Comb Honey. 19 



there are no queens confined in one hive body. Sometimes a queen may be 

 in the upper body and never seems to find, the lower one at all. All I do is to 

 reverse the bodies, putting her below, and she is sure to go up. I usually see 

 that the queen is in the top body in the spring, as it is warmer, hence this 

 last manipulation. The bees are not disturbed till nectar begins to come in 

 rather freely from white clover, and if that misses out, till sweet clover. When 

 nectar is coming in and the best colonies have the combs well covered with 

 bees, I put the queen below with three or four frames of brood, put the ex- 

 cluder on, and the rest of the brood on top. At this point I am differing from 

 many others, I know, as we heard here last year. It has been advised to put 

 the queen below with only one frame of brood. I believe that to be more or 

 less of a backset to the bees. There are not enough bees. on one frame to 

 keep many bees downstairs where the queen is, and I am sure the queen 

 curtails her laying till more are hatched and there are more young bees in the 

 lower body. I have tried the one-comb method, with the result of losing part 

 of the queens. I usually put below at least two frames of sealed brood and 

 one frame of open brood. The bees are then left alone until they are working 

 well in the supers. To get comb honey there must be a flow of at least three 

 pounds per day — the more the better, but I have had a good crop with a 

 flow that barely exceeded three pounds per day through the whole flow. 

 When bees are going good in the supers I put on comb-honey supers. 

 Previous to this time, at the time I put on excluders, I mark the colonies 

 in this way: the best colonies, those with the more prolific queens and the 

 most bees, I marked No. 1 ; the next best I marked No. 2. When I am ready 

 for supers I know just where to put them. I go to the No. 1 colonies and 

 take off the top body. I take what brood there is there and put it below till 

 the lower body is full of brood of some kind. If there is not enough I go 

 to one of the colonies not marked at all and get some, but seldom have to 

 do that. I usually leave one empty or partly empty comb for the queen to 

 lay in immediately. Then I put on supers, usually two. If the flow does not 

 look good and it seems to me as if it would not last long, I put on just one. 

 Even if the flow is short and not very strong I can get one super filled. As 

 a rule there are two, and in the bottom super there are either two side 

 combs drawn out— I mean extracting combs— or there are one or more drawn 

 combs in the sections. If that condition prevails the bees will occupy the 

 sections almost at once, and in a short time the super is filled. Before the 

 super is filled I transpose the two and put the lower one on top., If the bees 

 are producing heavily I put another on at that time on tojp. The next visit 

 I will shift the lower one on' top if it is finished, as it usually is, and keep 

 supering as the bees need it till the flow stops. Sometimes I will find bees 

 working in one side of the super. That super is turied around so the side 

 worked on is opposite from where it was, which induces them to begin the 

 other side. The bees must be watched as closely as possible during the flow. 

 I make the different yards about once a week. The hive bodies I take off 

 the comb-honey colonies are given to the bees I did not mark at all; and 

 as there is usually a little brood in them,. I frequently put it right down in 

 with their own -brood if the colony looks as if it needed help. If honey is 

 coming in strong and the No. 2 colonies possibly need room, I have extra 

 supers for them right in the yard. One must use judgment in supering, as 



