How To Produce Comb Honey

It is desirable to get the best quality of nectar made into comb honey and this flow generally comes in the spring or early summer from legumes and other sources but course, there are exceptions.

Comb honey in the shallow frames weighs 3 to 4 pounds.

Comb honey in the shallow (5 3/8") frames weighs 3 to 4 pounds.

The beekeeper in his first year will start out with one story colonies and desiring a crop of honey to help offset his expenses and to prove to his family, friends and to himself that there are some returns available on his investment, will want to confine the brood nest to one hive body and place a shallow extracting super directly over this after the brood nest has been filled with brood and honey.

Place the shallow super on the hive at first without any queen excluder so as to encourage the bees to start working on the foundation. If a honey flow is on the bees will have started working on several frames in 3 or 4 days. At this point examine the super frames to see if the queen is laying up there. If so, place her in the lower brood nest and insert the excluder between them, being sure that the side of the excluder with the deeper space is up. The bee space is always on the top side of factory equipment and the lower surfaces are more or less even.

The bees have drawn out the foundation and filled the combs with nectar which must be condensed by evaporation into honey before it is scaled over.

The bees have drawn out the foundation and filled the combs with nectar which must be condensed by evaporation into honey before it is scaled over.

When all of the frames in the super have been drawn out and about half filled with honey it is time to lift up this super and add another super of comb foundation next to the brood nest and to continue this process as long as the honey flow continues. It will not be necessary to place the new supers below the queen excluder because the bees are already working in the top super. They will continue to work there and will promptly start to work in the new super.

When the foundation in the center six frames in a super is about half drawn out and about half filled with honey move these over to the far sides of the hive and move the outside frames containing only foundation to the center of the super where the bees can more readily draw out the remaining foundation.

When the foundation in the center six frames in a super is about half drawn out and about half filled with honey move these over to the far sides of the hive and move the outside frames containing only foundation to the center of the super where the bees can more readily draw out the remaining foundation.

When the bees have started to work in the middle of 5 or 6 frames quite well and have partly filled them with honey it is advisable to take the fullest frames out and bring in the 2 frames of foundation from each side into the middle of the super and replace them with the partially filled frames. With this manipulation you will save your bees time and effort as it takes heat to draw out the foundation into comb and to process the honey. Bees can do a better and a quicker job in the middle of the hive than at the sides.

How To Produce Comb Honey 79In supering your hives lift up the partly filled supers and place the new super next to the brood nest to save the bees time and to induce them to start working in the empty super at once.

In supering your hives lift up the partly filled supers and place the new super next to the brood nest to save the bees time and to induce them to start working in the empty super at once.

How Many Supers Are Required

Beekeepers should keep in mind that nectar as it is gathered from the flowers by the bees is about as thin as water and that the bees require time and space to evaporate and condense this nectar into honey. When the foundation in all of the frames in a super is about half drawn out and filled with honey the super should be lifted up and a new super placed under it. This process is repeated as often as necessary. In this manner each empty super placed on the hive is kept next to the brood nest for the bees to draw out the foundation while they are evaporating and capping the honey in the supers above.

When a colony becomes crowded for room they build burr comb in any available space for additional storage room. When you find this condition it may or may not be too late to give them an additional super, depending on the honey flow.

When a colony becomes crowded for room they build burr comb in any available space for additional storage room. When you find this condition it may or may not be too late to give them an additional super, depending on the honey flow.

We often find beekeepers who insist on keeping their bees in a single brood nest and giving them a single shallow extracting super. Bees kept in this manner swarm badly and never have a chance to produce the maximum crop. When this one shallow super is removed for surplus honey as is ordinarily done it leaves the bees short of stores and if they do not starve and die over winter or during a long drought they will be very slow to build up the following spring.

What Kind Of Supers To Use

The author recommends the production of comb honey in shallow frames by beginners rather than extracted honey because less investment is required and as most commercial beekeepers produce extracted honey comb honey is usually scarce. In most localities it sells promptly and at higher prices than extracted honey.

Grocers prefer a year round source of stable products, including extracted honey. The large honey packers not only offer such a source of honey but they maintain the same quality and blend the year around. In addition they use filtering and packing equipment costing thousands of dollars and as a result their product glistens and shines and looks superior to that produced by the small beekeeper packer.

On the other hand the small beekeeper can offer comb honey, either in section boxes, shallow frames, cut comb (which is comb honey cut out of the frames, drained and wrapped in cellophane) or chunk comb or bulk comb honey which is large pieces of comb honey cut out of the frames and placed in jars with liquid honey poured around it to make up the balance of the weight.

Extracted honey is similar in appearance to cooking oil, syrup or other liquids on the grocer's shelf. On the other hand comb honey stands out as a totally different product with eye-appeal. Beekeepers tell us and grocers confirm their statements, that chunk honey will sell for several cents more per pound and sell 5 times as fast as the same quality extracted honey along side it.

This colony was forced to build combs in glass jars by reducing a strong 2 story hive to one story at the start of the honey flow and placing these jars over holes in the inner cover which were nearly as large as the holes in the jars. This is profitable only for a fair exhibit or in advertising.

This colony was forced to build combs in glass jars by reducing a strong 2 story hive to one story at the start of the honey flow and placing these jars over holes in the inner cover which were nearly as large as the holes in the jars. This is profitable only for a fair exhibit or in advertising.