133. This manipulation alone is seldom sufficient for the complete control of swarming, even where an adequate number of supers is at all times thereafter supplied above the excluder. One more operation may be necessary to control swarming and this will have to be applied in seven to nine days from the time the first manipulation was given. The nurse bees taking care of the brood in the two upper bodies quickly realize that the queen is not laying there. Uunder normal hive conditions, when the queen stops or materially slows up egg laying during a honey flow, the bees plan to supersede her. In other words, to rear a new queen to replace her. On the brood above the excluder they may start queen cells. The larva in any worker cell may be reared as a queen instead of a worker, if the change is begun before the worker larva has attained the age of about two days. This is because all workers are females just as the queens are. The development of the worker bee is stinted according to the kind of food she is fed and the shape of the cell she is in while in the larval or grub stage, preventing her from developing all of the faculties of a mother bee. On the other hand, the queen is not "weaned" at the age of two days and also during the larval stage her cell is constructed to hang downwards as shown in figure 36. With this special care her faculties of motherhood are fully developed.

134. Therefore the nurse bees in the upper bodies above the excluders, realizing that no queen is laying there, will likely start queen cells during the normal swarming season. These are not primarily intended for swarming, but to replace the mother they think is failing to do the work required of her, even though she is laying in the combs below the excluder in the same hive a short distance away. Therefore at the time that one of these queen cells started above the excluder gives forth a full fledged queen, a swarm may issue. It is claimed by some authorities that if in adding additional supers after the first swarm manipulation, the supers are given between the excluder and these two bodies of brood, separating this queenless brood still further from the queen, that swarms will not emerge. However, this rule will not work out in some localities and swarming may occur unless these queen cells are destroyed.

135. Therefore it may be necessary in your locality to examine the two bodies of brood above the excluder not later than nine days after the first operation. You may destroy all of the queen cells and prevent the supersedure swarm emerging. See figure 36 of queen cells. Also, it is absolutely necessary to watch these colonies closely to make sure they have sufficient super room at all times. Additional bodies of drawn comb or full sheets of foundation must be given to each such colony when the super containing the least honey is less than half filled. This must be watched carefully. If the honey flow continues in intensity, you will be very much surprised how fast these combs are filled with honey where a division of the strength of the bees has been prevented by successful swarm control measures.

136. Another problem that faces the beekeeper at this time is when to remove extracted honey from the hive. During the honey flow it is always advisable to remove no supers until they are thoroughly capped over, because the honey may not be "ripe." Remember, however, that if supers are filled and left on, additional room must be given or your whole swarm control problem may start over again. You will lose part of your honey crop for lack of comb room in the hive in which the bees may store it. Immediately after the honey flow is over only supers are removed for extraction that contain fully capped combs of honey. Where the combs are partly uncapped, the honey is left on the hives for six or seven days, so the bees will have ample time to ripen it even though it is not capped. In dry climates it may not be necessary to leave uncapped honey on the hives that long. However, it is of extreme importance in marketing your product, never to sell unripened honey. Entirely aside from the moral part of it, unripe honey will not keep but will sour, blow off the lids of the pails or cans in which it is stored, and will be unfit for food.

137. In some localities there may be a succession of honey flows, the nectar from one type of plants yielding one type of honey and another yielding darker honey. Light colored honey often brings a higher price on any market than does dark colored honey. Therefore, where there is more than one flow in any locality, if the nectar of these flows varies from light to dark, the honey stored from one flow should be removed from the hives before another flow starts. This is to enable the beekeeper to separate the light and dark honey, so that he may market the light honey separately and get the better price for it.

138. An easy way for the average beekeeper to remove either comb or extracted honey from the hives, is by the use of a bee escape. This is a simple metal tool placed in the center of a bee escape board, which when placed under full supers occupied by bees, allows the bees to pass down through the escape into the hive below but prevents their return. See illustration No. 49. In removing honey from the hive it is always important to see that the hives are left bee tight because the supers above the escape will soon have all the bees trapped out of them and none will be left behind to defend the crop against robbers. One may even have tons of honey spoiled for sale if in sections, or lost for sale if in combs, where robbers succeed in their activities. This is particularly important if the honey is removed after the flow. It is not only important to prevent the loss to the beekeeper by robbing, but careless exposure of honey or combs in an apiary during the time when nectar is not available in the field, will start robbing, which is discussed at the beginning of chapter 9. After you have had one experience with robbing, you will realize why it is highly undesirable and may cause you a lot of trouble aside from the loss of honey.