MillerThousand AnswersBeekeepingQuestions.pdf - BioBees

124 DR. miller'sbeekeepers take comb honey from time to time as fast as eachsuper is finished and sealed, or nearly so. In that case most ofit is taken during the season that bees are busy at work, and it isbetter to operate while most of the gatherers are abroad in thefield, and not so early in the morning or late in the evening. If,however, bee-escapes are used, they are put on toward the afterpart of the day, and the honey taken before the middle of thenext day.Much the same thing may be said about taking extractedhoney, although some of our best practitioners do not take theirextracted until the close of the season for each kind of honey.Of course, it is also true that the last of the comb honey is takenat the close of the flow. At such times there may be some gainby getting at work pretty early in the day, before robbers aremuch on the wing. Those who are in the business extensively donot pay much attention to the time of day, but work away anytime of day, or the whole day, just as suits their convenience.(b) The usual way to kill bees is with the fumes of burningsulphur. But if each of those colonies is too small to be worthsaving you may be able to make one fair colony out of the two.Or, you could add each one to some colony that would be thebetter to be a little stronger. Nowadays it is not usually consideredgood practice to kill bees.(c) There are various ways of getting bees out of surplushoney. Some use the Porter bee-escape. Some drive part of thebees out with smoke then pile up the supers on the ground andset a Miller escape on top of each pile. Some simply brush themoff the extracting-combs. For a small quantity you can put thehoney in a large box, put a sheet over it, and turn the sheet overfrom time to time as the bees collect on it.Q. I have several supers of fine honey all capped over and finished.Would you advise me to take it off and put it in a wellventilatedroom, or leave it in the hive? If the latter, how long?A. Take it off as soon as finished. The honey will be as goodor better if left on longer, but the comb will become dark. Keepit in a dry, warm place.Honey, Keeping.—Q. Can honey from this year be kept tillnext year without spoiling?A. Yes, there is no trouble in keeping extracted honey over,and even comb honey may be kept in a dry, warm place.Q. In reply to the question when to take off supers, you say,