To secure extracted honey, the requisite number of combs may be in
one long hive, or in stories one above another. Preference is most
generally given to the latter plan. The brood apartment is made in
this case to hold eight to twelve Langstroth frames, and a second, and
sometimes a third or even a fourth story, may be added temporarily.
These added stories may be for full-depth frames, or, for convenience
in handling and in order to be able to control more closely the
amount of space given, they may be half the usual depth, and but one
of the half-depth stories added at a time. If numerous sets of combs
are at hand, or if it is desirable to have others built, additional
stories are put on as fast as the combs already occupied by the bees
are filled. Before removing the filled combs time should be allowed
the bees to ripen and cap the honey; hence enough combs are necessary
to give the bees storage room while they are capping others, the
honey in combs that are quite or nearly sealed over may be considered
sufficiently ripened to be removed from the hive.
[Illustration: Fig. 9.--Quinby uncapping knife.]
It should also be taken promptly, in order to keep the various grades
or kinds separate. However, when the combs of a given super are
completely filled and sealed it may be marked and left on the hive if
more convenient to be extracted later.
The cells are uncapped by means of a sharp knife, made especially for
this purpose (fig. 9), and the combs are then made to revolve rapidly
in the honey extractor (fig. 10). The centrifugal force exerted on the
honey throws it out, leaving the comb cells uninjured, or so slightly
injured that they are wholly repaired within an hour or so after the
return of the comb to the hive. The chief advantages of this method
of harvesting over that of crushing the combs are at once apparent
when it is known that each pound of comb saved represents several
pounds of honey (consumed in its construction), and may, with care be
used over almost indefinitely in securing surplus honey. Furthermore,
extracted honey is of much finer quality than that obtained by crushing
the combs and straining out the liquid part, since it is free from
crushed bees, larvæ, pollen or "bee bread," etc., which not only render
strained honey dark and strong in flavor, but also make it liable to
fermentation and souring.
The extracted honey is run into open buckets or tanks and left,
covered with cheese cloth, to stand a week or so in a dry, warm room
not frequented by ants. It should be skimmed each day until perfectly
clear, and is then ready to be put into cans or barrels for marketing,
or to be stored in a dry place. Square tin cans, each made to hold 60
pounds of extracted honey, are sold by dealers in apiarian supplies.
This style of package is a convenient one to transport, and is also
acceptable to dealers. Wooden shipping cases are usually constructed so
as to hold two of these cans. Barrels and kegs may be used, especially
for the cheaper grades of honey used chiefly in the manufacture of
other articles. They should be dry, made of well-seasoned, sound wood,
and the hoops driven tight and secured, as well-ripened honey readily
absorbs moisture from wood, causing shrinkage and leakage. They should
also be coated inside with bees-wax or paraffin. This is easily done by
warming the barrels and then pouring in a gallon or two of hot wax or
paraffin, and, after having driven in the bungs tightly, rolling the
barrels about a few times and turning them on end. The work should be
done quickly and the liquid not adhering to the inner surfaces poured
out at once, in order to leave but a thin coating inside.
The surplus combs are to be removed at the close of the season and
hung an inch or so apart on racks placed in a dry, airy room, where
no artificial heat is felt. Mice, if permitted to reach them, will do
considerable damage by gnawing away the cells containing pollen or
those in which bees have been bred, and which therefore contain larval
and pupal skins. Moth larvæ are not likely to trouble them until the
following spring, but upon the appearance of milder weather their
ravages will begin, and if the combs can not be placed under the care
of the bees at once they must be fumigated with burning sulphur or with
bisulphide of carbon.