SPRING MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 9 



nectar is coming in, and whether it is from one source or many. 

 It is especially important for the comb honey producer to 

 know when his best light honey is coming, because it does not 

 pay to have any but the best honey put into sections. After 

 the first super has been put on, a careful watch should be kept 

 of the activity of the colony so that the second may be given in 

 time. It is best to give the second super as soon as the bees 

 are working well in the first. It is a mistake to wait until 

 most of the sections in one super are capped before adding an- 

 other, because the bees will be ready for the second some time 

 before they have begun to cap the first. Nectar is from 50% to 

 80^ water and this must he reduced to about 20^ water before 

 it is capped. This reduction is mainly brought about through 

 evaporation, and evaporation can most rapidly be produced in 

 a shallow container. When bees have conditions in the hive to 

 suit them they will fill the cells only part full at first and add 

 more as this evaporates and so continue until the cells are full. 

 T^Tien a new super of foundation is given to them, they draw 

 out a lot of the sections part way and use them for evapora- 

 tion chambers while they are drawing ovit some more. If only 

 one super is given and the second is not added until that one is 

 partly capped, the bees will be in need of new evaporating 

 space long before they get it. 



It is usual in putting on new supers to add them next to 

 the brood nest so that they will be near where the young bees 

 are most plentiful, since these do most of the comb building. 

 In adding a third super it is the usual practice to put the sec- 

 ond on top, the first in the middle, and the third on the bottom, 

 next the brood nest. In this way the young bees are induced 

 to begin work on the new one and continue working on those 

 already started. This method holds good during the first half 

 of the honey flow, but as the flow begins to decline, the new 

 super should be placed on top of the others, because we do not 

 want the bees to start more than they can finish well, but we 

 do want them to have extra room if the honey flow lasts long- 

 er than we think it will. They will use this extra super if 

 they need it, but they will not enter it unless the flow keeps up 

 well after thev have filled the others. 



