Mav, 1917 G MEANINGS IN BEE GUI. TURE 



A FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



353 



A Comb - Honey Method Similar to 

 Extracted -Honey Production 



Dr. C. C. Mi7Zfr:— What do you tliink of 

 this method'? I operate my colonies for 

 extracted honey in a city where the flow 

 is slow and of long duration. We average 

 from 30 to 50 lbs. light grade; use the 

 ten-frame Langstroth hive for early breed- 

 ing, and shallow supers for surplus honey 

 to keep what little clover honey I get com- 

 pact and separate from fall honey. 



Queens must continue breeding thru the 

 summer to keep up the working force, owing 

 to the drawn-out flow. 



(^ueen starting to lay above 



Langst.Srood Chamber 



Full of Brood 



- [mpty combs for surplus 



C^ixed brood Sr young bees ■ie>.t 

 tocid stand, Shifted tieekly 



-H3tctlir,g ■.-'""^^' 'W, „ 



Brocdsnd m Honest, Malloiv 



Nectsr ^ y Frame 

 _Oueen 

 Excluder ' 



iframecf \EipptyLangs,t. 



■ Brood Frame 



^ueen and m:\ed Brood 



Fig. 1 represents the main brood-chamber 

 filled with brood, and queen starting to la^^ 

 above. Honey is starting to come in. 



Fig. 2. Main brood-chamber is set next 

 to old stand and shifted weekly to throw 

 the workers into the original colony. When 

 tirst removed all but two frames of bees 

 are shaken into a shallow super of founda- 

 tion with queen on a frame of eggs and an 

 empty frame to catch pollen. Over this 



a queen - excluder and a super of empty 

 drawn-out combs is ])laced. Any colony 

 tliat is crowded in the brood - chamber and 

 whose queen has not gone above to lay is 

 ti-eated at this time by taking a shallow 

 fi'ame of brood fioni a colony having more 

 than one to spare. 



Fig. 3. When lower section of frames 

 of foundation is drawn out and well tilled 

 with brood, and perhaps most of sealed 

 brood in the Langstroth hive is hatched, 1 

 reverse these two shallow sections, put the 

 Langstroth hive back on stand and place 

 these shallow sections on it. The queen is 

 put in the Langstroth hive under an ex- 

 cluder. 



Fig. 4. When middle section is well filled 

 with honey, exchange positions with the 

 top super, which is becoming empty of 

 brood daily. 



Any method I adopt must contain the 

 principle of shallow supers for surplus and 

 a Langstroth hive for early breeding, allow- 

 ing the queen free range in both shallow- 

 super and main brood-chamber, also keej)- 

 ing her above an excluder 10 days, then 

 putting her below. Methods eimi'ilar to 

 these do not seem to prevent swarming here. 

 Most of the brood must hatch on a separate 

 stand to be effective. 



After gleaning most of the methods in 

 print I intend to adopt this method, Avhich 

 is no more nor less than a coinb-honey meth- 

 od for extracted honey. 



Using drawn comb in shallow brood-cham- 

 ber would be more desirable than founda- 

 tion but I have only one set of drawn comb 

 per colony at this time. 



Any comments or criticisms Avill b? great- 

 ly appreciated. 

 " St. Louis, Mo., Dec. 9. .T. H. Fisbeck. 



Dr. Miller replies : 



Your scheme is ingenious, and your dia- 

 graming especially commendable. The first 

 cjuestion that arises is whether you are real- 

 ly sure that it is necessary to have the brood 

 hatch on a separate stand. Have you 

 thoroly tried having the queen in the first 

 story with only one brood, and excluder over 

 the first story, and the brood on top of all 

 other stories? Did you at the same time 

 liave abundant ventilation at the bottom by 

 having the hive raised on blocks or by other 

 means'? Did you at the same time have 

 ventilation between tlie first story and the 

 second, between the second and the third, 

 and so on, and then ventilation under the 

 cover? If you have not done so it would 



