EXTRACTING.—Chapter XIII. 
the greatest care not to leave any opening 
into the supers above the escape-board large 
enough to admit a single bee. For, if he com- 
mits this carelessness, robber bees will find 
the opening, carry away all the honey and 
make trouble generally. But by the proper 
use of the bee-escape, the honey may be re- 
moved without the bees knowing anything 
about it—no hard work, no stings, no dan- 
ger of robbing; in fact, if the supers of 
honey are not removed from the hives until 
after the honey flow has ceased, a beginner 
should not ordinarily attempt to get the bees 
off the combs by any other plan: for, after 
a few days of idleness following a good hon- 
ey flow, the bees are prowling around, ap- 
parently just looking for trouble; and a 
Shaking bees off a comb. little exposed honey is like easy money, and 
the bees are quick to start robbing. During 
a dearth following a honey flow, therefore, a beginner cannot be too care- 
ful, for it is easier to prevent robbing than to stop it when once it gets 
started. 
Cold honey is much harder to uncap and extract than warm honey. 
For this reason some who extract honey directly from the apiary use a 
screened or ventilated pattern of escape-board instead of the ordinary one. 
This ventilated escape permits the warmth from the brood-chamber to rise 
and keep the supers warm even after the bees have left through the escape. 
Those who prefer to use the common escape-board often pile their supers 
of honey in a warm room in order that the honey may be extracted more 
easily. 
When the bees fail to leave the supers by way of the escape-board, as 
may happen when the escape becomes clogged by dead bees, when the 
queen may accidentally be shut above the excluder, or when the combs in 
the super contain some brood, it may be necessary to shake or brush the 
bees from the combs. In case there is a light honey flow and no danger 
of robbing at the time, this may be easily done. A little smoke should be 
blown in at the entrance of the hive, the cov- 
er taken off the super and several vigorous 
blasts of smoke blown down between the 
combs, thus driving the bees out of the way. 
The combs should be withdrawn from the 
super and given a sharp shake or two down- 
ward while held over the alighting-board of 
the hive. Not all of the bees can be dis- 
lodged by shaking, and, therefore, the few 
remaining should be brushed off, the comb 
being held as shown in the illustration, and 
the brush quickly and lightly swept over the . 
sides alternately. With the comb held in 
this position, it is not necessary to reverse it 
when brushing the other side. If the bee- Brushing bees off 2 comb. 
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