4 SPECIAL BULLETIN NO. 38 



Management of Bees for Comb Honey 



Miller plan. — Look through your colonies every ten days and cut out every 

 queen cell. Add comb honey supers as soon as the harvest opens. 



Natural swarm plan. — Put comb honey supers on all strong colonies at 

 the beginning of the honey flow. In due time most of these colonies will cast 

 a swarm. Hive the swarm on foundation or starters (or drawn comb if you 

 have nothing else). Place in the center of V. hive one frame of unsealed brood 

 to prevent the swarm from deserting the ITive. Place the swarm on the old 

 location and give it all the comb honey supers from the parent colony. Put 

 the parent colony next to the swarm but facing away at right angles. The 

 sixth day after move the parent colony to the other side of the swarm in the 

 same relative position. After another six days move the parent colony at noon 

 to a new location at least ten feet away. 



Modified Doolittle plan. — Give strong colonies room for work by adding 

 an extracting super as soon as needed. Let them store honey in the extracting 

 super well into the honey flow until the super is three fourths full. Then on some 

 clear day when the bees are at work move your two-story colony a little to one 

 side. In the vacated place put a bottom board, and on it put the extracting 

 super from the removed colony. In the center of this extracting super, place a 

 frame with some unsealed brood and the queen, after removing the lightest honey 

 comb to make room for it. This is going to be the new brood chamber. Place 

 now on top of it two comb honey supers. Shake from the combs of the re- 

 moved brood chamber all bees in front of the prepared hive, also all bees that 

 still cling to the box. The queenless and beeless brood is stacked up on top 

 of one of the weak colonies. Proceed in the same manner throughout the strong 

 colonies, giving from three to five supers of beeless brood to weak colonies. 



PRODUCTION OF EXTRACTED HONEY 



At the beginning of the honey flow, which is also the beginning of the 

 swarming season, when your colony of bees has grown strong enough to fill 

 all spaces between the combs, place on top of the hive a queen excluder and 

 add one extracting super filled with frames of drawn comb or full sheets of 

 foundation. Lift into this super from the brood chamber below all combs 

 containing honey but no brood. Such frames are found next to the walls of the 

 hive. Into these empty places next to the wall move frames of young brood, 

 and replace vacancies by drawn combs or full sheets of foundation. If an 

 occasional swarm issues, hive them as described above in the "Natural Swarm 

 Plan," substituting "extracting" supers for "comb honey" supers. 



When the first extracting super is three quarters full, insert another super 

 iiext to brood chamber. Add a third super on top if necessary later in the season. 



Extracted honey should not be removed from the bees until nearly all cells 

 are capped over and the honey has acquired the proper body. It is best to 

 leave it with the bees for at least two weeks after the honey flow. When ready 

 to remove it, do it by means of the Porter Bee Escape. On account of robber 

 bees it is safest to remove the honey in the evening or at some time when bees 

 do not fly.- The honey should be extracted immediately while it is still warm. 

 The bee house where extracting is done must be closed and bee tight, else 

 robbing may cause seriovis trouble. Extracted combs should be stored in a 

 well closed place and fumigated against the moths once every ten days until 

 freezing weather sets in. It does the combs good to freeze in winter, as cold 

 will destroy the larva of the bee moth. 



