139. When removing the honey leave one body well filled on the hive, preferably the first body filled during the season. While this will usually be fine light colored valuable honey, you will find by referring to paragraph 47 the value of this type of honey left on the hive for winter stores. If the honey flow continues after the supers are filled, they must be extracted and the empty combs returned to the hives for refilling by the bees as fast as is necessary to conserve the crop and control further swarming. If a later honey flow comes at some time after the first one, it will be necessary to replace the supers in time for the second honey flow and it may even be necessary to carry out this complete Demaree swarm control measure again. Where deep hive bodies are used as brood chambers, it is seldom necessary to use any swarm control measure beyond supplying ample storage room for nectar.

140. At this point it may be well to outline how to extract the honey. First, it is advisable to extract the honey as soon as it has been removed from the hives properly capped or ripened. Honey may be more easily removed from the combs by the extractor when the temperature is above 70° F., because at this temperature honey is thinner in body and will therefore run easier.

141. When it becomes necessary to extract later when the temperature may be cooler, it is advisable to work in a heated room. Some beekeepers prefer to use but nine frames in a 10-frame super or a Modified Dadant super, so that the combs will be bulky or "built fat" so that it is easier to uncap them with an uncapping knife. The operation is done by a knife similar to the one shown in Figure 50 and the comb is supported as shown in Figure 51. However, the heavier the combs are rilled with honey, the more likely they are to break if not very carefully handled. Always remember that beeswax is very brittle at low temperatures and the cooler the honey is at the time it is extracted the easier it will be to damage or break the combs during operation. In operating any extractor, it is well to remove a part of the honey from one side first to lighten the load on the comb, then reverse the comb and extract all from the other side, reversing the second time to get the balance of the honey out of the side from which you first started to extract.

142. Of course you must always keep in mind that honey is a food and must be handled in as clean a way as you would want any other food to be handled if you were to consume it. Do not handle your honey that is for sale in any way that you would not approve of if you were to eat it yourself. When the honey is removed from the combs by the extractor, pieces of comb and other material that you will not want in the extracted honey may drop into the tank. In removing honey from the extractor, whether you place it in a tank before putting it into the pails or containers it is to be sold in, or whether you run it directly from the extractor into these containers, it is always necessary to strain it carefully through one or more thicknesses of moistened cheesecloth. It is practically impossible to strain honey in this way unless it is done at a time when the temperature is 70° F. or more, in the honey house where the work is done. Artificial heat may be necessary to obtain that temperature in cool weather. In straining honey through cloth, wet the cloth with clean warm water first and the honey will run through more readily.

143. At this point it may be well to repeat that if after extracting, the honey flow is over and it is not necessary to return the bodies of extracted combs to the bees for refilling, it is absolutely necessary to protect them against the wax moth. Before this is done many beekeepers set the supers out staggered one above the other near the bees an hour before sunset in order to give the bees an opportunity to clean out the honey, provided no bee disease is in the apiary. The supers must be taken to the honey house after dark when free of bees. If left so bees can get to them for more than a few hours the combs will be damaged. Review paragraph 24 and follow closely the precautions outlined there, or you may lose many dollars worth of valuable combs for want of a few minutes' work protecting them against the larvae of the wax moth.

Questions You Should Be Able To Answer

1. What represents a strong colony of bees?

2. At what time is it necessary to have the colony reach its peak of strength to produce a maximum crop of extracted honey?

3. Why is it necessary to control swarming?

4. During the honey flow how can you tell which is ripe?

5. How can you find the queen bee when the hive is made up of two hive bodies ?

6. How does isolation of the queen from the main body of brood prevent swarming?

7. How many extracting supers should one have on hand to take care of a maximum crop of honey?

8. If the queen is not found when preparing colony for honey flow how can she be gotten into the new hive body?

9. How can you judge the number of combs of brood to leave with the queen in the prevention of swarming?

10. Why are seven days allowed between Demareeing and the destruction of queen cells?