If the honey flow is heavy and promises to continue, it is desirable to furnish not only sufficient room but to induce the bees to begin work in as many sections as possible, giving large comb surface for the storage and evaporation of the thin nectar, thus in a measure approximating extracted honey conditions.
There is a danger, however, that if the bees are induced to extend their work through too many supers, the sections when completed will be less well filled and therefore lighter in weight. Also, if the honey flow should not continue as expected a rapid expansion of the surplus apartment results in a large number of unfinished sections.
The rapidity of the expansion of work in the supers may to some extent be regulated by the position of each newly added super. If a rapid expansion is desirable, the empty super is placed below the supers already on the hive, while if it seems best to crowd the bees somewhat the empty super is placed above those already on the hive. When the empty super is placed above the partly finished ones, the bees do not begin work therein unless they need the room. This practice is always desirable during a slow honey flow or toward the close of any honey flow, but when nectar is coming in rapidly does not result in a rapid expansion of comb building sufficient to avoid a more or less crowded condition, which in turn causes a loss of honey and increases the probability of swarming. If each super is supplied with one or two extracting combs ([p. 16]), this disadvantage of the practice of placing the empty super on top largely disappears, since the extracting combs are immediately available for the storage of nectar.
Fig. 19.—Arrangement of supers. (Original.)
When the empty supers are placed under the partly filled ones, work in them is commenced promptly, but this may be at the expense of the nearly completed sections, which by this plan are moved farther from the brood chamber as each empty super is added. In the case of the super in which the honey is being sealed this distance is an advantage in so far as the whiteness of the cappings is concerned, but it may retard the completion of the work. An arrangement of the supers that to some extent avoids this difficulty is as follows: Except toward the close of the season, place each newly added super next to the brood chamber and keep the one nearest completion just above it with all others arranged above these two, the one in which least progress has been made being on top ([fig. 19]). Thus super No. 1 is raised up and No. 2 placed beneath it. When No. 3 is given, it is placed next to the brood chamber, while above it is No. 1 with No. 2 on top. If No. 4 is given, it is placed next to the brood chamber with Nos. 1, 2, and 3 in order above it. By this arrangement, if conditions justify doing so, strong colonies may be induced to expand their surplus apartment with great rapidity, since as soon as the foundation is well drawn in each newly added super it may be transposed to the top and an empty one put in its place. Such rapid expansion of work in the supers should not be attempted, however, except during a heavy honey flow.
If early in the honey flow the bees are storing rapidly, strong colonies should be given a second super as soon as work has been fairly begun in the first. Colonies of medium strength may of course be allowed to do considerable work in the first super before the second is given, while a weak colony may have sufficient room for comb building until the first super is almost completed. The first super should contain some empty comb when given to the colony, and each succeeding super should be given in advance of the time when the bees would be in any way crowded without it. At no time should all the sections be removed and new supers containing only foundation be given, but the surplus apartment should contain sections in all the various stages of development. In this way there is no break in the work in the supers, and the critical periods, so far as the super room bears upon the problems of swarming and energetic work, are largely eliminated.
During the latter part of the honey flow the reasons for further expansion of the surplus apartment in excess of the immediate needs of the colonies ([p. 41]) no longer exist. At the beginning of a good honey flow the maximum of new work consistent with well-filled sections is desirable, while toward the close of the flow the beekeeper desires the minimum of new work consistent with sufficient room. The precise period when further expansion of the surplus apartment is no longer desirable and a concentration of the work already begun should take place is sometimes difficult to determine, and to do so requires a thorough knowledge of the locality and good judgment on the part of the beekeeper.
It is usually desirable to remove the honey as soon after it is finished as can well be done. If it is left on the hives too long after it is finished, it is likely to become discolored or "travel stained," while if it is taken off too soon some of the sections are not completed. It is desirable that the honey be removed by entire supers instead of by individual sections, therefore conditions should be made as favorable as possible for the completion of all the sections in a super without the more advanced ones becoming "travel stained." The bees are more inclined to stain the white surface of the combs toward the close of the honey flow or during very slow flows. Trouble from this source is at such time intensified because of the uneven progress of work in the different sections, the more advanced sections therefore being sealed some time before the super is sufficiently advanced to justify its removal. Another form of discoloration is brought about by the honey being sealed in close proximity to old and dark brood combs, in which case some of the darker wax from the old combs is sometimes apparently used for capping the honey.