June 15, 1911 



367 



Metcalfe's way of taking off honey in the fall, after a light flow. 



TAKING OFF A LIGHT FALL FLOW. 



BY O. B. METCALFE. 



"When we have a late fall flow which does 

 not fill the combs up well we have fallen in- 

 to tlie haljit of leaving the honey on until 

 cold weather begins, and then we get into 

 the yard at daylight some crisj) morning, 

 and. before the l)ees knew it, their supers 

 are all off and in the honey-house. We do 

 this wholesale taking -ott of half -filled 

 frames with a Ijrush of weeds and an eni])1y 

 super set under the one we are working 

 with. 



Fig. 1 shows my i)artner at a hive with 

 the cover removed, and his empty super 

 standing where he can get it handily. In 

 Fig. 2 he is ])rying loose the su])er combs, 

 bees and all. In Fig. 3 he has picked up 

 the super and is holding it on his hip while he 

 places the empty one on the hive. In F'ig. 

 4 it will be seen that he has set the super of 

 honey and bees on top of the empty super 

 and taken out one frame. With a big wisj) 

 of weeds he is brushing the bees from the 

 next frame; and when^he has "swiped" 



them off the side next to him he pulls the 

 comb over next to the wall of the hive, 

 and iiroceeds to brush the further side of 

 that .second comb and the near side of the 

 third comb, both in one operation. Thus 

 he continues across the super until all the 

 combs are brushed, when he picks up the 

 comb which he first took out, and puts it 

 in the beeless suj^er which he has just set 

 on the ground as in Fig. o. 



This method of taking olT honey can be 

 l)racticed only when the nights get cold 

 enough for most of the bees to go below; 

 and then those left above are so cold that 

 they will not quickly fly up and get back 

 on the combs. Neither can the method be 

 used after a bum])er fall flow when the 

 combs have been filled "jam full," for they 

 are then too sticky for the brush and bees. 

 After a light fall flow, and when the combs 

 can be left on until the nights get cool with- 

 out granulating the honey, there is no meth- 

 od that compares with this one. There is 

 one other condition, however; and that is, 

 that a good power-driven outfit is needed to 

 extract such honey if there is any quantity 

 of it. 



^Nlesilla Park, N. M. 



