BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
_When to super?_ is a query put very frequently to the editors of Bee Journals, and others who are responsible for replies to queries on bee-culture in newspapers. A definite date cannot possibly be given, as seasons and crops vary so much. To insure good results there must be a strong stock of bees, ample crops of honey-producing flowers in bloom near the apiary, and atmospheric conditions favourable to the secretion of nectar by the flowers. With strong stocks, and the above conditions fulfilled, surplus will be gathered and stored in large quantities, if only proper super accommodation is given.
Some idea as to when the time for supering has arrived may be formed by noticing the district around, and the manner of the bees, but more particularly by a glance at the upper cells of the combs, for, as soon as honey is being brought into the hive in quantities much beyond the daily requirements of the colony, the upper cell walls will be lengthened with newly-made wax, as the cells are being filled with the surplus honey. The earlier crops, such as fruit bloom, are found before the majority of colonies have made much headway, therefore little beyond what is required by a daily-increasing brood-nest is stored. Still, by confining the stock to a smaller number of frames than it is usual to allow a full stock, a very fair amount of surplus may be stored in small-sized supers. On the removal of these supers the stock may be stimulated, and converted into one of very satisfactory dimensions by the time the next honey-flow commences.
The lack of surplus, when favourable conditions for the secretion and gathering of nectar are present, is due to the fact that stocks, for want of proper management, are not sufficiently strong at the commencement of the honey-flow, and that supering is too long.delayed, sometimes to such an extent that the putting on of supers is too late for any advantage to be derived from the honey-flow. In order to emphasise the necessity for timely supering, I may state that of three swarms in one apiary, about the same weight, and treated in an exactly similar manner as far as the brood-nest was concerned, two gave over 40 lhs. of surplus each ; while another, not supered, gave, of course, nothing. The supers were intentionally left off the last-mentioned swarm to prove to visitors the inevitable result of procrastination when the time for supering had arrived.
Drained Honey.
Upon the brood-chamber of stocks in skeps, and the "Ivo " bar-hive, the surplus honey will be stored in a manner that renders it necessary to remove and slice the combs in order to obtain the honey. To this process of obtaining honey from the combs there cannot be any reasonable objection, for, during the honey-flow, sheets of foundation are very rapidly converted into combs, and therefore little, if any, time is lost by this method of procedure.
The late Mr. C. N. Abbott, when editor of the _British Bee Journal_, advised, in 1888, the cutting up of combs made from foundation when they were filled with honey, instead of resorting to the extractor. Again, very recently a well-known manufacturer of appliances, who owns a large apiary, sold his own extractor because it would, as he said, be quicker work to cut out the full combs, slice and drain from them the honey, and return the frames refilled with foundation.
The supers on movable-comb hives need not of necessity be shallow frames or sectional supers, and therefore any other kind of super in which foundation can be fixed may be chosen. Among such supers is the "Ivo," which is exactly as prepared for the "Ivo" hive, except that the plinths are omitted. Before such a super is placed upon the frames of a movable-comb hive, a sheet of queen-excluding zinc (Fig. 34) must be laid upon them. The perforations, \(\sharp\) inch in width, allow only the workers to pass through, as the drones are altogether too bulky ; and the queen, unless young, is stopped by the breadth of the thorax. The sheet of queen-excluding zinc is an absolute necessity, if bracecombs are not to be built by the bees to unite the combs of the brood-chamber with those in the super. Bees build brace or joining combs, because they apparently prefer to travel from one part of the hive to another on comb ; and it may also be, though in a lesser degree, owing to a desire to ensure firmness of the connection between the two stories. The sheet of excluder zinc remains on the frames for the whole of the season, or, at any rate, until the close of the honey-flow ; and by its use not only will the queen and drones be kept below, but the bees will finish off their combs, so that in removing the super there will, as a rule, be no attachments to the work below.
Among other supers under this heading may be mentioned bell-glasses, but they are not recommended,
as it is with great trouble that foundation is fixed in them, and when filled they are not much sought after. Abbott's cottager super with glass sides is a very pretty little super, holding, when full, about 7 lbs. of comb honey. It possesses an advantage over the bell-glass in a provision for receiving foundation guides.
A most charming and at the same time effective super is the "Castle Douglas Super" (Fig. 85), holding about 26 lbs. of honey, and designed by Mr. W. Hogg, of Castle Douglas, N.B. Foundation guides are fixed with fish glue to the glass top, by inverting the super and placing it upon a board, the same size as the top of the super, marked where the sheets of foundation should run.
The lines are shown through the glass, and while the foundation is held over the line the glue is run along, and when dry holds it securely. The "Castle Douglas Super, No. 2 " (Fig. 86), was also designed by Mr. Hogg as a divisional super, the idea being that combs may be cut away with that part of the super to which they are attached.
## Extractors and Extracting.
By giving supers of clean comb during the honey-flow the labours of the bees are saved in one direction, and utilized in another. The time they would spend in producing wax and building combs is more profitably spent in gathering, storing, and ripening honey; and the quantity thus obtained is amazingly increased, and to an extent that is impossible under any other system. The advantage of such a system cannot be called in question; and, further, it is the surest means of preventing swarming, as more room may, without disadvantage, be given to stocks worked for extracted honey. The honey is ejected from the combs by centrifugal force, and then the empty combs are returned for refilling.
One of the simplest and cheapest of extractors is the "Little Wonder" (Fig. 37), designed by Mr. C. N. Abbott nearly twenty years ago. As will be clear from our illustration, the comb when uncapped is placed against the wire backing; then the iron point at the bottom of the shaft is placed in a hole in the floor or a heavy piece of wood. The top of the shaft, through which an iron bolt passes, is then held firmly whilethe cage is made to revolve until the honey is thrown out. To those who do not mind hard work this form of extractor will be acceptable, but as the holding capacity below the cage is small, the can requires frequent emptying, otherwise clothes are spoilt and honey wasted.
About the same period a cylinder extractor was designed by Mr. T. W. Cowan, and is still, with various alterations, a well-known machine. It consists of a cylinder in which are fixed two cages revolving round a central spindle turned with or without multiplying gear. Beneath the cages there is space for a large quantity of honey, which allows of several combs being extracted before the honey is run off.
Mr. Meadows, who has earned fame as a manufacturer of these useful machines, introduced into the cylinder pattern a special backing which prevents the bulging and consequent breaking of the combs. This has now been fitted to the latest pattern " Cowan " extractor, as manufactured and sold by Mr. A. I. Root in America, and forms a machine which, compared with its predecessors, is perfection. The cages are moved by gearing fixed at the side of the extractor, a much more convenient arrangement than if at the top. In some extractors of the " Cowan " pattern the cages are fixed on pivots, so that when one side of the comb is emptied, a move of the cage places it against the next side of the square of ironwork, with the other side towards the wall of the extractor, thus doing away with the necessity for removing the combs for reversal. The speed at which the cages must revolve to effectively drive out the honey, without at the same time breaking the tender combs, can only be learnt by practice.
Honey should be extracted from sealed combs only, and in warm weather. It is a great mistake to leave this work until late in the season, for then the bees quickly decrease in numbers, and the internal heat of the hive being thereby lessened, as well as the external temperature, the honey becomes thick and difficult to eject from the combs, even by turning the cages at great speed. This is especially the case with honeys that quickly candy. Therefore, though it is advisable to leave the honey on the hive to allow of proper ripening, it must not remain during cold weather.
## Extracting.
Having cleared the frame super of bees, remove it while the combs are warm to the room in which the operation of extracting is to be carried on. Now lift out a frame, stand it on end, and, commencing at the bottom, shave off the cappings with a long, sharp, uncapping knife (Fig. 39) that has been heated in a can of hot water or special knife-heater. The knife should be drawn along with an up-and-down saw-like movement, and by holding the upper end of the frame forward the cappings will hang in a sheet from the comb and fall into a dish below, or into the can of the comb-holder, if such a useful article is used. Both sides of the comb must be uncapped and then the frame placed in one of the cages of the extractor. To balance it, and make the running easy, another comb similarly prepared is put into the opposite cage. It will be recollected that in a previous chapter the upward pitch of the cells was referred to, and this peculiarity must not now be ignored ; in fact, if it is, the work of extracting will not be satisfactory. When putting a frame into the cage of the extractor it should be so placed that the bottom bar moves round first, when the cages are set in motion. The honey will then be thrown out in the direction in which the cells are built. The wheel, or handle, attached to the spindle round which the cages revolve, must then beturned round slowly, and the speed gradually increased. The effect is that the honey will be thrown out upon the tin walls of the cage, or the inner wall of the extractor, and run down to the bottom, to be afterwards drawn through a treacle-tap. When one side of the comb is emptied it must be reversed, that is, simply turned over, not round.
Then the bottom bar of the frame will again move round first. The combs, as emptied, may be replaced in the super, and allowed to remain until some of the dripping honey has fallen. The super may then be placed upon any stock requiring additional super room, or returned to the stock from which it has been taken, either for additional super room or for clearing of the dripping honey.
_A honey cistern_ (Fig. 40) is a necessity, even though only a few stocks are kept for the production of drained or extracted honey.
The price need not deter any bee-keeper from investing in such a useful article, for one fair colony will produce surplus sufficient to pay the cost the first season. A convenient size is 2\({}_{\ddagger}\) feet deep and 12 inches in diameter, holding over one hundredweight. The name first given to these cisterns--houey ripeners --is being dropped, and rightly so, as it is found that extracting honey before it is properly ripened in the
Figure 40: The price need not deter any bee-keeper from investing in such a useful article, for one fair colony will produce surplus sufficient to pay the cost the first season. A convenient size is 2\({}_{\ddagger}\) feet deep and 12 inches in diameter, holding over one hundredweight. The name first given to these cisternshouey ripeners is being dropped, and rightly so, as it is found that extracting honey before it is properly ripened in the
hive does not pay either in quantity or quality. The sliced combs, or the honey from below the cages of the extractor, is put into the upper compartment, and the honey is drained through perforated tin or woven wire. It then passes through a piece of fine canvas tied over the neck as shown, so that all pieces of comb, however small, must be left behind.
There is still a further strainer required, as the first is apt to get choked with pieces of comb. One with a little larger mesh, strengthened with bars and movable, if arranged to rest half-way down the upper compartment, would prove of great service. Effective straining also necessitates early removal of supers, as thick honey refuses to pass through any but coarse strainers, and the result must be unsatisfactory.
Sectional Honey.
Sectional honey of prime quality is much sought after, and usually commands a very remunerative price. Therefore it must be obtained in the largest quantity possible per stock, and presented for sale in an attractive form. Two crates will at all times be needful if a stock is to have a fair amount of surplus room available, but very often three or even more will be required on a strong stock, so fast does the honey come in during a good honey-flow. The sections must be perfectly white and smooth, and provided with either two or four bee-ways, so that passage ways for the bees are allowed above and below or on all sides. The size most generally used when evenly filled holds 1 lb. of honey, and is 41 inches square by 1\({}_{8}^{\tau}\) inch wide.
wood (Fig. 43). The former are of thin tin, cut with or without the two perpendicular holes by means of which, when four-way sections are used, the bees are able to pass from end to end of each row of sections.
If two-way sections are used, the grooves in the separators are only cut in the top and bottom, making each \(\frac{3}{10}\) inch short of the top and the bottom of the section. Without these grooves being cut in the separators the bees would be unable to enter the sections at all.
The latest introduced separator (Fig. 44), the " Sheppard Divider," is of perforated zinc, and perfect sections are said to be guaranteed by its use.
Most bee-keepers prefer two-way sections, and plain thin wood separators, also of American manufacture. Whatever kind is used must be placed close up to the sections. Between the last separator and the end of the crate a spring is inserted to keep the sections in position. This is very necessary, for if held loosely and vacant spaces are left, the bees will find a place for propolis, to the subsequent annoyance of the beekeeper.
The crate being now ready, the quilts are removed from the frames in the brood-chamber, and it is placed in position. The sections rest upon \(\ddagger\)-inch laths running from end to end of the crate, but between the top bars of the frames in the brood-chamber there is a space of \(\ddagger\) ineh. In the extra space thus given the bees invariably build combs to the bottoms of the sections, already alluded to as brace-combs, which, when the crate is removed, are difficult to break, and the bees are consequently greatly irritated by the unavoidable jar. There is, however, a much more important drawback. The sections to which the brace-combs are attached will almost certainly be damaged, and often thereby rendered unfit for sale.
All this trouble may be avoided by using a widertop bar to the brood-frames, leaving a space of \(\frac{1}{4}\) inch only, or by using an adapting board (Fig. 45). This board is 14 inches \(\times\)\(16^{3}_{4}\) inches. On the underside there is a rim \(\frac{1}{4}\) inch in depth, which raises the board that distance above the frames. Running nearly from end to end are six holes \(\frac{1}{4}\) inch wide, two beneath each row of sections. There is then only a space of \(\frac{1}{4}\) inch under the sections which the bees respect, and brace-combs are avoided. The adapting board is placed upon the frames in the brood-chamber at the beginning of the honey-flow, when the first crate is given, and need not be removed until all snpering operations are at an end. Under the board will then be found the brace-combs that would otherwise have been attached to the sections.
The boon such a device is to the producer of sections cannot be fully appreciated until it is seen with what ease crates are raised or removed without irritation to the colony. It is not too much to say that the prising off of crates with chisels, &c., has had much to do with the apparent natural irritability of many a stock of bees. Gentleness in every operation is much to be desired, and the use of this board will be one means to that end.
Queen-excluders are not required when sectional supers are used. This is the case, particularly when the brood-chamber has been properly manipulated, and the combs are not allowed to become clogged with honey before the super is in place. Full sheets of worker foundation also act as a deterrent to the queen entering the sections. If starters only are given above a badly arranged brood-chamber, drone comb is built in sections, and the queen will frequently leave her own domain to deposit eggs therein.
Sections are also placed in wide frames instead of crates, and were used and recommended many years ago by Messrs. Abbott and Cheshire, but of late they have been heard little of. Qnite recently a crate of wide frames or section hangers, introduced by Mr. W. Broughton Carr, has sprung into favour. These hangers are cut to receive three sections. Separators are then fixed to one side, and the whole set is then held tightly by a spring, forced between the last hanger and the crate end.
## Chapter 2.1. **Be-escapes and Super-Glearing**.
It is generally remarked that one difficulty is no sooner overcome than another is presented for solution. If we take the preparation and filling of supers as a difficulty overcome, we are soon brought face to face with another, viz., how to take from supers their contents when full, seeing that the stores are so safely guarded by the bees. An old practice, when the super happened to be a skep, was to shake out the bees while walking round the garden, but frequently the tender combs gave way and followed the bees. At other times a favoured plan was to place the full super in an out-house, and leave the door slightly ajar. As long as the place remained perfectly dark, except for this slight opening the bees would leave without difficulty. At the present time these and other difficult and troublesome methods of ridding supers of bees have already been, or shortly will be, superseded by simpler and more satisfactory methods.
Some years ago, on his return from a visit to beekeepers in the East, Mr. T. B. Blow illustrated and described in the _British Bee Journal_**a** box, on the topof which was fixed, over a small hole, a perforated zinc or wire tube. The super to be cleared was placed in the box from which the bees left by the tube and did not return. In 1890 a modified form of this device was advised by Mr. Harbordt for fixing over the ventilation hole in the roof, as a means of exit for the bees, and now the cone is greatly valued as a means of riding supers of bees. It is equally effective whether used on a box or over the ventilating hole in the roof of the hive.
When a box is used a hole is needed in the lid about
6 inches in diameter, and another in the side about 1 inch in diameter. Over the latter the cone is tacked with small nails. This cone, made of finely perforated zinc, is \(3\frac{1}{2}\) inches long, 2 inches wide at one end, and \(\frac{1}{4}\) inch at the other. The super to be cleared of bees is then placed over the hole in the lid, and if the beeskeeper will see that no bees can leave except by passing down into the box, and thence out by the cone, no anxiety need be felt as to the result. In a very short time all the bees will have left by the exit provided, and have returned to their own hive.
An " Ivo," or other super, may be cleared in the following manner. First, fix over one of the ventilating holes in the roof of the hive, a cone, and then after administering a little smoke to the bees, raise the super with as little disturbance as possible, and place under it a cloth, or sheet of paper ; anything in fact that will cut off the communication between the brood-chamber and the super, or between the topmost and next lower super, if more than one are on the hive. Draw back the quilts that remain upon the super and replace the roof. As soon as the bees find that they are cut off from the brood-chamber, they will leave the super, attracted by light which will then be coming in through the perforated zinc cone. This is a quick and thoroughly satisfactory method of clearing supers of bees, but as all roofs are not beeproof, they must be made so, otherwise the bees will leave by other exits than the cone, and, if they do, so surely, if the super is left on long enough, will they return and carry off the honey.
Pin Trap.
One of the earliest mechanical contrivances to act as a super clearer was the Cheshire pin trap, the holes in which may be made either on a separate piece of wood to fix on a box side, as made by Mr. Clutten, or they may be made in one side of a box, if it is fixed at a small angle. The trap may be constructed according to the following directions given by Mr. Cheshire in his work " Bees and Bee-keeping." Over a large opening in the box is placed a thin piece, slanting at an angle of about 45\({}^{o}\) to the horizon ; in this are made clean holes \(\frac{1}{4}\) inch in diameter. Four rather small pins are driven in, two above and two below each opening, each pair so close together that a fifth pin can lie between the two pairs, exactly across the centre of the hole, while its head cannot slip between the other two. Instead of using two pins above the hole I prefer a pin deprived of its head and driven in somewhat like a bell-hanger's staple, to suspend the centre pin running across the opening. Three or four of these will be sufficient. The bees coming to the light, press up the pin which crosses the hole ; it freely rises, and gives the exit, while entry, as it falls back into position, is effectually barred.
Either of these methods can be used with supers containing combs from which the honey is to be drained or extracted; but sectional supers require more care in removal, because the bees, after being disturbed and before leaving the super, will perforate the cappings of the cells in order to obtain honey, as they invariably do, when disturbed. Sections or other comb honey for exhibition would thus be spoilt. A more satisfactory appliance for this purpose is the Webster clearer, designed by Mr. W. B. Webster. It also is a cone clearer, but the cones of wire cloth are fixed beneath a board exactly underneath a hole through which the bees must pass to get to the lower compartments. The board is raised \(\frac{1}{4}\) inch by a ledge running round on the under side. The clearer should be placed under the super without in the least disturbing the bees in their work, if possible, then they will pass down through the cones leaving the cappings of the combs in the super untouched.
The Porter escape (Fig. 48) is very ingenious and perfect in action. It is an oblong tin case open at one end. Above this is fixed a tin cover, with a hole in the end away from the opening in Fig. 48.
the case below, and being extended beyond the sides of the case forms a flange all round, resting upon the sides of a hole cut in the board to receive the oblong case. When this board (Fig. 49) is placed below the super, which it is made to fit, the bees leave by the circular hole shown in the illustration, but they can only leave the small case below by pressing against two fine brass springs.