unfertilized queen. When the bees decide no more swarms shall 
be sent out the surplus virgins are disposed of, and one is allowed 
to mate and carry on the work of that particular colony. If the 
beekeeper desires that none except the first or “prime” swarm shall 
issue he may go through the colony and destroy all queen cells 
except one. This plan has the disadvantage that it entails con- 
siderable labor, a cell may be overlooked, and it is impossible to tell 
whether or not the occupant of the cell which is left is normal. 
A better plan is to move the parent colony to a new stand at least 
ten feet away from any other colony, placing the swarm on the 
old stand. The parent hive may, after a week or two, be placed near 
the old stand if desired. This draws off the bees from the parent 
colony in such a measure that the surplus swarm cells will surely 
be destroyed by the bees and a normal one be left. 
COMB OR EXTRACTED HONEY PRODUCTION 
The conditions of honey flow will determine whether comb honey 
may profitably be produced. If the surplus honey flow comes from 
a source giving light-colored honey (buckwheat excepted) and the 
flow is very heavy, comb honey may be produced profitably. If on 
the other hand, the honey produced is dark in color and the flow 
is slow an attempt to produce comb honey will, except on rare 
occasions, result in unattractive combs. They will be unevenly filled, 
with different colored honeys, and an excessive amount of wax will 
be used in their construction. It is also possible there will be con- 
siderable discoloration due to the sections being in the hive a long 
time. All of these reduce the salability of comb honey. 
Comb Honey for Home Use 
If comb honey for home use only is desired it is more profitable to 
raise it in what are known as shallow extracting frames, excluding 
the queen from the supers with the queen excluder. With this style 
super something like fifty per cent more comb honey can be secured 
with less trouble with swarming. 
When the honey is to be used it is cut from the frames and the 
frames again fitted with a full sheet of foundation, or half an inch 
of comb may be left at the top of the frame to serve as a starter, 
thus slightly reducing the cost. The use of a full sheet of founda- 
tion will be the most profitable, as the bees will more quickly build 
and fill a comb from a full sheet of foundation than will be the case 
with a starter only. 
49 
