Jerry wrote: "So, my question - when harvest and destroy of Skeps 
prevailed, what percentage
of the colonies kept in Skeps were typically destroyed on an annual 
basis? "

It wasn't always necessary to destroy in order to harvest.  With a set 
of driving irons (I know a blacksmith/beekeeper who still makes them) 
you can 'drum' the bees into another skep or into a hive and cut out 
the comb you want to harvest, possibly examining the remainder by using 
a mirror on a stick (as used by dentists) then, if desired, replace the 
bees in their old home.

In brief, the technique is to smoke the bees, then move the skep to the 
other end of the garden, putting an empty one in its place for the 
flying bees to go to.  Upturn the full skep into an empty bucket for 
suport. Use the driving irons (one is like a skewer, the other two are 
like double ended L shapes about 9" long) to fix another skep to it at 
one end with the skewer iron and using the other two to keep the 
opposite side apart, like an open mouth.  Then, sitting on a milking 
stool or something similar you drum on the lower, upturned, skep with 
the bees and comb.  Wrap a bit of sacking around the joint to enlarge 
the bridge.

The drumming is roughly to a pulse beat, your hands meeting the sides 
of the lower skep a smidgeon apart in time so as to set up a vibration. 
  Pretty soon, the bees will begin to abandon their home and march in 
unison up into the darkness of the empty skep above.  You may see the 
queen as part of the stream..  When all are there, you can treat the 
contents of the upper skep as if a swarm and hive it elsewhere, or take 
it back to square 1, uniting it with the flying bees that will already 
be there, or examine/remove comb and then put the bees back in it.

Chris




  

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