In a message dated 16/04/2008 02:58:30 GMT Standard Time,  
[log in to unmask] writes:

driving  bees -  the driving of bees from one skep to another for the 
purpose  of taking honey without killing the bees, by inverting the hive 
and  driving the bees into an empty skep placed above it, by beating  
rhythmically on the sides of the inverted hive with a stick or stone  



I was taught (and have since used effectively) that the beating is done  with 
the hands on the side of the skep or box at a pace of about a heartbeat  
(Dave Cushman will say what that is in metric) with the hands not arriving at  
opposite sides of the skep simultaneously, thus setting up a vibration or  
jarring of the skep with the bees.
 
You should also include in your dictionary 'driving irons' which would have  
been made by the local blacksmith. They come in sets of three.  Two are  iron 
rods about 9" to a foot long with parallel spikes  about 3" long at  each end. 
These prop open the 'mouth' of the arrangement of skep over inverted  skep, 
while the third iron is a simple skewer that secured the closed end around  
which a cloth is wrapped to make a bridge up which the driven bees may  climb.
 
Chris



   

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