540 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



July, 1917 



nest. The bees are thus given plenty of 

 room, and there is e\'ery prospect for a 

 strong, vig'orous colony when strength is 

 most needed. 



As nearly as it is possible to estimate, 

 about a week after the main honey-flow 

 begins, the queen should be hunted up ; and 

 if she is not already on one of the brood- 

 eombs in the first story she should be placed 



Combs spaced wide in the supers are bulged 

 therefore more easily uncapped. 



Ill a 



there and a queen-excluder put between the 

 two stories, so that henceforth no eggs will 

 be laid in any of the combs in the super. 

 Sometimes in an emergency honey may be 

 extracted from combs containing sealed 

 brood, especially when there is a shortage 

 of comb and it becomes absolutely necessary 

 to provide more room. The brood, if it is 

 sealed over, seems to withstand the extract- 

 or's whirling very well. Honey intended for 

 the table should never, never be extracted 

 from combs containing unsealed brood. 



As soon as the queen is confined to the 

 first story by means of the excluder, one 

 comb, or, better, two, should be removed 

 from the super, preferably one at each out- 

 side, and the remaining combs spaced an 

 equal distance apart. These combs will, 

 later on, be bulged beyond the edge of the 

 frame. The super will thus hold a little 

 more honey than if the full number of combs 

 had been used witli close spacing; but, what 

 is more important, these fat bulged combs 

 may be uncapped in a little over half the 

 time required for uncapping thin combs. 



The fact that brood has been reared in 

 these extraeting-combs makes them strong- 

 er, easier to uncap, and less likely to break 

 in the extractor. Such combs may be used 

 year after year, and they will grow tougher 

 and better all the time. 



The beginner should never wait until the 

 first super is entirely filled before putting 

 on the second one, otherwise there is danger 



of bringing on swarming. When the first 

 super, that is, the second story which had 

 been used for a time for brood-rearing, is 

 a little over half full of honey, it should be 

 set to one side temporarily, the second super 

 put in its ijlace, and then the first partly 

 filled one on top. This second super should 

 contain in the center the two combs taken 

 out of the first super to permit the wider 

 spacing, the rest of the room being taken 

 up by frames containing full sheets of wired 

 foundation, provided no other extra combs 

 are available. Until the foundation is 

 drawn out into combs the frames should be 

 closely sjDaced. 



It does no harm to leave the full supers 

 on the hive, stacking them up three, four, 

 five, or even six high, if necessary and if the 

 honey-flow warrants. The nearly full su- 

 iters should always be put on top, the empty 

 ones underneath next to the brood-chamber. 

 The longer the honey is on the hive the 

 thicker and richer it becomes. This can 

 not be done in case of comb-honey produc- 

 tion in sections; for if the sections were 

 left on very long after being completed, the 

 surface of the cappings would become soil- 

 ed by reason of the bees passing over it so 

 much. 



When it is time to begin extracting, the 

 bees may be trapped out of the super by 

 means of the bee-escape, which, if placed 



Sliding a screened bee-escape frame between the 

 brood-chamber and super. In about twenty-four 

 hours practically all the bees will be trapped out 

 of the super, and the honey may be taken off with- 

 out the bees knowing anything about it. 



