July, 1922 



GLKANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



465 



much as possible toward the close of the 

 season to prevent too much unfinished work, 

 l)ut this is especially true for comb honey. 

 The first step in concentrating the super 

 work is to put the new super on top of the 

 partly filled ones, when giving additional 

 room. When this is done if more room is 

 needed, the bees will use it; but, if not 

 needed, the}- will neglect it, and the work 

 in the other supers will not be retarded as 

 would be the case if the empty super is 

 placed below. 



If extracted honey is being produced, a 

 few combs of sealed honey from the middle 

 of the super can be taken out and extracted, 

 then put back to be refilled by the bees, 

 instead of giving a whole super of empty 

 combs or frames of foundation. This can 

 also be done if there are no more supers at 

 hand. 



Comb-honey supers should be taken off 

 promptly as soon as most of the sections 

 are finished. It is not often advisable to 

 leave a comb-honey super on the hive until 

 every section has been sealed; for, before 

 those in the corners are completed, those in 

 tlie middle of the super may have their 

 dainty white cappings discolored. It would 

 be better, so far as the appearance of comb 

 honey is concerned, if each section could be 

 taken off the hive the day it is finished, but 

 this is not practicable. There is usually 

 not much trouble from discolored cappings 

 (luring the midst of a rapid honey flow; but, 

 toward its close or during a slow honey 

 flow, the bees are inclined to varnish the 

 cappings with propolis, thus spoiling their 

 appearance. 



Unfinished Sections Given Back to the Bees. 



When the nearly finished supers of comb 

 honey are taken off, the unfinished sections 

 should be sorted out to give back to the 

 bees to be finished. For instance, a colony 

 may have three or four comb-honey supers 

 well advanced and one in which work has 

 been recently begun. There may be enough 

 unfinished sections in the three or four ad- 

 vanced supers to fill one super, the rest of 

 the honey being finished. In such cases 

 the advanced supers should all be taken off, 

 the honey sorted and the unfinished sections 

 all assembled in one super. If the honey 

 flow is now actually near its close, this 

 super of nearly finished sections should be 

 put back directly on top of the brood-cham- 

 ber, and the other super in which work is 

 just well started should be placed on top. 

 This arrangement will cause the bees to 

 finish the honey promptly. They may even 

 remove some of the unsealed honey from the 

 upper super and carry it down into the lower 

 one. In this case it is not expected that tlie 

 upper one will be finished. It is to be taken 

 off and saved for next year. 



Usually there will not be enough nearly 

 finished sections on each hive to fill one 

 super; but, if there are several colonies, the 

 unfinished sections from all of them can be 

 assembled and given back to the colony or 



colonies doing the best work at finishing the 

 honey. Those wlio have but one colony can 

 assemble the sections which are nearest 

 complete in the middle of a super, placing 

 tliose in whicli less work has been done on 

 the outside. In this case it is not necessary 

 to have a second super on top, since there 

 is room for the bees to carry on comb-build- 

 ing in these sections at the sides of the 

 super. 



It is not possible to secure the completion 

 of all the sections on which work has been 

 started; but, by concentrating the unfin- 

 ished work in this manner, all those nearest 

 complete can usually be completed. 



As soon as the bees quit finishing the hon- 

 ey and if possible before they begin to dis- 

 color the cappings and the wood of the sec- 

 tions Avith propolis, all of the comb-honey 

 supers should be taken off whether finished 

 or not. Those sections that are still unfin- 

 ished can be put away to feed the bees later, 

 or some of them can be used at home. In 

 the local market some of the heaviest of the 

 unfinished sections can be sold as culls. 



Shaking bees from a comb. 



Comb-honey supers in which but little 

 work has been done, if taken off promptly 

 before tlie bees begin to gnaw down the 

 foundation or stain the wood of the sec- 

 tions, will be of great value in starting 

 work in the supers next year; but, if they 

 are left on the hives a few days too long, 

 they may be practically ruined so far as 

 producing fancy honey in them later is con- 

 cerned. It is better, therefore, to take off 

 all comb-honey supers a little before the 

 honey flow actually ceases than to leave 

 them on too long. 



