May, 1921 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



279 



one of the most important steps in the 

 preparation for a big crop the following 

 season, and is our invariable practice. It 

 pays well, as the bees breed more freely 

 when spring comes, the beekeeper does not 

 need to worry about any lack of stores, 

 and spring care is reduced to a minimum. 

 As soon after our last honey flow as possi- 

 ble, we reverse the position of the two 

 stories in which the bees are wintered, so 

 the bees and brood-nest are at the top. The 

 bees then carry up honey all thru the 

 fall, from the combs below, and store it in 

 the brood-nest. In spring, when one story 

 is fairly well filled with brood, the super is 

 put above, but should not be put above too 

 early where nights are cool. 



If we were again producing comb honey 

 by the carload, we would try to devise a 

 plain, simple super which could be cleaned 



ments of 20 years ago. Better apply a lit- 

 tle preparedness to the production of comb 

 honey, by devising simpler and better ap- 

 paratus and machinery to speed up the work 

 of producing, and preparing the crop of 

 comb honey for market. 



The producer of extracted honey who is 

 not located near a can factory had best 

 have tanks to hold a large part of his crop, 

 and, if a uniform product is desired, large 

 tanks are best. Our largest holds about 

 12,000 pounds, and we like it; but for a 

 smaller business, tanks holding about two 

 tons are very convenient, and be sure that 

 they have large honey-gates. 



Unless you have far more hives than you 

 need for full colonies, you had better pre- 

 pare a lot of five-frame standard nuclei; 

 then by establishing nuclei, you are always 

 ready to save any first-class queen-cells 



Painting supers. E. F. Atwater, Meridian, Idaho, preparing for a big honey crop. 



by passing it thru boiling lye water. The 

 lye, however, is fatal to paint; but would not 

 the lye act as a preservative of the wood, 

 even if the supers were not painted! I 

 know how weeks are sometimes spent in 

 cleaning comb-honey supers ready for re- 

 filling; while, if they can be boiled, this time 

 could be very greatly reduced. I tried boil- 

 ing the ordinary section-holders, but they 

 are easily loosened up, so they need re- 

 nailing. There have been marked improve- 

 ments in methods and apparatus utilized in 

 the production of extracted honey, but the 

 comb-honey producer has nothing of im- 

 portance better than the plans and imple- 



which you may find. If you do not at once 

 need the queens so mated, their colonies can 

 be allowed to build up fairly strong. If no 

 increase is desired, a frame of emerging 

 brood can be drawn from each, and added 

 to the producing colonies occasionally, as 

 long as the bees so added will be prdducers; 

 or, the older queens may be killed and the 

 entire nucleus colony set down in the mid- 

 dle of the colony where you have just 

 killed the queen, and the young queen, be- 

 ing at first among her own bees, will usu- 

 ally be accepted if this is done in a fairly 

 good honey flow. 



Meridian, Idaho. E. F. Atwater, 



