DETAILS CONCERNING HONEY
HOW TO MAKE COMB-HONEY
Every bee-keeper who sends to the market honey in the comb enfolded in
an attractive carton, or with the section neatly glazed, has produced a
work of art; for comb-honey as now marketed is an æsthetic production,
and the bee-keeper is an artist as much as if he had painted a
picture or had fashioned a jewel. To most people who have an apiary
as a pleasurable adjunct to life in the country, the production of
comb-honey is most attractive, while the production of extracted honey
does not appeal to them at all. Just the word “honey” calls to the mind
of most people a vision of amber sweetness set in white-walled, waxen
cells.
The production of comb-honey is attended by more difficulties than
is the production of extracted honey. The reason for this is largely
because the bees work more readily in cells already made from which
the honey has been extracted, than they do in sections where they
must undertake all of the expense and labour of producing wax for the
comb. More than this, honey may be extracted from the comb of the
brood-chambers, a harvest which is lost to the producer of comb-honey.
[Illustration: PLATE XIV
(_a_) Alley’s queen and drone trap.
(_b_) A well filled section.
(_c_) One empty section-holder, and one filled with section-boxes, in
which are foundation-starters; two of these have been added to by the
bees.]
[Illustration:
_Photograph by Brown Brothers_
PLATE XV. One and a half story hive for comb-honey; the super is filled
with section-boxes.]
For the production of comb-honey it is necessary that the colony
winter in excellent condition and develop much well-fed brood early
in the season, so that there shall be a great number of active young
workers in the hive just before the chief honey-harvest of the summer
begins. In New York State we have two large honey harvests, that of
the basswood in July and the buckwheat in August, so our colonies are
made strong and ready by the last of June. In order to have the bees
ready to work, the swarming fever must be subdued or controlled before
this period of honey-flow. The colonies are carefully watched early in
the season, and if after the first pollen-gathering occurs there is no
honey coming in, the bees are fed so that the brood may be developed.
We rarely have to feed at this season of the year as the fruit bloom
gives our bees plenty of honey for rearing their brood, and we never
expect any surplus before the basswood season.
The supers are put on when there is plenty of brood and plenty of honey
to feed to it in the hive; and under such conditions our bees, though
Italians, usually push up into the sections at once. We prepare the
sections with mere strips of wax foundation for starters. (Plate XIV.)
Supers thus equipped put on at this time and under such conditions seem
to take away all desire to swarm on the part of the bees, if the queen
cells have been previously removed.
If the brood-chambers are crowded when the super is put on, the queen
may go up into it and start brood. This rarely occurs with us, but in
case it does a queen-excluding honey-board may be introduced between
the super and the brood-chamber. Sometimes a colony seems unwilling
to go into the super after it has been added, and the bees will hang
on the outside of the hive and threaten to swarm, and through doubt
and vacillation lose two or three of the precious days of the basswood
harvest.
The usual reason why the bees will not go into the super is that they
are not sufficiently crowded below; if they have room they prefer to
store their honey in the brood cells rather than carry it to the upper
story.
If a colony is strong and has plenty of brood and honey and is still
obstinate, men of experience advise the taking of a frame of sections
from a colony which is storing in the supers and putting bees and all
in the midst of the unused super of the reluctant colony. We have never
tried this because we were never obliged to. It sounds very practical
and sensible, and it is practised by Mr. Root, and that is sufficient
recommendation.
Our way of coaxing the bees into a super which they have sedulously
ignored is to place in it some of the imperfect sections, which are not
worth much in the market and which contain some capped honey and many
empty cells. One section-holder filled in this way seems to encourage
the reluctant colony to climb and to store as rapidly as possible.
In large apiaries the following plan is followed: First, put on a super
of shallow extracting frames from which the honey has been removed; as
these cells are all ready, the bees are likely to go to work in them
at once; and after they are working well raise the super, and put in
one below it filled with sections containing starters, and all will be
well. In dealing with this phase of bee-keeping it is well to remember
that full sheets of foundation in the sections are more attractive to
the bees than starters; and that sections containing comb already made
are still more pleasing, and if some of these made cells contain honey,
their attractiveness is doubled. One condition should be observed in
putting on a super in the summer: it should be shaded in some way; if
it is in the direct rays of the sun, the heat is likely to keep the
bees out of it. However, later in the season bees may be induced to
work in the super by placing over it a cushion so that it will be warm.
TIERING UP
If the honey is coming in at a good rate, and the bees are working
well, when the sections in the super are something more than half
full, lift it up and place another containing sections with starters
beneath it. The reason for this is that the bees would not naturally
go into the empty super if it were placed on top until the other was
completely filled. But with this plan they continue working in the
super, even though it be on top, and meanwhile find it “handy” to fill
the intervening sections. If the honey-flow is great, even another
super may be placed next the hive and below the other two. However, in
our practice we rarely put on more than two, usually taking off the
top one when we need to interpolate another. This process is called
“storifying” in the English books, which is a most graphic term and
should be introduced into our nomenclature.
TAKING OFF SECTIONS. (Plate XX.)
In taking off the sections we do not need to wait for the completion
of every one in the super. The outside rows are rarely perfect, and we
usually put these unfinished sections back on some other hive to be
finished.
These unfinished sections, if not too empty, serve very well to sweeten
the daily bread of the home table. If sent to the market they bring low
prices, and the bee-keeper who is working for comb-honey should plan to
have as few of them as possible. While the honey left long in the super
has a much finer flavour than that which is removed early, yet care
should be taken not to leave the sections on the hive so long that the
comb becomes soiled. It is an interesting fact that honey ripened in
the hive gains special richness, as if it were somehow imbued with the
spirit of the little socialists that make it.
[Illustration:
_Photograph by Brown Brothers_
PLATE XVI. Drone and queen trap, below; queen mailing and
introducing cage, above at the left; queen-protector and
queen-cage used in queen-rearing, in centre; and bee-escape, at
the right.]
[Illustration:
_Photograph by Verne Morton_
PLATE XVII. “IN APPLE-BLOSSOM TIME”]
Toward the end of the season it is best not to tier up, but to place an
empty super on top. The bees will not use it unless necessary, but will
devote their energies to the sections below. The great danger to be
avoided in tiering up is a surplus of partly filled sections, and the
way we avoid this is not to interpolate a super until the one on the
hive is at least three-fourths filled.
STAINED SECTIONS
A regular part of bee exercise consists of promenading up and down
and across the sealed honey; the bee has not as yet, unfortunately,
attained the fastidiousness which leads her to wipe any of her six feet
carefully before entering her domicile, consequently the sections of
honey thus walked over may be stained and unmarketable. There is no
remedy for this except to look after the supers carefully, and take out
the sections before they are soiled.
Some sections may look dirty because old wax is used in making the
caps. If such is the case, and it is simply yellow, the wax may be
bleached by standing it in the sun or by subjecting it to sulphur
fumes. Some apiarists have special rooms and others tight boxes for
the sulphur bleaching. Only two things are necessary to accomplish
this successfully; first, that the room or box be tight; second, that
the sulphur placed in an iron dish be heated so that the fumes are
strong and all-pervading. Some say that the sulphur should be heated
so that if a match be touched to it, it will flame. The combs need not
be subjected to such fumes more than a half-hour to become as white as
they can be bleached.
SCRAPING THE SECTIONS
In preparing comb-honey for the market, it is necessary to first
scrape the propolis from the sections so as to leave the wood white
and beautiful. To do this the section should be set square on and in
line with the edge of a table, and below should be a pan to receive the
scrapings. Hold the section firmly in one hand and scrape the side that
is in line with the edge of the table with a downward stroke of the
knife; a case-knife is best for this. To scrape the wood clean and not
in any way injure the honey, and to do the work rapidly, measure the
skill attained in this business. In scraping the sections it is best
to have four of the shipping-boxes at hand, so that the honey may be
graded and placed in its proper class as it is cleaned.
GRADING COMB-HONEY
First, as to the way the sections are filled, or in other words, as to
the bee technique. There are three grades—Fancy, No. 1, and No. 2. In
the fancy grade almost every cell is well filled, and the comb has the
surface evenly built and well capped. No. 1 has an even surface and is
well filled, but may not be so perfect in the corners as is the fancy.
No. 2 must be at least three-fourths full. Anything below No. 2 is
called chunk honey if sold in the comb, but it is more profitable to
extract honey from all sections that range below No. 2.
Second, as to the colour of honey: It is graded as white, amber,
buckwheat and dark, and these need no explanation. Thus honey is listed
perhaps as “fancy white,” or “fancy buckwheat”; in each case it is the
best of its kind.
SHIPPING-CASES
These should be ordered rather than made, as a good-looking
shipping-case adds materially to the value of the honey. These cases
come in different sizes, and have one side made of glass so that the
handlers may see that the contents are fragile, and therefore may
possibly be persuaded to deal with them gently; the cases come in flats
and are easily put together. For anything that looks so well put up
as honey sealed in its perfect cells, it has a most amazing capacity
for leaking. Once, in the enthusiasm of girlhood and inexperience, I
carried some honey carefully packed in a box in my trunk, hoping to
give a friend a treat. Needless to say that honey was “linked sweetness
long drawn out,” by the time I arrived at my destination; and all the
clothes that I carried in my trunk were literally “too sweet for any
use.”
Shipping comb-honey to market is likely to be a disastrous performance
at best, since it is almost impossible to guard against careless
handling. Some ship in glass-covered sections which protect the comb,
and make a very attractive appearing product.
Shipping the sections in cartons is winning its way now for fancy
grades. A carton is a pasteboard box which may be bought in flats with
the shipper’s name printed upon it. While these cartons may be bought
in almost any style, from perfectly plain to those highly ornamented,
and provided with tape handles, yet we believe there is a chance for
personal initiative in this particular field. An artistic design in
pretty colours, individual and unique, would certainly prove a special
attraction for selling honey in cartons. The great advantage gained
from the use of the carton is that the honey reaches the consumer in a
neat package without further handling, and may be carried like a box
of bonbons. When cartons are used the shipping case should be a size
larger than for the plain sections.
MARKETING COMB-HONEY
There are two ways of marketing honey open to most bee-keepers. First
and best, the local market. If the honey can be placed in the hands of
the grocer directly from the bee-keeper, certain advantages accrue. The
comb is not broken by much careless handling, and it reaches the market
in good shape. Though the price may be somewhat lower perhaps than the
highest quoted prices, yet it is reliable, and there is no discount for
breakage in shipping, and for differences of opinion in grading. It is
certainly far more satisfactory for all concerned to place comb-honey
on the home market; this is usually practicable for all except the
greater apiarists. We know one man who has about forty hives, and who
lives in a town of about three hundred inhabitants; though he produces
a reasonable amount of honey he very inadequately supplies the demand
for it in this little village, and he receives city prices.
The second and least desirable method of marketing comb-honey is to
ship it to a commission merchant. If this is done, it is well to select
a middleman in whom we have absolute confidence, or we are likely soon
to become pessimistic regarding his honesty; so frequently is the price
of honey reduced on account of breakage and leaking and other accidents
which this very frail delicacy is heir to, that we rarely realise the
prices quoted in the newspapers. If a good middleman can be found,
then our advice is to stick to him, and send him the very best product
possible, fairly graded and in the most attractive form, hoping that he
may be able to do for us what we should do for ourselves, and that is,
work up a special market.
STORING COMB-HONEY
It is far better to market comb-honey the year it is made. However, if
it is to be stored, it must be placed in a room that has a constant
temperature above 60°F. It is best to fumigate the sections if there
is any danger from the bee-moth, for this little rascal will destroy a
great amount of comb-honey in a very short time. (See “Bee-Moth.”)
CANDIED COMB-HONEY
Some kinds of honey will granulate much sooner than others. The longer
the honey is left in the hive and the more perfectly it is ripened,
the less liable it is to granulate. Extracted honey will candy much
sooner than honey left in the comb. We have kept comb-honey more than
a year without crystals appearing in it. The only way to prevent
comb-honey from candying is to keep it in a temperature that does not
fall below 60 degrees. After honey is candied in the comb, nothing can
be done with it except to sell it at a lower price, or keep it to feed
back to the bees. The latter is probably the most profitable way to
dispose of it. Some people like comb-honey after it is granulated and
the home-table may use a certain amount of it.
MAXIMS FOR PRODUCING COMB-HONEY
Keep the colonies strong.
The bees should be kept warm and well fed in the spring.
The bees must have wintered well.
The colony must have brood and plenty of honey in the brood-chambers at
the beginning of the honey season.
Never let the honey in sections or supers be exposed in the apiary to
incite robbery.
Keep the sections in a room in which the temperature never falls below
60°.
Fumigate the sections before they are stored if you are troubled with
bee-moth.
Send the honey to market in as attractive form as possible. Make your
product individual in appearance, and strive to create for it a special
market.