I thought this was interesting. I love the ingenuitive spirit and mind.
"HENS MADE TO PROTECT BEES. - A bee raiser has patented an invention for the protection of bees from the attacks of the honey bee moth, which enters the hives at night, and rifles the stores.... Hens, he observed, retire to rest early; but bees seek repose earlier still; no sooner are they sunk into slumber, than the moths steals into their abode and devours the produce of their toil. He has now built a stand of hives with a hen house connected. The bees first betake themselves to their dwelling and settle themselves for the night. The hens then come home to roost on their perch, and as they take their places upon it, their weight sets some simple mechanism to work, which at once shuts down the doors of all the hives. When the day dawns, however, the hens leave their roost, and the removal of their weight from the perch raises the hive doors, and gives egress to the bees in time for their morning's work."
I would like to see a pic of this thing!!
F