421 



using regular comb-honey supers, some bee keepers use wide frames 

 to hold two tiers of sections. It is better, however, to have the su- 

 pers smaller, so that the bees may be crowded more to produce full 

 sections. To overcome this difficulty, shallow wide frames holding 

 one tier of sections may be used. The majority of bee keepers find 

 it advisable to use special comb-honey supers. 



In producing comb honey it is even more necessary to know 

 the plants which produce surplus honey and just when they come 

 in bloom than it is in extracted honey production. The colony 

 should be so manipulated that the maximum field force is ready for 

 the beginning of the flow. This requires care in spring manage- 

 ment, and above all the prevention of swarming. Supers should be 

 put on just before the heavy flow begins. A good indication of the 

 need of supers is the whitening of the brood cobs at the top. If the 

 bees are in two-hive bodies they should generally be reduced to one, 

 and the frames should be filled with brood and honey so that as the 

 new crop comes in the bees will carry it immediately to the sections. 

 If large hives are used for the brood chamber it is often advisable 

 to remove some of the frames and use a division board to crowd the 

 bees above. To prevent the queen from going into the sections to lay, 

 a sheet of perforated zinc may be put between the brood chamber 

 and the' super. 



It is often difficult to get bees to begin work in the small sec- 

 tions, but this should be brought about as soon as possible to prevent 

 loss of honey. If there are at hand some sections which have been 

 partly drawn the previous year, these may be put in the super with 

 the new sections as bait. Another good plan is to put a shallow 

 extracting frame on either side of the sections. If a few colonies in 

 the apiary that are strong enough to go above still refuse, lift supers 

 from some colonies that have started to work above and give them 

 to the slow colonies. The super should generally be shaded some- 

 what to keep it from getting too hot. Artificial swarming will quickly 

 force bees into the supers. 



To produce the finest quality of comb honey full sheets of 

 foundation should be used in the section. Some bee keepers use 

 nearly a full sheet hung from the top of the section and a narrow bot- 

 tom starter. The use of foundation of worker-cell size is much 

 preferred. 



When one super becomes half full or more and there are indica- 

 tions that there will be honey enough to fill others, the first one 

 should be raised and an empty one put on the hive under it. This 

 tiering up can be continued as long as necessary, but it is advisable 

 to remove filled sections as soon as possible after they are nicely 

 capped, for they soon become discolored and less attractive. Honey 

 removed immediately after capping finds a better market, but if left 

 on the hive even until the end of the summer the quality of the 

 honey is improved. A careful watch must be kept on the honey il<>\v, 

 so as to give the bees only enough sections to store the <TO]>. If this 

 is not done a lot of unfinished sections will be left- at the end of the 

 flow. Honeys from different sources should never be mixed in the 



