Comb Honey

by Geo. S. Demuth

Fig. 16.—Hive with brood turned back to 45 degrees from old entrance. (Original.)

Fig. 17.—Hive with brood turned parallel to old entrance. (Original.)

The further disposition of the remnant of the brood and young bees may be by any one of the following methods: (1) One week after the swarm issues, or just before the parent colony would cast a second or "after-swarm," it may, when the bees are well at work in the fields, be removed and given a new location. This throws the entire flying force into the colony having the supers, where they are of greatest service, and so depletes the other colony of its flying bees just when the young queens are emerging that "after-swarming" is usually prevented. (2) Before moving it, away the parent colony may be more thoroughly depleted of its young bees by shaking most of them from their combs, adding them of course to the colony with the supers. The comb containing the finest queen cells should not be shaken, since to do so will probably injure the immature queens. Two or three frames should be left with their adhering bees in order that the parent colony will still contain enough workers to care for the remaining unemerged brood. (3) Instead of moving the parent colony away as in (1) above, the bees may all be added to the swarm by shaking them from their combs, and the combs then distributed among nuclei previously prepared. By successive additions of frames of brood these nuclei are finally built up into full colonies and "after-swarming" is prevented. (4) Instead of giving the parent colony a new location, as in (1) above, it may be shifted to the opposite side of the swarm on the old stand ([fig. 18]) and by thus shifting it from one side to the other at intervals of several days the young bees as they hatch and learn to fly will finally all be added to the colony with the supers. Few beekeepers, however, go to this extreme, as the season usually closes before the latest emerging young bees are thus transferred to the colony with the supers and these later-emerging bees may be used for increase at little if any expense in surplus honey. (5) If increase is not desired, the bees may be added to the swarm on the old stand as before, and after 10 or 15 days the combs of the parent colony still containing some unhatched brood may be used on which to hive another swarm. Before being used for this purpose the bees are of course shaken from these combs and added as before to the swarm on the old stand. (6) If the honey flow is of long duration or conditions otherwise such that the storing colony may prepare to swarm again, the brood chamber of the parent colony may be left by the side of the swarm ([fig. 18]) until the young queen begins to lay, then restored to its original position on the old stand and the supers transferred to it. The brood chamber containing the old queen is moved to one side, its flying bees thus induced to enter the hive containing the young queen. The two colonies may afterwards be united or the one containing the old queen may finally be moved to a new location for increase. If, when using this plan, a virgin queen or a ripe queen cell is given the parent colony just after the swarm issues, this colony is ready to be restored to its original position on the old stand about a week earlier than if left to requeen itself.

Fig. 18.—Hive with brood placed on other side of old entrance. (Original.)

In case the emerging bees are not to be added to the storing colony the brood and young bees may be used in one of the following ways:

(1) They may be used immediately after the swarm issues to build up such colonies as are not strong enough to work in the supers or to build up previously prepared nuclei, as in (3) above. Before being used in these ways the adhering bees are usually added to the swarm.

(2) The parent colony may be placed at once on a new stand and given a laying or virgin queen. To allow such a colony to requeen itself usually results in its casting an "after-swarm," since it becomes quite populous again before the young queens emerge. This plan does not make immediate use of the emerging bees but may be useful under some conditions. (3) If the honey flow is of long duration or is followed closely by a second, two parent colonies, as in (2) above, may be placed upon the same stand, one of which is given a queen but with the queen cells destroyed in the other. After two or three weeks the bees may be shaken from the queenless colony in with the queen-right one. Such colonies are in excellent condition for rapid work in the supers.

WHAT TO USE IN THE BROOD CHAMBER WHEN HIVING SWARMS.

(1) The use of narrow strips of foundation 1 inch or less in width in the brood chamber offers some advantages. (a) When the brood chamber contains only these narrow "starters" and supers of partly filled sections are transferred from the parent colony to the new swarm at the time of hiving, there being no cells below in which to store the honey, it is taken to the supers. Under these conditions work in the brood chamber goes on slowly, the work of the colony being largely in the supers. (b) Colonies that are thus required to construct a set of new combs in the brood chamber and that are supplied with sufficient storage room seldom attempt to swarm again during the same season, even though the flow be of long duration. (c) The treatment of brood diseases may be combined with swarm control. (See Farmers' Bulletin No. 442, p. 14.) The greatest objection to their use is in the excessive amount of drone comb usually built when anything less than full sheets of foundation are used, especially if the queen is old or the brood chamber large in proportion to the size of the swarm.