WARM days, cool nights, plenty of moisture, an abundance of blooming flowers, a colony of bees humming with life, activity, and strength-there is your honeyflow! It is time to get those surplus supers on and filled with honey.

Every beginner in beekeeping is confronted with the problem of what kind of honey to produce-section comb honey, bulk comb honey, or extracted (liquid) honey. (No matter what kind is produced the beginner should have at least two supers per colony available for the bees to store honey in. ) Each of the three kinds of honey have their followers who are able to give lengthy discussions as to why the kind they produce is the best. We will attempt to give you a brief and unbiased summary of the three types of honey production.

Management For Comb Honey

Comb honey is a natural and a fancy food product. It may safely be said that few things are more beautiful than a snow-white section of comb honey. It has a delicate aroma all its own-the perfume and nectar of the flowers sealed in individual cells.

Only strong colonies should be used for comb honey production. The weaker colonies will not do a good job of drawing the foundation and collecting nectar.

The early spring management used to produce comb honey is no different than that for the production of any other kind of honey. The difference in management comes during the honeyflow. In addition to the difference in honeyflow management, it takes more time and skill in the preparation of equipment for section comb honey. One should provide well in advance enough supers with sections to take care of the largest expected crop of honey. The exact number cannot be determined, but any excess supers may be set aside, protected from heat and dust, and used during the next season's honeyflow.

One of the prime considerations in producing comb honey is the type of foundation to use in the sections. Only the clearest, lightest colored, and thinnest grade of foundation should be used. This grade of foundation is known as thin super or thin surplus.

Notice how the picture may be seen through the thin surplus foundation.

The foundation is placed in a foundation cutting box and cut into the proper lengths with a knife.

After cutting, the foundation is fastened in the sections with an aluminum hot plate.

If you have previously placed a super on top of the strong colonies to give them room and to act as a safety valve against swarming, you must now remove that super from the colony to be managed for comb honey. When the first comb honey super is given the bees it should be placed directly over the hive body and the inner cover placed on top of the super. The super which you originally placed on the colony is examined and, if brood is present, the super is placed on top of the inner cover and left there until the brood has emerged. If there is no brood present in the super, the bees may be shaken out and the super stored in a safe place.

When the sealed sections of honey are removed from the super, the wooden sections should be scraped with a knife to remove the beeswax and propolis.

If comb honey is to be packed for sale, it should be wrapped in an attractive cellophane wrapper. This makes a beautiful and easily marketable product.

When the first comb honey super is about one-half full a new super should be placed on top of it. On your next examination of the colony, the second super should be placed down next to the brood nest and the first super raised to the top of the hive. Before giving a third super the first super should be nearly full and the second super at least one-half full. The third super is then added to the top of the colony and, after the bees has started to work in it, is placed next to the brood nest. Each additional super is manipulated in the same manner. Supers are removed from the hive as soon as the cells have been sealed with a wax cap.

Management For Bulk Comb Honey

Since the beginner usually has only one or two colonies of bees, it is recommended that bulk comb honey be produced. Production of bulk comb honey does not require the high degree of professional "know-how" that is needed to produce section comb honey, nor does it require the additional equipment needed to produce extracted honey. Later, if the beginner wants to expand and go into extracted honey production, the bulk comb honey supers may easily be converted to extracted honey supers.

Bulk comb honey usually is produced in shallow supers similar to those used in producing extracted honey. The frames are filled with a high quality of thin surplus or bulk comb foundation, that is made especially for that purpose. The resulting combs of honey are as delicate as that of section honey. The only difference between bulk comb honey and section comb honey is the size of the combs-the slabs of bulk comb honey weighing from 3 1/2 to 4 pounds, while the sections of comb honey weigh from 13 to 16 ounces.

Diagram showing the method of Supering. The supers are numbered in the order in which they are given.

The first bulk comb honey super should be put on as soon as the main honeyflow has started. The second super is placed on top when the first one is about half filled with honey. When the bees begin to draw the foundation in the second super it should be placed down next to the brood nest and a third super added on top. Additional supers are added and manipulated in the same manner. This method of super manipulation keeps the bees spread throughout the supers. They have work ahead of them all the time and there is little tendency on their part to clog the brood nest with honey. Toward the close of the flow care should be taken not to put on too many supers. This will force the bees to fill and finish the ones that they have so that there will be a minimum of partially filled and sealed combs of honey.

Sometimes the bees will fill with honey and seal the combs in the center of the super and leave the outside combs untouched. When this happens you should reverse their position by moving the outside frames to the center of the super and the center frames to the sides of the super. This will force the bees to draw out and fill all of the combs.

The supers of bulk comb honey are removed as soon as the combs are fully capped. If they are left on too long they will become soiled and travel-stained by the numerous bees that must pass over them.

Honey in combs kept for any length of time without the protection of the bees may be attacked by wax moth. Such supers of honey should be tightly closed on removal and preferably fumigated to protect against wax moth (See Chapter 14).

If the producer is to use the honey produced for his own consumption it may be kept in the large frames and cut out whenever more is needed for the table. If the honey is to be sold there are various ways of preparing bulk comb honey for the market.