MillerThousand AnswersBeekeepingQuestions.pdf - BioBees

162 DR. miller'scattle or other live stock. So far as I now remember, not a singleman expressed any agreement with me, although since then agood many have. There is quite a general agreement that a manhas a prior right morally, although some do not even believe inthat. But in matters of business moral rights are not very reliable.I have a moral right to the possession of my horses, butif I had no legal right to them I doubt if I would keep them long.Some day beekeepers may be advanced enough so that a man maybe just as safe from interference in his bee-pasture as he now isin his cow-pasture. At present you have no redress, and mustjust grin and bear it—or else bear it without the grinning.Paint.—Q. Should I paint my hives all the same color? If so,what color would you advise? I see frome reading the AmericanBee Journal that some beekeepers advise painting hives differentcolors, as one color bothers the bees in locating their hive.A. There would be some advantage to the bees in the way ofrecognizing their hives if they were of different colors, but it ishardly necessary. Bees locate their hives by means of surroundingobjects, and except on a bleak plain utterly without any surroundingobjects there is very little difficulty where the hives are5 feet or more apart from center to center. But you can just aswell have double the number of hi\ es on the same ground by havingthem in pairs. Set two hives close together on the samestand, then leave a space of 2 feet or more, then another pair,and so on. Ground may be still further economized by placinganother row close to the first, letting the hives stand back toback.There is probably no better color, all things considered, thanwhite, using good white lead.Q. Please advise me relative to the painting of hives with thebees in them, and at what period of the year is it best to do thework? I should also like to know whether or not standard paintsare all right to use.A. You can paint a hive with bees in it at any time when youcan paint the outside of a house, and can use any paint properfor the same purpose, with the exception of the part at the entrancewhere the bees alight. If you put enough drier in thepaint used there, and paint in the evening after the bees stopflying, it will be dry enough next morning so the bees will notstick init.Q. Should bottom-boards of hives be painted inside?A. It is not necessary, although, of course, a bottom-board