OPENING THE HIVE
The modern art of bee-keeping was made possible by the invention of the hive with movable frames. Some of the many reasons for opening the hive are:
1. To take off honey.
2. To see if enough honey has been stored for winter.
3. To find the queen.
4. To introduce a new queen.
5. To examine the brood.
Before opening the hive know just what you are going to look for. Get the smoker well going; shavings, punk, excelsior, or chips crowded in make a good smudge; you want much smoke and little fire. Put on your bee veil. For a greeting, blow a little smoke in at the entrance of the hive you are going to open. Loosen the cover which you will find to be glued tight with propolis by the bees. A dull putty knife or screw-driver is a good tool for this job. As fast as you unseal the cracks, blow smoke into them. At this juncture it is well to close the hive for a few minutes to give the bees time to "think it over." The better the grade of bees the less smoke is required. Take your time. Keep your nerve steady and the smoker handy. Loosen the frames and take them out one by one. In order to see what is going on in the frames you must clear off the bees. Do this in such a way that you will not endanger the queen if she should be on the frame. Poke the bees off so that they fall bewildered back into the hive. Set the frame down against the outside of the hive and take out another.
There are cells of three sizes in the brood combs. Queen cells are large, standing out from the surface of the comb quite prominently. The drone and worker closely resemble one another, but the drone cells are the larger. Honey is stored in both drone and worker cells. If you wish to destroy the queen cells to prevent swarming you will find it a ticklish job, even with a sharp, slender knife, not to ruin a lot of comb.
Drone and queen trap at hive entrance
It is often important to locate the queen. If you wish to clip her wings, find her you must. She is usually near the middle of the hive, surrounded by her court, a rosette of workers. She is quite different in shape from the workers. It is well to study her picture before going to look for her. A queen's wings are not much to cut, but you will need a steady nerve if you do it free hand. Many devices are to be had to make the operation less difficult and to insure safety to the rest of the queen. The danger is all to her, for although she is armed she will not sting you. She reserves her sting for some rival in her own class.
Harvesting any crop has interesting features, but nothing has the peculiar charm of taking off honey. Loosen the cover, puff in a little smoke, lift the cover, then the whole super off. Put on a new super and replace the cover. Have your bee brush ready and as you lift the fitted sections out of the super, brush the bees that cling to them down to the entrance to the hive. This is the old way and is fraught with dangers. Moreover, the bees may regard one robbery as sufficient excuse for another. Robbery is a serious matter in the apiary. The modern way is to use the Porter bee-escape. This device obviates all the difficulties and once you have "got the hang of it," you will have no further trouble getting honey from your hives.