Comb Honey. 21 



is making the attempt to swarm, if the queen is clipped. They may be clus- 

 tered over the outside of the hive. They will not be in the supers when other 

 colonies are. The queen may be in the grass with a bunch of bees with her. 

 If the bees do not seem normal, are not working as they should, or as the 

 others are, a look in the brood chamber will reveal whether they want to 

 swarm or not. If the queens were not clipped they very likely would be 

 gone when I got there, or hanging on some of those big trees on the highest 

 limb they could find. Another good reason for clipping the queens is that I 

 can keep a line on the age of the queens and look the combs over for disease. 

 I do not requeen at any given time, as I have not seen fit to do that as yet; 

 but I know where the poor queens are, and then when I find those good, big 

 supersedure cells I know right where to put them. 



Another thing in favor of comb-honey production is the fact that bees will 

 not build in sections till the lower body is full of something, either honey 

 or brood, and they keep it full. When fall comes you are quite sure to be 

 well fixed with winter stores. It is very different in producing extracted 

 honey. By putting brood upstairs bees will work up there whether there is 

 anything below or not. ,1 have, and no doubt you have, found a full hive 

 body on top with nearly nothing below. I had that demonstrated to me this 

 last season to my satisfaction. I had a poor year — ^two days of twenty-degree 

 weather during fruit bloom — and those days were a week apart. .One day it 

 got down to fifteen degrees. Everything that ever produced a drop of nectar 

 was killed — even the dandelions, and that is going some. The bees were short 

 of stores on account of it. I, like most beekeepers, depended upon somewhat 

 of a spring flow. I do not any more, but I did. I had to feed until white 

 clover showed up. When it did show up it was a mighty poor showing. No- 

 body would sell a hoof of stock last winter or spring, and everybody had 

 more stock than feed._ As fast as a clover head would get in bloom it was 

 eaten off. I got nothing from it at all, but just enough to keep the bees 

 breeding till sweet clover came. I have no complaint to make on what the 

 sweet clover did. I had a good flow for about four weeks. I harvested 260 

 cases of comb honey from the hives at that time, and about 9,500 pounds of 

 extracted honey; and those colonies were in good shape. I sold the comb 

 honey. Then dry weather came. Heartsease bloomed, but the weather was 

 so dry that there was no nectar in any kind of bloom. It stayed dry till 

 frost. Of that 9,500 pounds of extracted honey I had to give back to the 

 bees 6,000 -pounds or go out of the bee business-. I did not need to feed the 

 comb-honey colonies more than 500 pounds altogether, all of which seems ito 

 me to be a m'ghty good argument in favor of comb honey. I found colony 

 after colony with not a pound of honey in the brood chamber and a full ten- 

 frame body above, in which case I simply took out the excluder. 



I would not advise anyone to attempt to produce comb honey if he will 

 not take the time to attend to the bees during the nectar flow. If they are 

 neglected and not properly supered one will not get the crop or there will 

 be an unnecessary amount of swarming. If one has but httle time I think 

 extracted honey would be the kind to produce. There is little if any trouble 

 about swarming, but if full-depth bodies are used for supers the supering is 

 but little trouble, if one has them to put on when needed. It is not best to 

 put on two or three and let them go. One might have to do that way and 



