Drifting of Honeybees in Commercial Apiaries. IV. Further Studies of the Effect of Apiary Layout

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Abstract
Drifting was reduced by arranging hives in two squares of four with entrances facing inwards in one group and outwards in the other. It was also reduced by arranging a group of 16 hives in a Graeco-Latin square, with differently coloured boards above hive entrances and entrances facing different directions. When hives were arranged in rows perpendicular to a windbreak, considerable drifting occurred between rows and especially forward along the rows. When hives were arranged in four rows to form a large square, the bees drifted towards the end colonies of each side. There was an unexplained tendency for bees to drift southward in rows facing east or west and westward in rows facing north or south.

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