DO 



(ii.i<:Ai\iX(is IX wvA'] ( ri/rrni-: 



Dec. 15 



A NEW-MEXICO WAY OF REMOVING HON- 

 EY FROM THE HIVES AND CARRYING 

 IT TO THE HONEY-HOUSE. 



The Advantage of Finishing One Kind of Work 

 Before Beginning Another. 



BY O. B. METCALFB. 



At the request of the editor I have taken 

 a number of pictures to show our methods 

 of taking ofT honey. The methods are not 

 ideal, but they are practical, and, therefore, 

 may be of some value to beginners. I spe- 

 cially invite adverse criticism, for in that 

 way I shall hope to get something out of it. 



In Fig. 1 my partner, H. L. Parks, is seen 

 just going into a hive. He had previously 

 thrown the cover on the ground back of the 

 hive, and set his empty super on it; and 

 when the picture was taken he was in the 

 act of stripping ofT the canvas inner cover 

 with one hand, while with the other he was 

 giving the bees the first smoking they re- 

 ceive during the operation. He seldom stops 

 to smoke the entrance while taking off hon- 

 ey — he can't spare the time. If you should 

 happen around to one of our yards when he 

 is taking off honey in a hurry you might 

 think he had lost something which he was 

 in a desperate hurry to find. We shake 

 most of our honey when taking it off, and 

 the method used is exactly the same as that 

 described by G. M. Doolittle as to the quick 

 downward thrust followed by a jerk back; 

 but it will be noticed, Fig. 3, that the frame 

 is, at one end, held so it rubs up and down 

 on the end wall of the hive This is a very 

 important point, for it enables the operator 

 to shake all the bees back into the hive. 

 The frame when held thus will not strike 

 against any thing, and the bees all fall back 

 into the super, where most of them busy 

 themselves crawling down into the brood- 

 nest. The points of advantage are that a 

 lot of time is saved over the method of shak- 

 ing on the ground in front, and fewer queens 

 lost. The first frame is usually taken out 

 somewhere near the middle, where there is 

 the best chance to shove the rest of the 

 frames away on either side. 



Just a word about that canvas inner cov- 

 er, Fig. 1. Nothing will beat it for this 

 country. The bees soon cover it with wax 

 so it is water-tight, and thus it forms the 

 sealed inner cover. With good 12-oz. can- 

 vas any kind of old board will do over the 

 hive for a cover, and the bees will prosper; 

 but the strongest point in its favor is that, 

 in rapid work in taking off honey, it saves 

 the operator about half the stings he would 

 get with any kind of wooden inner cover, 

 because it strips ofT without jarring the hive, 

 and the smoke is on the bees before they 

 get the "fight idea " in their heads. I say 

 it saves half the stings when the operator is 

 working fast. A slow operator can avoid 

 stings with any kind of inner covers; but a 

 fast operator gets stung more or less all the 

 time; and when he is jerking off from 2000 

 to 2500 lbs. per hour, any contrivance which 



Fig. 8.— Carrying a super of honey in such, a way 

 that the combs will not wound each other, and 

 cause bleeding or leakage from them while they are 

 stacked away for several hours. 



will cut down the stings one half adds very 

 materially to his comfort. 



The brushing act shown in Fig. i is one 

 we seldom practice when in a rush. If there 

 are not more than two or three dozen bees 

 left on a comb when it is shaken, in they 

 go to find their way out the best they can 

 through the bee-escapes at the top of the big 

 screen windows in the honey-house. Fig. 5 

 shows the frame of honey being set down in 

 the empty super in which it is to be taken 

 to the honey-house. In Fig. 6 the bees are 

 being shaken out of the super from which 

 the honey has just been removed. The 

 empty super is then taken to the next hive 

 to receive the shaken combs there. In Fig. 

 7 the cover is being put back upside down 

 to allow ventilation while all the bees are 

 crowded into the brood-nest. 



Some time last year a correspondent men- 

 tioned a method for taking off honey which 

 kept about three operators busy at a hive. 

 No doubt the work was beautifully done; 

 but so far as quick work is concerned there 

 was a great loss of time. A fast operator 

 practically jerks the bees off a comb as he 

 lifts it from the hive, and a trial will show 

 any one that he can set a comb down quick- 

 er than he can get another person to take 



