COMB HONEY. 23 
Providing Sufficient Stores. 
If feeding is not practiced during this critical period, the beekeeper 
should see that each colony is at all times supplied with a reserve of 
stores, for surprisingly large quantities are consumed when brood 
rearing is going on rapidly. If any colonies should run short, brood 
rearing will be carried on sparingly and the colony so severely crip- 
pled that it may not recover its strength until after the honey flow 
is over. 
Whether stimulative feeding or supplying each colony with an 
abundance of reserve stores is the more profitable depends upon 
circumstances and must be decided by each beekeeper for his own 
conditions. Stimulative feeding, if properly done, will undoubtedly 
result in the rearing of more bees for the harvest. When the bee- 
keeper is operating several apiaries and must travel some distance 
to reach them the labor involved is considerable, and the question 
to be decided is whether this labor would yield greater returns if 
expended in stimulative feeding or in operating a larger number of 
colonies. If the brood chamber is large and well provisioned or if 
the flowers furnish some nectar in early spring the colonies may have 
sufficient stores for this period of heavy brood rearing. Some bee- 
keepers save combs of honey of the previous year to supply food for 
this period. This is one of the most convenient and satisfactory 
methods of feeding. 
Providing Available Blood-Rearing Space. 
There should be no restriction whatever in the room for brood 
rearing up to the time of putting on the supers, just previous to the 
honey flow, for a crowded brood nest at this time tends to diminish 
the number of workers available for the honey flow as well as to 
encourage swarming. 
If the space for brood rearing should be restricted by too much 
early honey in the brood chamber some of the heaviest combs should 
be removed and empty ones given instead, or an extra brood chamber 
containing empty combs may be given. In localities where consid- 
erable early honey is gathered the brood chamber may be kept 
almost free of honey by placing an extracting super over each colony 
at the beginning of such a flow. This super should not be removed 
until the comb-honey supers are given, for the honey may be needed 
later in brood rearing. 
Should the brood nest be restricted by a small brood chamber 
the colonies may be equalized by removing some frames of brood 
from the stronger colonies, exchanging them for empty combs taken 
from weaker colonies, or another brood chamber filled with empty 
combs may be given, thus building the colonies up individually. 
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