Did you know that the ancient Egyptians used to put their hives on boats and float them down the Nile to new forage grounds, when nectar grew scarce?

Other cultures copied the practice, from the ancient Romans right down to the Mississippi Valley beekeepers of the early 1800s, and the transportation of English bees to forage was reported in the London Times of 1830:

As the small sailing vessel was proceeding up the Channel from the coast of Corn-wall and running near land, some of the sailors noticed a swarm of bees on the island; they steered for it, landed, and after they succeeded in hiving the bees they took them on board and proceeded on their voyage. As they sailed along the shore, the bees constantly flew from the vessel to the land to collect honey and returned again to their floating hive; and this was continued all the way up the Channel.

These fascinating facts about beekeeping in history are contained in “Wandering Beekeepers,” an article on Honey-Health.com website. Thanks to CBA member Sterling Clark for bringing the article to our attention!