COMB HONEY — SECURING FULL SECTIONS. 



83 



Fia. 59. 



Langstroth hive vrith combined surplus case and 

 shipping crate. (Original.) 



The sui)ers should be removed as fast as fairly filled. Tlie bees are 



slow in seahiig over the outside se(;tions; tlierefore it is better not to 



lose time waitiug for these to be be completely capped, but re])lace the 



whole with a new set. Some i)refer to lift up the super when about 



three-fourths completed and place the empty one below — that is, between 



it and the brood chamber. 



The objection to this jdan is 



that by the time the sections 



] "laced above have been fully 



completed they will have 



more or less propolis daubed 



on them and the combs will 



be considerably soiled by the 



bees running over them. A 



better plan to secure the 



completion of the outside 



sections is, after removing a 



number of supers, to select 



enough incomplete sections 



to till one super, which is 



then placed on a strong colony for comi)letion, or the partly filled sec- 

 tions may be used in the middle of new supers as bait sections to induce 



the bees to cluster and begin work in them at once. 

 Notwithstanding such precautions for the i^revention of swarming as 



shading the hives, ventilation, having only young queens, and the 



removal of the outside combs, 

 substituting for them frames of 

 foundations or starters near the 

 center of the brood nest, swarms 

 will sometimes issue, especially 

 from hives devoted to comb- 

 honey production. The best 

 plan in this case is to hive the 

 swarm in a clean new hive 

 whose frames have been filled 

 with starters and place this on 

 the stand of the parent colony, 

 moving the latter to a new 

 position (] or more feet away. 

 The swarm in its new quarters 

 will then be joined by the rest 

 of the field workers from the parent hive, and the wliole force, reunited 

 and having for some days no brood to care for, will constitute a strong 

 colony for storing honey. The super of partly finished sections should 

 be lifted, bees and all, from the parent hive and placed on the brood 

 chamber of the new colony. 



Fig. 60. —Honey shipping-cases. (From (rleauiugs.) 



