PRACTICAL BEEKEEPING 18 
used over and over again, the bees thus being permitted to spend 
all of their time and energy storing honey which is quite an item 
especially if the honey flow is a short one as is the case in Montana. 
The building up of colonies as outlined above applies equally for ex- 
tracted honey, yet usually honey colonies or those colonies espec- 
ially prepared for the harvest, are not permitted to swarm and are 
not driven or shaken. Provided with young and prolific queens 
these colonies are bred up to overflowing with brood and bees. To 
prevent swarming half depth stories or even full stories usually only 
with starters, but sometimes with full sheets of foundation on wire, 
if the combs are needed, are kept below the brood chambers. As 
fast-as the frames of these stories are filled with comb they are re- 
moved and empty ones put in their places, fitted with foundation of 
course. Above the brood chambers is placed a zinc honey board or 
queen excluder. This is simply a sheet of sinc perforated with sb- 
long holes large enough to permit of the free passage of the w wrker 
bees but not of the queen or the drones. These zinc sheets are 
usually bound with wood giving a bee space on one side and 
should be placed with this space up as there is normally a bee space 
above the combs. There are also slatted wood queen excluders 
which are made of alternate strips of wood and perforated zinc, thus 
doing away with the tendency of the full sheets of zinc to sag in the 
middle. This sagging in the case of the full sheets may be remedied 
by placing strips across the top bars of the lower story. The lower 
stories having been extracted and gotten filled with brood the top 
stories may then be put on and when partially filled a third story 
may be inserted between the lower and top stories. In the case of 
very strong colonies it may be advantageous and profitable to put 
on a fourth story. It is better to do so than to take the honey off 
before it is well ripened. Unripened honey may not only lose its 
aroma and flavor but may even sour. 
Extracted honey should always be allowed to stand in an open 
vessel for a day or two thus allowing the scum to rise which should 
be removed. It may then be drawn off into sixty pound tins or 
even barrels for shipping or storing purposes. Or if to be ‘mme- 
diately marketed smaller cans or jars or bottles may be filled and 
labelled. Honey should be graded. To facilitate this it is well to 
sort the honey when extracting it or to watch the flow from a given 
