1903 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURK 



841 



FEEDING BACK EXTRACTED HONEY. 



Explicit Directions on How to Get Well-filled Combs; 



" Shook " Swarms a Failure ; Drone Comb 



from Worker Foundation ; a 



Valuable Article. 



BY M. W. SHEPARD. 



The question of feeding- back extracted 

 honey for the production of comb honey does 

 not appear to settle any more than several 

 other questions of more or less importance 

 to the bee-keeping- fraternity do. Opin- 

 ions and theories dift'er in regard to the 

 matter, and many of the shining- lights of 

 beedom saj' it can't be done. After an ex- 

 perience covering several seasons, and hav- 

 ing m\' efforts crowned with success, it may 

 not be out of place for me to say it cuti be 

 done, and done easil}', and at a good profit, 

 and especi^ill}' feeding- back to finish unfin- 

 ished sections. We usually have several 

 thousand such sections at the end of our 

 main honey-flow, and in this climate it is 

 well nigh impossible to keep combs of any 

 kind ofl" the hives on account of worms; so 

 it is policy as well as profit that led us to 

 tr}' the feeding--back plan. 



We first assort our unfinished sections, 

 get our supers read}', and then begin by 

 filling our supers, putting the fullest ones 

 in the corners and outside rows; but be sure 

 to uncap all sealed cells. If yoii don't, the 

 bees won't, but will build new comb on top 

 of the sealed cells, making what we call 

 double-deck combs. After you fill your su- 

 pers, put not less than two on any good 

 strong colony whose brood chamber is well 

 filled with sealed brood and honey. For 

 feeders we use a box made out of thin lum- 

 ber, and which will hold one gallon or a 

 little more. Set this box on fop of the su- 

 pers; fill it with thick honey; throw a 

 handful of coarse excelsior on top of the 

 honey; then cover the whole up bee-tight. 



You will find that the bees will store 

 about all of the first feederful below, not 

 making much of a show in the sections; 

 but be sure to keep honej' in the feeders 

 da}' and night until the sections are nearly 

 as full as they should be; then taper off 

 rapidl}' with the feed, and the bees will 

 seal the combs, and you will find them as 

 smooth and perfect as if built under normal 

 conditions. Take these supers off and re- 

 place with empty ones, and you will get 

 them filled; but I advise you not to use the 

 same colon}* for more than two lots; for on 

 the third lot they seem to think they have 

 done enough, and will not take the honey. 



Now, this is all about finishing unfinish- 

 ed sections; but the same plan holds good 

 if you use sections filled with foundation 

 instead of partly finished sections. I do 

 not claim the foregoing plan is a universal 

 one that will work anywhere and under all 

 conditions, whether the conditions are 

 known or not; but I say it works with us 

 on a large scale, and we are satisfied. 



Now, does it pay to feed, for the purpose 



of filling- out unfinished sections? Yes, it 

 pays us to do so. Will it pay to feed back 

 for the purpose of producing- comb honey 

 from full sheets of foundation in the sec- 

 tions? Yes, if extracted honey is not worth 

 more than 5 cts. per lb., and comb honey is 

 worth not less than 12 cts. We wish to 

 say, first, know what you are going to try 

 to do, then go ahead. If you don't want a 

 puttering job, don't try feeding back, and 

 don't try to be a lightning operator at the 

 job, or possibly the lightning may strike 

 you. 



Shook swarms seem to be a fad. We 

 tried 20. We shook five on narrow start- 

 ers. Results, they deserted the hives, went 

 into others, and raised a pretty " ruction " 

 by so doing. We put the other 15 on foun- 

 dation and on drawn combs. Results, no 

 g-ood on foundation, and not much better on 

 combs. Conclusions arrived at: It doesn't 

 pay to shake swarms with our conditions 

 to contend with; so we will be willing- to 

 let it work where it ivill, and not try it any 

 more until we know more about it. 



W. K. Morrison has an idea that success 

 in raising comb honey consists in not hav- 

 ing drone comb in the brood-nest. The 

 question comes up to mind, and we ask, 

 " How are you going- to help having drone 

 comb in the brood-nest? " Now, please 

 don't say, "Use full sheets of foundation 

 in the brood-nest." We know just what we 

 are talking about when we say that we can 

 show fine-looking combs, hundreds of them, 

 made on full sheets of worker foundation 

 purchased from the Root Co., and called 

 " medium brood," and yet I defy a person 

 to find a worker-cell. Now, then, what are 

 we to do? Throw those combs away? 

 Can't afford to do so. Well, then, use them 

 in extracting-supers; and we arise to ask 

 how long it would be before they would be 

 down in the brood-nest. If a person had 

 only 75 or 100 colonies (or less) it might be 

 done; but when you count your colonies by 

 the hundreds or thousands, and have half 

 a dozen men working, it doesn't pay to talk 

 about such things. 



Is the old question of spacing coming to 

 the front again? Well, if it does we will 

 say that, for the production of comb honey, 

 space '+ inch, just as J. E. Pond advocated 

 years ago. If you work for extracted hon- 

 ey, space y% inch in the brood-nest, and Yz 

 inch in the supers. 



Hollisteir, Fla., Aug. 24. 



[You make one point regarding feeding 

 back; and that is, uncapping all sealed cells. 

 If this has ever been emphasized before, I 

 do not remember it. 



I understand you to say that you have 

 some frames of all drone comb made off 

 from worker foundation. I have been well 

 aware that there will be occasionally here 

 and there a drone-cell, but I do not remem- 

 ber to have seen an instance before where 

 bees made all drone comb from worker 

 foundation. Let us hear from others. You 

 have given us some good pointers. — Ed.] 



