566 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Utilizing Brood-Combs when 

 Producing Comb Honey. 



Query 842.— What is the best plan to make 

 use of a lot of nice brood-combs, should I wish 

 to work my bees for comb honey, allowing 

 each colony to swarm once ? — Iowa. 



Hive the swarm on them. — M. Mahin. 



Hive the swarm on them. — C. C. 

 Miller. 



Use them to hive your swarms on. — 

 Mrs. J. N. Heater. 



Use the brood-combs to hive the 

 swarm upon. — Dadant & Son. 



Fill the lower hive of the new swarm 

 with combs. — Mrs. L. Harrison. 



I should hive the swarms on those 

 combs, if they were mine. — G. M. Doo- 



LITTLE. 



I use them to hive my swarms on. In 

 this way they are very profitable in my 

 apiary. — G. W. Demaree. 



Give the combs to the new swarms, 

 and put the supers on at once, when the 

 bees are hived. — E. France. 



I should use them to build up weak 

 colonies in the spring, and to give to 

 early swarms. — J. P. H. Brown. 



Use them for the swarms, but restrict 

 each swarm to combs equal to five 

 Langstroth frames. — R. L. Taylor. 



I cannot say what the best plan would 

 be for you to follow, but you can use 

 them in many ways, with the best of 

 success. — H. D. Cutting. 



I don't think I quite get the point. If 

 I had a " nice lot of brood-combs " I 

 should use them in preference to founda- 

 tion or empty frames. — J. E. Pond. 



Use them for the new swarms, and 

 add sections so as to prevent further 

 swarming. Kill old queens if necessary 

 to do this. It is a nice work, — A. J. 

 Cook. 



Hive the swarms on the old combs, at 

 the same time setting over the surplus 

 at the time on the old colony, and if 

 receptacles are pretty full, put on more 

 surplus room at the time. I have prac- 

 ticed this for 20 years. — James Heddon. 



If I used a large brood-chamber I 

 would melt up such combs if I did not 

 want to use them for extracting pur- 

 poses. With a small, shallow brood- 

 chamber— such as I use — nice, empty 

 brood-combs are very valuable in hiving 

 swarms, where a queen-excluder is used, 

 in producing comb honey. — G.L.Tinker. 



Hive your swarms in a contracted 

 brood-chamber, filled with frames of 

 foundation. As soon as the early honey- 

 flow is over, use empty combs to enlarge 

 the brood-chamber to its normal size. 

 If there is a fall yield of honey, manage 

 so as to have these combs full of hatch- 

 ing brood by the time it begins. — James 

 A. Green. 



When the swarm issues, use a frame 

 or two when hiving — just enough to in- 

 duce the queen to occupy them — filling 

 the hive with frames filled with founda- 

 tion (or only starters, as thought best). 

 Put on supers at once. I have grave 

 doubts of the economy of using a hive 

 full of finished combs for a swarm. — 

 Eugene Secor. 



The best use to make of brood-combs 

 for producing comb honey varies ac- 

 cording to the season. In a good honey 

 year I would not use more than two or 

 three combs to each hive to put swarms 

 on. The other frames should be full 

 sheets of foundation. In poor seasons, 

 or late swarms, use full hives of comb. 



— C. H. DlBBERN. 



The best plan, in my estimation, would 

 be to give the new swarms the nice 

 brood-combs. Some say, hive your 

 swarms on empty frames or foundation 

 starters ; but I should like to run a race 

 on who would get the most honey — the 

 one with empty frames or foundation 

 starters, and myself with all the nice 

 brood-combs I wanted. — Mrs. Jennie 

 Atchley. 



Do you refer to winter or season care? 

 Of course in storing away for winter, 

 they should be carefully gone over, and 

 all moth-worms or webs brushed out, 

 and then stored in a warm, moth-proof 

 room or receptacle. If you have refer- 

 ence to season work, any outline of plan 

 would necessitate an article upon the 

 subject. Procure a good bee-book, and 

 read up on the subject. — W. M. Barnum- 



