THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



11 



Freeing Extracting Supers of Bees Without Bee 

 Escapes or Removing Combs. 



F. B. CAVANAGH 



\ 



note with 

 interest that 

 Bro. Townsend 

 is soon to give 

 us a method of 

 freeing supers 

 of bees without 

 removing the 

 combs. We 

 have not seen 

 each other late- 

 ly, and I am 

 wondering if there is any similarity be- 

 tween his plan and that of my own. 

 The method that I use is practically the 

 same as the one that I formerly used for 

 clearing from a super the few bees that 

 sometimes remain after a bee escape is 

 used. I described it in the Review two 

 years ago. I often thought of using it on 

 a super full of bees, but, time and again 

 dismissed it as wholly impractical. How- 

 ever, actual use compelled me to change 

 my opinion; and one season's use shows 

 it to be a complete success. 



I use eight or nine combs in a 10- 

 frame super, and this wide spacing al- 

 lows a little more space between the 

 bottoms of the combs. In removing the 

 honey I stand at the side of the hive, and 

 hold the smoker between my body and 

 the side of the hive, thus leaving both 

 hands free to manipulate the combs and 

 brush. With the screw driver or hive- 

 tool I first break the super loose, and 

 remove the queen excluder, if there is 

 one directly under the super to be re- 

 moved. I then loosen the combs and 

 space them oyer towards the opposite 

 side of the hive, thus leaving a space 

 next the side of the hive nearest me, in 

 which I can insert a Coggshall bee brush 

 of the long, soft, pliable kind. While 

 doing the spacing a moderate amount of 

 smoke is used in order to drive as many 



as possible of the bees down out of the 

 super. After the combs have all been 

 loosened and pressed over towards the 

 opposite side of the hive, I still keep 

 puffing the smoker by an occasional 

 pressure of the body, and proceed to 

 brush the bees down out of the space 

 between the first comb and the side of 

 the hive. When this space is freed from 

 bees, the first comb is pressed back, 

 with the left hand, against the side of 

 the hive. The space between this comb 

 and the next one is cleared in a similar 

 manner, and the comb pressed back in 

 contact with the first comb. This process 

 is continued until all of the spaces have 

 been freed of bees. 



Now, there are a few essential things 

 to remember in making the highest suc- 

 cess with this method. First, a good, 

 pliable brush, with the strands well- 

 thinned. I have seen brushes sold as 

 Coggshall brushes that were stiff as a 

 board, and about as useless for brushing 

 bees. Next, we must so handle the brush 

 and the smoker that the smoke goes 

 with the brush. Above all, don't go to 

 sleep on the job, or the bees will return 

 to the combs first cleaned before the last 

 ones are freed from bees. Another thing: 

 It is very necessary to keep the bees 

 running forwards along the ends of the 

 hive, so that when the comt^s are free 

 from bees there won't be a lot of them 

 sticking to the inside of the super to go 

 back on the combs as soon as the super 

 is removed. If they are inclined to stick 

 to the ends of the hive, a puff^ of smoke 

 aimed diagonally downwards and for- 

 wards will start them to moving. Don't 

 use too much smoke, or it will cause the 

 bees to stick their heads into the honey. 



It is not necessary to use the body 

 entirely in manipulating the smoker. 

 Sometimes it is more convenient to use 



