This section is from the book "How To Keep Bees And Sell Honey", by Walter T. Kelley. Also available from Amazon: How To Keep Bees And Sell Honey.
"How often do you rob your bees? " is one of the most common questions asked the beekeeper. The proper answer is, NEVER ROB THE BEES OR THEY WILL STARVE. It is very important to use horse sense in keeping bees as well as in everything else in life. Don't remove any honey without first making sure that the bees have ample stores until the next honey flow.
If you remove a frame from your supers and do not replace it promptly you can expect the bees to build comb of their own and this will be largely drone comb. The queen will lay in it promptly.
The proper time to remove comb honey is as soon as it is completely capped over. If you leave the honey on weeks longer the capping will become travel-stained and it will not be a salable product. With extracted honey there is no hurry and some beekeepers leave their crop on the hives until the end of the season, piling the hives up 6 to 8 hive bodies high. This process takes the maximum amount of equipment and if a flow of dark, strong honey comes on late in the season it becomes mixed with the lighter colored, milder flavored honey and pulls the entire grade down. As a general thing it is best to remove all honey soon after it is fully capped over by the bees.
Beginners should never remove any honey from the hive until it is completely capped over. The bees are experts in their trade and generally if the honey is not capped it is thin and requires additional evaporation and processing. Green honey, as uncapped honey is called, usually has a high water content and will sour and ferment if removed from the hive. If this uncapped honey is eaten it may cause severe cramps in the abdomen, diarrhea in some cases and turn the individual against honey for the balance of his life.
These covers are tilted back and the bee escape hole in the inner cover left open for ventilation during the honey flow. Some beekeepers stagger the supers and raise the brood nest off the bottom board for ventilation in hot weather.
During rainy seasons and when no top ventilation is given the colonies during the honey flow, such as staggering the supers, raising the cover, etc., the water content of honey may be higher than 18. 6% which is the maximum for safe keeping. Even fully capped honey stored in damp places will absorb moisture from the air and start fermentation.
Extracted honey can be heated to 150-160 degrees which will remove the excess moisture and even do away with a pronounced sour taste. Comb honey can be dried out by blowing warm, dry air over the combs. The normal method is to criss-cross the supers in a tight room so that the air can circulate through all of the supers.
The acid board has largely replaced the bee escape as the acid fumes drive the bees out of the supers in a minute or two and 3 or 4 of these boards are sufficient for an entire bee yard. A bee escape takes 24 hours or longer to do the same job.
Acid boards are made the same size as the hives. They are fitted with cloth under the metal covering and the entire outside is painted black so as to absorb the heat from the sun. Diluted carbolic acid is sprinkled on the cloth and the board is inverted on top of the hive from which the cover has been removed. In bright sun the bees will be forced out of the supers in 1 to 3 minutes or even less time. Three or four boards are ordinarily enough to keep one man busy removing the supers. Care must be taken not to use too much acid but with ordinary care and reason the honey will not become tainted.
Never let your bees start robbing because "once a robber, always a thief. " Whenever you have a weak colony reduce the entrance, even in the hottest weather. Never carelessly throw out old combs, syrup or anything sweet where the bees can get it. Once bees start robbing they become very mean and may sting the neighbors some distance away.
They may attack strong colonies and at times will overpower them, robbing out all of the honey and destroying most of the combs in their greed and haste.
Probably the most serious aspect of robbing to the beekeeper is if the colony being robbed has A. F. B. It will be carried to many of the other hives and thereby become widely scattered in a short period of time.
If you should find the bees robbing out a hive shove grass lightly in the entrance of that hive and throw brush or weeds over the entrance. At dusk reduce the entrance to half an inch or less so that only 2 or 3 bees can guard the entrance. Examine the hive early in the morning before the bees are flying to determine if it is queenless, weak or why robbing started and try to remedy the situation.
If robbing attempts continue make a weak solution of carbolic acid and water and sprinkle it over the front of the hive being robbed. The robbers will leave and stay away for some time.
 
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