At 09:40 AM 3/2/1999 -0500, you wrote: A beekeeper in MD, who had stopped keeping bees, decided to start again after we put some hives on his property. He spotted a swarm (probably ours) and grabbed a 5 gallon bucket. Drilled some holes near the bottom for an entrance. End of the season, the bucket was doing better than our nucs. However, it was all wild comb, and like a skep, the only way to remove the honey would have been to destroy or greatly set back the colony. With the high humidity and temperatures, I thought that moisture buildup would have been a problem. He kept the lid down tight. However, he did put it in the woods in shade. Certainly surprised me in how well the swarm did. Not so happy about it as a potential reservoir of mites, disease, etc. since it was virtually impossible to work or inspect. >[log in to unmask] > >