420 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



July, 1921. 



Let us suppose that as the close of the 

 season approaches a colony has five supers, 

 four of which are nearly filled, and work 

 has just been started in the fifth, there be- 

 ing enough unfinished sections scattered 

 thru the four supers to fill one super. If 

 these four supers are now taken off, the un- 

 finished sections sorted out and assembled 

 in one super which is put back on the hive, 

 the work of finishing these sections will be 

 carried on more rapidly, especially if the 

 super of nearly finished sections is placed 

 next to the brood-chamber, with the one in 

 which but little work has been done on top. 

 Of course these four supers would probably 

 not ail be ready to be taken off at once, but 

 by going over all the supers every four or 

 five days at this time, taking off and sort- 

 ing those neoTest completion, the supers can 

 soon be reduced to a single nearly finished 

 one for each colony, with an empty or nearly 

 empty one on top to act as a safety valve if 

 more room is needed. If there are not 

 enough supers in which but little work has 

 been done, to go around, an empty super 

 should be given, providing there is still 

 enough nectar coming in so that the bees 

 will draw out the foundation, for the nearly 

 finished super is usually finished more 

 promptly if the bees are permitted to build 

 comb in another super at the same time. 



If the beekeeper has guessed well, the 

 lower one of these two supers should be 

 nearly finished just before the honey flow 

 entirely ceases and the upper one should 

 have but little unsealed honey stored in it, 

 yet the foundation should be well drawn 

 out and some of the combs at least partly 

 built. This super, if taken off promptly and 

 the bees permitted to clean out the little 

 honey it contains, is just right for the first 

 super next year. It is not possible always 

 to guess so well as this, however, and while 

 some colonies may come out just right, oth- 

 ers will store considerable honey in the top 

 super, while still others will not complete 

 the lower one, so a further but final sorting 

 of sections becomes necessary. 



Selecting Colonies for Final Finishing. 



During the time this last super is being- 

 finished is a good time to watch for colo- 

 nies that are good finishers, as usually sev- 

 eral colonies will be found in an apiary of 

 sixty to eighty whicli do much better work 

 at finisliing than the others. These should be 

 marked to be used in the final work of fin- 

 ishing. 



The third step toward closing the season 

 is that of removing all of the supers, doing 

 this, if possible, before the honey flow en- 

 tirely ceases and before the bees begin to 

 varnish the cappings of the honey and the 

 section boxes with propolis. The sections 

 in the nearly finished supers should again 

 be sorted and the unfinished ones given 

 back to those colonies which were marked 

 as the best finishers. This time, in assem- 

 bling these unfinished sections in the supers, 

 those nearest completion should be placed 



in the middle, placing sections only partly 

 filled in the outside rows. These sections 

 for the outside rows may be taken from 

 those supers which were on top acting as 

 safety valves. As these supers are now ar- 

 ranged, the finishing is to be done in the 

 middle of the super where it will be done 

 more promptly, while the comb building, if 

 any, is done on the two outside rows. 

 Letting Bees Clean Out Unfinished Sections. 



The sujJers in which but little work has 

 been done can now be piled up crisscross 

 near the apiary and the bees invited to 

 help themselves, providing there are enough 

 such supers so that the bees will not crowd 

 each other so much that they will tear down 

 the comb. This, of course, should not be 

 done if the apiary is too close to a neigh- 

 boring residence, and should not be attempt- 

 ed by anyone but an experienced beekeeper. 

 The last supers which were given to the fin- 

 ishing colonies should not be left too long, 

 but should be removed as soon as most of 

 the sections are finished. Usually it does 

 not i^ay to return the unfinished sections 

 from this last lot of suj^ers for completion. 

 Some of these may be sold as culls, or cut 

 out and sold as chunk honey. Many comb- 

 honey producers extract the honey from 

 these unfinished sections and save the combs 

 for bait sections the next season. 

 Feeding Back Extracted Honey to Complete 

 Unfinished Sections, 



If the honey flow fails suddenly, afford- 

 ing no opportunity to return unfinished sec- 

 tions to the bees for completion, they may 

 be completed by feeding back extracted 

 honey. In this case, the unfinished sections 

 may be sorted into different grades and the 

 lightest ones extracted to secure the honey 

 to feed back in finishing the heaviest ones. 



Feeding back extracted honey to secure 

 the completion of unfinished sections was 

 formerly practiced to a considerable extent 

 by comb-honey jjroducers, but has been dis- 

 continued by most of them. Comb honey 

 finished by feeding back is usually inferior 

 in ai)pearance, tends to granulate early in 

 the winter, and much moi'O honey must be 

 fed than is finally stored in the sections, a 

 large amount being consumed by the bees 

 during tiie process. Successful feeding back 

 depends so much upon selecting colonies 

 that are in just the right condition for this 

 work and upon weather conditions at the 

 time the feeding is done, that few will care 

 to attempt it, preferring to sell the unfin- 

 ished honey as culls and extracting that 

 which cannot be sold in this way. 



The important thing in taking care of un- 

 finished sections to be used again the next 

 year is to take them off before the wood is 

 soiled with propolis and the foundation 

 gnawed at the edges and also varnished 

 o\'er with propolis. 



Taking Off Comb Honey. 



In taking off comb honey during a good 

 honey flow, bee-escapes are not neeiled. In 



