In large apiaries special boxes to receive cappings, capping melters to render the cappings directly into wax, and power-driven extractors are often used. These will be found listed in supply catalogues.
The extracted honey is then strained and run into vessels. It is advisable not to put it in bottles at once, but to let it settle in open vessels for a time, so that it can be skimmed. Most honeys will granulate and become quite hard if exposed to changes of temperature, and to liquefy granulated extracted honey it should be heated in a water bath. Never heat honey directly over a stove or flame, as the flavor is thereby injured. The honey should never be heated higher than 160° F. unless it is necessary to sterilize it because of contamination by disease.
Extracted honey is put up in bottles or small tin cans for the retail trade, and in 5-gallon square tin cans or barrels for the wholesale market. Great care must be exercised if barrels are used, as honey will absorb moisture from the wood, if any is present, and cause leakage. The tin package is much to be preferred in most cases. In bottling honey for retail trade, it will well repay the bee keeper or bottler to go to considerable expense and trouble to make an attractive package, as the increased price received will more than compensate for the increased labor and expense. Honey should be heated to 160° F. and kept there for a time before bottling, and the bottle should be filled as full as possible and sealed hermetically.
Granulated honey.—Some honeys, such as alfalfa, granulate quickly after being extracted. Such honeys are sometimes allowed to granulate in large cans and the semisolid mass is then cut into 1-pound bricks like a butter print and wrapped in paraffin paper. It may be put into paraffined receptacles before granulation, if desired. There is always a ready market for granulated honey, since many people prefer it to the liquid honey.
Comb honey is honey as stored in the comb by the bees, the size and shape being determined by the small wooden sections provided by the bee keeper. Instead of having comb in large frames in which to store surplus honey, the bees are compelled to build comb in the sections and to store honey there ([fig. 2]). A full section weighs about 1 pound; larger ones are rarely used. By the use of modern sections and foundation the comb honey now produced is a truly beautiful, very uniform product, so uniform in fact that it is often charged that it must be artificially manufactured. The purchaser of a section of comb honey may be absolutely certain, however, that he is obtaining a product of the bees, for never has anyone been able to imitate the bees' work successfully. To show their confidence in the purity of comb honey, the National Bee Keepers' Association offers $1,000 for a single pound of artificial comb filled with an artificially prepared sirup, which is at all difficult of detection.
There are several different styles of sections now in use, the usual sizes being 4¼ inches square and 4 by 5 inches. There are also two methods of spacing, so that there will be room for the passage of bees from the brood chamber into the sections and from one super of sections to another. This is done either by cutting "bee ways" in the sections and using plain flat separators or by using "no bee-way" or plain sections and using "fences"—separators with cleats fastened on each side, to provide the bee space. To describe all the different "supers" or bodies for holding sections would be impossible in a bulletin of this size, and the reader must be referred to catalogues of dealers in beekeeping supplies. Instead of using regular comb honey supers, some bee keepers use wide frames to hold two tiers of sections. It is better, however, to have the supers smaller, so that the bees may be crowded more to produce full sections. To overcome this difficulty, shallow wide frames holding one tier of sections may be used. The majority of bee keepers find it advisable to use special comb honey supers.
Fig. 23.—Perforated zinc queen excluder.