several dead ends miles off the beaten path. I found several interesting
   modern apiaries, and once was shown a remnant of one of the skeps, cast
   aside near the apiary, used by a beekeeper's grandfather.

   I finally found an excellent example of the clay skeps near a village on
   the south coast: a bee yard carved out of the hillside, perhaps decades
   ago, with twenty or so live colonies, all in the clay hives. The
   beekeeper (in his 70's) and his wife lived in the village about 3 km
   away. Unfortunately the language barrier limited our conversation, and
   it was too hot for him to consider visiting the yard, but I was able to
   observe the colonies over a couple of days.

   The total volume of the pots (each slightly different) was about the
   same as 2 standard North American boxes. The colonies in the hot dry
   September were very weak in my experience (occupying maybe 6 frames).
   Honey harvest was accomplished by cutting off lower edges of comb,
   bringing them home in a pot, chopping them in a colander covered with
   cheesecloth and draining the honey. A jar of such honey would indeed be
   precious. The hive tool was a larger version similar to the standard
   ones, except the straight end had a sort of fork, for spearing and
   retreiving pieces of comb that had fallen to the bottom of the pot. The
   entrance for the bees was a horizontal slot less than 10 cm long,  at
   the base of the hive. Some of the hives had a cross inscribed above the
   entrance. The pots had 2 "ears" for handholds, although I think they
   likely stayed in the same place for decades. The top bars were hand hewn
   from branches of appropriate size (wider than a top bar) but there were
   no spacers, and the top bars contacted each other to form (mor or less)
   an inner cover. The hive cover was a 6 inch layer of grape vine
   prunings, covered with a slab of slate.

   The beeyard was surrounded by a rough wall of rocks. At the entrance (I
   don't remember a gate) was a post with an old ram's skull mounted at the
   top (I heard that this was a defense against the "evil eye"). There was
   an olive tree for shade, and some clay dishes of water with flat corks,
   allowing the bees to gather water.

   In the rush of travel I had to leave, and knew I had missed much of the
   significance of this glimpse at the roots of apiculture. Whenever I
   think of the visit, I wonder whether that living example of ancient
   beekeeping is still there.

   Pleasant memories.

   Kerry Clark, Apiculture Specialist
   B.C. Ministry of Agriculture
   1201 103 Ave
   Dawson Creek B.C.
        V1G 4J2  CANADA          Tel (604) 784-2225     fax (604) 784-2299
   INTERNET [email-masked]
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