20 Wisconsin Bulletin 264 



lation of the brood combs, giving the queen more room in 

 which to lay eggs and proper addition of supers for honey 

 storage. 



Care, however, should be taken so as not to provide too 

 much room at one time, otherwise the bees will not fill the 

 sections properly. Partly filled and unfinished comb honey 

 sections are practically worthless. 



In most of Wisconsin, dandelion and fruit bloom give su- 

 fficient stimulation so that the bees are about ready to 

 swarm at the beginning of clover bloom in early June. At 

 that time, remove all queen cells and the two outside honey 

 laden combs in the brood chamber of the hive, also spread 

 out the other combs and insert two empty frames containing 

 full sheets of brood comb foundation. Then put on one 

 super of sections containing full sheets of foundation and 

 use separators or fences between the sections. When the 

 sections are two-thirds full of honey, raise the first super and 

 slip a second between it and the hive body. Continue this 

 process throughout the season and to prevent from being 

 travel stained remove filled supers as soon as the sections 

 are filled and capped. Manipulate the brood chamber part 

 of the hive as occasion demands. 



A beekkeeper can often be distinguished from an "owner 

 of bees" by properly marketing only the best grades of honey, 

 feeding back to his bees the unfinished sections. In produc- 

 ing extracted honey the "pressure" needed for comb honey 

 is unnecessary as the regular large sized combs are used in- 

 stead of sections. It being natural for bees to store honey 

 in as large combs as possible, they apparently lose less time 

 in storing honey in combs than in sections. Much time is 

 also saved to the bees because the large combs are emptied 

 of honey in the extractor and returned uninjured to be re- 

 filled, instead of being sold with the honey. Thus, two to 

 three times as much hquid honey may be secured as comb 

 honey. 



Managing Hives to Increase Honey Production 



When clover begins to bloom, the colonies should be re- 

 Ueved of "pressure" and if all started queen cells and three 

 or four combs from brood chamber are removed and replaced 



