Oct. 15, 1911 



617 



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Louis Scholl, New Braunfels, Texas 



COMPARATIA'E PROFIT OF EXTRACTED, SEC- 

 TION, OR BULK COMB. 



In answer to several letters regarding the 

 comparative profits per colony when run for 

 extracted honey, section comb honey, or 

 bulk comb honey, the following, which is 

 in part a copy of a letter in answer to a sim- 

 ilar enquiry, will serve to show to a certain 

 extent the difference in production of each 

 of the above kinds of honey. 



An average yield per colony, well located, 

 should be at least 100 lbs. of extracted hon- 

 ey. During favorable seasons, and where 

 the bees can be gotten into the best possible 

 condition for the honey-flow^s, this can be 

 doubled or even better. This amount, 100 

 pounds, is meant as an average per colony 

 for an entire apiary; whereas some colonies, 

 especially strong, may gather as much as 

 four or five hundred pounds of extracted 

 honey in a single season, if rightly manag- 

 ed. A sufficient supply of empty combs 

 given at the right time, so that the bees will 

 have all the room needed will help much 

 toward accomplishing this. At the same 

 time there maybe colonies in the same yard 

 that will not reach the hundred-pound mark, 

 thus bringing the total average of the entire 

 apiary down to 100 pounds, more or less, ac- 

 cording to the season. 



With comb-honey production these large 

 yields can not be obtained, the main reason 

 being that the bees are required to build 

 new combs in which to store the honey. 

 This delays the work materially, besides 

 making it necessary that they consume from 

 12 to 24 i^ounds of honey, out of which the 

 wax is secreted, for every pound of comb 

 built, thus costing much loss of time and 

 honey in the production of comb honey. 

 Besides, the bees do not like to build in the 

 small compartments of the section su]ier, 

 and hesitate to enter them readily. This 

 causes further delay, loss of time and honey; 

 and as this condition results in the bees be- 

 coming more or less crowded in the main 

 part of the hive, which often incites the 

 swarming fever, the bees swarm instead of 

 gathering honey when the main flow comes. 

 'J'he result is a great deal more work for the 

 apiarist and a smaller average of honey i)er 

 colony, ranging from 50 to 125 lbs. of section 

 honey per colony. 



Although some persons believe that comb 

 honey ought to be the cheapest in price since 

 its production saves the bee-keeper all the 

 trouble of extracting the honey from the 

 combs, the explanation above will doubtless 

 reveal at once the reason why bee-keepers 

 should receive a higher price for comb hon- 

 ey. With extracted-honey production the 

 combs once built are used over and over 

 again, the honey extracted from them, and 

 the combs returned to the hives to be filled 

 again, thus saving all the loss of time and 

 honey that takes place in comb-building. 

 Besides this, the cost of preparing the comb- 



honey supers every year with new sections 

 and foundation, and the extra labor of get- 

 ting those ready, and further labor and ex- 

 pense of putting the comb-honey in expen- 

 sive shipping-cases and crating these before 

 the honey can be marketed, increases the 

 expense and lessens the profits of comb-hon- 

 ey production over extracted honey. 



But since the market demands both kinds, 

 and it is often hard to sell extracted honey, 

 both forms are produced. It is rather diffi- 

 cult to say just what the relative net profits 

 would be in each case. Granting that an 

 average yield of extracted honey is 150 lbs. 

 at 8 cents per pound, the result would be 

 $12.00. Figuring that, under the same con- 

 dition, the average for comb honey would 

 be 80 lbs. per colony, selling for 15 cents per 

 pound, it would also be $12.00. While the 

 price received in each case is the same, the 

 production in one is the easier and cheaper, 

 and hence the profits the greater. While 

 the comparison used here, so far as the fig- 

 ures are concerned, may not be exactly cor- 

 rect for all localities, they are very near right 

 for our own here in this part of Texas, and 

 foi a long period of many years. The prices 

 quoted are those ranging on the average 

 market here at this time as received by the 

 bee-keepers. 



Since the expense of section-honey pro- 

 duction is so much greater, the Texas bee- 

 keepers long ago resorted to other ways of 

 producing comb honey, and to-day there is 

 very little section honey produced in this 

 State. Bulk comb honey, on the other 

 hand, is the leading product of the Texas 

 apiaries, and is produced in shallow frames 

 w^ith full sheets of foundation, which are 

 easily put in; and as the bees do not hesi- 

 tate to enter the supers, much larger averages 

 per colony can be obtained. Although the 

 bees are required in this case to build their 

 own comb, which would be a loss in this re- 

 spect, it is not necessary to crowd the bees, 

 and less swarming is the consequence; and 

 as they work much more readily in the su- 

 pers, the colonies are much more easily man- 

 aged. On the w^iole, bulk-comb-honey pro- 

 duction is easier, and less laborious and ex- 

 pensive, than section honey, and is not 

 much more difficult than extracted, w^hile 

 the profits are much greater. Bulk comb 

 honey is sold at an average price of 11 cents 

 per pound after it is packed for the market. 

 It must be considered that one-third of the 

 honey in the package is extracted honey 

 that is poured over the comb honey after 

 the cans have been packed full to fill up the 

 open spaces and make up the required 

 weight. Figuring the real price of the comb 

 honev by itself, therefore, we find that the 

 bee-keep'er receives 12 >^ cents per pound for 

 the comb honey. This is obtained in this 

 way: A sixty-pound can of comb honey at 

 11 cents per pound will be $6.60. Since 20 

 pounds of the contents is extracted honey 



Continued on vage 6J3. 



