March. 1921 



G L R A N I N (! S ! X T, E E C I' \. T U R K 



irso 



OF all the ap- 

 paratus used 

 in beekeep- 

 ing the comb is 

 the most impor- 

 tant. Without it 

 the lionevbee 

 colony could not 

 exist. Its cells 

 and surfaces 



form the base for all colony life. Here the 

 young are reared, the food is stored, and 

 the adults work or rest. Comb consists of 

 hexagonal cells of various sizes and degrees 

 of regularity. The cells are classified by 

 shape and measurement. When measuring 

 across the parallel sides of a row of cells 

 those wliich are nearly regular and run 

 more than four and a half cells to the inch 

 will be used freely by the queen for worker 

 eggs. Those which are four and a half to 

 the inch and larger cannot be depended on 

 to get anything but drones. Eegular drone- 

 cells measure about four to the inch. Cells 

 which are distorted by transition from one 

 size of regular cells to another or by the 

 stretching of the foundation are seldom used 

 by the queen. Pollen is stored only in regu- 

 lar worker-cells, honey in all kinds. This 

 classification gives rise to the following- 

 names commonly used by beekeepers: Work 

 er, drone, accommodation, and stretched 

 cells. 



The commercial beekeeper gets the bees 

 to build their comb in frames for his con- 

 venience. From his standpoint "a comb" is 

 the name given to the whole sheet of comb 

 contained in any one frame. A frame may 

 contain all the different types of comb, but 

 for practical purposes it must be considered 

 as a unit. "Combs," then, must be classi- 

 fied by the beekeeper according to their 

 fitness for his different uses, and under ;i 

 classification which is distinct from, tho 

 based on, the one described above. In the 

 Pettit Apiaries the grades are numbered 

 with subdivisions. 



All Combs Sorted Into Four Grades. 



No. 1 combs have all worker-cells above 

 the middle, except at most two rows of mal- 

 formed cells next the top-bar, and a few 

 such cells scattered near the ends. In the 

 lower half of the frame a total of 10 square 

 inches of non-worker cells and open space 

 is allowed. The foundation is straight in 

 the middle of the frame. As we are often 

 troubled with an excess of pollen, this has to 

 be considei-ed in grading combs. If a No. 1 

 comb contains pollen Iji more than 25 per 

 cent of the cells, it is graded No. IP and 

 stored separately for special use. When a 

 surplus of these accumulates the heaviest 

 ones are graded No. 4 for tendering into 

 wax. 



No. 2 combs are built on full sheets of 

 foundation which thru one accident or an- 

 other have stretched or buckled so as to 

 "lisqualify them for the No. 1 class. They 

 have no more drone-comb or open space 

 than No. 1 combs and must not contain 



GRADING THE COMBS 



Dijferent Grades of Combs for Differ- 

 ent Uses. Advantage of One Size of 

 Frames for Brood-chambers and Supers 



By Morley Pettit 



more than a very 

 small yiercentage 

 of pollen cells. 

 Kach comb in 

 this class is 

 given a conspic- 

 uous mark on 

 the top-bar. 



No. 3 combs 

 contain d r o n e- 

 comb in the upper half of the frame, or 

 more than 10 square inches drone-comb and 

 open space in the lower half; but are fairly 

 light in color and weight and contain prac- 

 tically no pollen. They are an odd assort- 

 ment, mostly built on starters and suitable 

 only for extracting. 



No. -4 combs are for Rendering into wax — 

 rejects from all other classes. In this, class 

 are the surplus pollen combs, the No. 1 's 

 which are very heavy with age, the No. 2 's 

 which are anyways black and heavy, the 

 broken and very irregular ones. 



When the Sorting Is Done. 

 All combs not in li: ood-cliambers are 

 sorted annually. I might say all combs are 

 sorted annually, as the sorting of combs in 

 brood-chamber use proceeds v\iienever brood- 

 chamber manij^ulations are being carided on. 

 The practiced eye quickly spots a No. 2 

 comb in a brood-chamber where it has no 

 right to be, by the rim of honey-clogged or 

 unused cells below the top-bar. Where colo- 

 nies have been supered properly the queen 's 

 failure to fill brood rigiit up to the top-bar 

 is the fault of either the comb or the queen. 

 Lower-grade combs are marked as soon as 

 detected in the brood-chamber and removed 

 to the super either at once or later. 



The sorting of surplus combs takes place 

 at the annual round-up of supers during the 

 milder weather of the inactive season. At 

 this time the frames are scraped more or 

 less thoroughly as time permits, and combs 

 transferred to supers which are thoroughly 

 scraped out inside. Having special marks 

 on top-bars of grades simplifies the sorting 

 greatly. Grading is done more or less rigid- 

 ly according to the supjjly of combs of the 

 most desired grades. 



Only Best Combs In Brood-Chamber. 

 For brood-chambers we must have No. 1 

 combs. In 10 combs grading high as to 

 drone,-comb or open space one with more 

 drone-comb at the outside is allowable, altho 

 our deep space below bottom-bars provides 

 a safety valve for drone-rearing. Bees al- 

 ways prefer dark combs. I cannot recall an 

 exception to this rule. Place both light and 

 dark combs in a secoml brood-chamber, and 

 the queen will occupy the dark ones first. 

 In a super, honey will be stored in dark 

 combs first invariably. Put back light and 

 dark combs for cleaning up after the ex- 

 tractor, and the bees will collect the honey 

 from the light combs and store it in the 

 dark ones. Where no ilisease is present dark 

 combs which are not heavy with age are 

 considered more valuable than light ones 

 for all purjioses. We i)roduce fancy extract- 



