The Somerset reporter., 1897-08-05
EXTRACTING HONEY.
Treatment of Unripe Honey Advised by
c. p. Dadant.

Treatment of Unripe Honey Advised by
c. p. Dadant.
Following are extracts from a letter
written to The American Bee Journal
by we'll known Illinois bee man on a
topic of common interest TO oeekeep-
ers. Mr. Dadant writes:
The fact that bees are Gaping a
comb of honey does not mean that the
honey is sufficiently ripe. | have often
seen honey work, or ferment, IN such a
way as to burst the Gaping of the
comb. This happens more especially in
hot and damp summers, when 1t is very
difficult for the honey to ripen, owing
to the dampness of the atmosphere, In
an ordinary season honey may be con-
sidered sufficiently ripened when it has
been on the hive for a week or more
The greatest trouble with unripe honey
comes from that which is daily added
to an unfinished super by the bees
During the first two or three days after
1t is harvested clover or Eastwood honey
is usually so thin as to shake out Of the
combs very readily or even to drip out,
if the comb is upturned. Such honey
will not do to extract, unless it is after
ward ripened artifcially.
Messrs. Muth & Son of Ohio, who
handle hundreds of barrels of honey ey-
cry year, tell US that they ripen their
honey by keeping it in open vessels,
after extracting, IN warm and dry
room. Thus it Is quite likely that il
the supers are taken off and placed
where they can have air and warmth
the honey will thicken and become
ripe, but We prefer to leave such supers
on the hive, even if we have to tier up
10 such an extent that it would become
necessary to prop up the hive with
stakes or braces Not only would the
bees ripen this honey faster than can be
done artificially, but there would be al
30 the advantage of the super furnishing
them additional space for honey as fast
as the quantity is lessened by evapora-
tion. Consequently we would not start
extracting until there was absolutely no
room left for the bees to store honey, or
30 little that further delay would be
likely to induce them to swarm.
There are several reasons why the
bees work better in an empty super
than in a full one-that is, provided the
combs are already built. The hive be-
ing less crowded, they find the place to
deposit their load much more readily
and thus lose less time in hunting for
empty cells Then there is no need of
building additional combs or whitening
or stretching the combs already built
But when one super is full and the 9th
er only one story above it there is but
little time lost, and we believe it is
mistake to remove either before they are
we'll filed unless more may be procured
or unless the crop is at an end.
When the crop is ended, it takes bu,
a very short time for the last honey
harvested to mature, and we make it
point to begin the extracting just as
soon as the harvest ceases. There are
seasons however, like the present one,
when the honey flow is so strong and
so continuous that the bees get over
crowded and the supers are all filled
long before the end of the crop. Th~
only remedy for such state Of things is
to take the chances Of a little unripe
honey and relieve the hive of it's load
before any time is lost by the bees OF
before swarming preparations are made.
When there is any doubt, however, "a
10 the ripeness of the honey, it is well
to follow the Muth method and keep il
in open vessels in hot dry place for
few weeks before attempting to put il
on the market.