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From: RSBrenchley@aol.com
People used to make hives out of all sorts of scrapwood, often flimsy stuff from old fruit boxes. I remember those, it was real poor quality stuff, but it was universally available and didn't cost anything. So you could make your hives for next to nothing, and just add the bees. In times of poverty, and there were plenty of those for many people in the UK, this would have made an enormous difference. Problem with the WBC as far as I'm concerned is not only that it's complex, but it's also too easily recognised for what it is. Someone in my Association inherited his first bees in WBC's, but his car was too small to take them all at once. So he brought the lifts, intending to get the inners the following day, with the bees. Next morning, there was his neighbour on the doorstep, complaining about 'hundreds of stings' from bees which hadn't arrived yet. Not so many people recognise the anonymous boxes at the back of my plot for what they are, and that's the way I want to keep it. Regards, Robert Brenchley, RSBrenchley@aol.com |