



QEORQE W. YORK, Editor. 



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40th YEAR, 



CHICAGO, ILL, FEBRUARY 15, 1900, 



No, 7. 



NO, 2.— COMB HONEY PRODUCTION. 



Getting' Section Honey from Weak Colonies Can 

 be Done, but Undesirable, and Why. 



BY R. C. AIKIN. 



THE production of comb honey is a very nice business ; 

 but to be successful year by year requires no little 



knowledge of the business, as well as experience. One 

 may succeed in getting reasonable crops and in fair shape 

 when the season is favorable, but let the season be poor, or 

 the stock in bad condition., and success to even a reasonable 

 degree may not be had. It is the good years — ones with 

 abundant secretion of nectar and unusual crops — that give 

 the amateur and others the bee-fever. They have perhaps 

 one or more colonies that give them a good crop, then they 

 straightway count that to multiply the number of colonies 

 will equally increase the income, forgetting that with a 

 larger apiary there must be some colonies that do not hap- 

 pen to be in prime condition when the others are, and so 

 cut down the general average very much. They also forget 

 that larger crops mean less price, and more effort to sell, 

 etc. I suppose, however, we ought not to expect fever 

 patients to be rational — they usually are flighty. 



We will take it for granted that the reader has read my 

 article preceding this, and has carefully studied his loca- 

 tion, deciding whether he will produce comb honey, ex- 

 tracted, or both ; where and how the product will be mark- 

 eted, and all the details. Having done so, we will first con- 

 sider the production of comb honey, and if any reader has 

 determined on extracted honey, he would better read this, 

 too, for it will surely help, tho you never produce a pound 

 of comb honey. 



The foundation in producing nice comb honey is to 

 have strong colonies. I say, /laTe strong colonies to put up 

 your section honey for you. You can take even a very small 

 colony, 3 to 5 Langstroth combs in size, and produce nice 

 section honey. Yes^ you may, in a good season, take nice 

 section honey from a one or two frame nucleus — I have done 

 so in years gone by. This is not contrary, however, to my 

 statement in the second sentence of this paragraph in re- 

 gard to the necessity of strong colonies to produce section 

 honey — that statement is correct as a fundamental proposi- 

 tion. 



Will j'ou take section honey from a few bees ? To do 

 so the hive must be proportioned to the colony. I have an 

 observatory hive that I used some years ago ; it holds onlv 

 three Langstroth combs when full. It is made with wooden 

 ends and bottom permanent, and wood top and sides re- 



movable. Grooves are cut on the inside of the ends from 

 top to bottom, so that when one comb is hung in the center 

 a pane of glass can be slipt down in the grooves either side 

 of the comb. When more than one comb is needed, one 

 glass side is pulled up and set out one groove farther, mak- 

 ing a two-comb colony. If still more room is needed, pull 

 out the glass from the other side and set it in the next 

 groove, thus making room for the third comb. Thus the 

 hive can be quickly changed and made a one, t%vo or three 

 frame colony by simply changing the glass from one 

 groove to another. The wood sides are removable to allow 

 observation, but always occupy the same place, the space 

 between the wood and glass being more or less, as there are 

 more or less combs used. 



Having a colony that was getting too large for the 

 three-comb hive, and a honey-flow on, I put some sections 

 on top and spread a cloth over, and so had a number of sec- 

 tions filled. The principle is just this : If the colony is 

 not strong you must fit the hive to the bees if you expect 

 surplus comb honey. In this way one may, by having hives 

 that can be easily contracted, squeeze the brood-chamber so 

 that the bees must store above if they get more than the 

 few empty cells in the brood-nest will hold, a.hna.ys, forcing 

 bees above or outdoors to find room. 



While we can thus fit the hive to the size of the colony 

 at the time the honey-flow comes on, and so get section 

 hone}' from almost any colony, the plan is not altogether 

 practicable. If the apiarist is one who has plenty of spare 

 time to make the proper adjustments at the right time, can 

 guard them to care for swarms, unite those that do not get 

 strong enough for winter, feed those short of stores in the 

 brood-chamber, and many other little things, such a plan 

 will be fairly good. I say only fairly good, it cannot be 

 good. 



Some of the reasons why not good are these : Two or 

 more weak colonies united are not so good after uniting as 

 is one normal colony that has not been united. The normal 

 colony has its stores in better shape (not always the best 

 shape, but better), they have brood, pollen, honey and 

 empty comb in the most nearly proper position and rela- 

 tion to each other. The united colonies must necessarily 

 have the stores, brood and empty comb more mist up and 

 in disorder. Such colonies seldom winter as well as those 

 that have been allowed to shape things to suit their own 

 instincts. 



Again, those little colonies that are not sufficiently 

 strong for winter, if not united, must be fed, and this takes 

 time and expense. I am confident that much disarrange- 

 ment of the combs and stores damages the wintering pros- 

 pects. Bees may be manipulated much without detriment, 

 particularlj' in the spring ; simply opening hives and re- 

 moving one or more combs to look at any part of the colony 

 usually does little or no harm if the combs are put back 

 just as they were, but a general mixing up of combs that 

 contain pollen, brood and empty cells is detrimental, more 

 or less, save a judicial spreading of brood when the colony 

 can stand it. 



Having to feed either for stores, to get bees sufficient to 

 winter, or both, or to have to unite for the same purposes, 

 are expensive and unsatisfactory, yet become necessary by 



