122. The manipulation of bees both for the production of extracted honey and swarm control, is so different from the methods followed in producing section comb honey, it is advisable to devote an entire chapter to this subject. Perhaps the most important difference is that in producing extracted honey it is neither necessary nor advisable to ever crowd the bees at any stage of the season. Crowding is practically essential to the production of fancy section comb honey.

123. Preparation of bees in the late summer and fall for wintering and springing is as essential for extracted honey as for comb honey. You will have noticed that we have cited no difference in the procedure of wintering and "springing" bees whether they were to be used for the production of section comb or extracted honey. Nor is there any essential difference in the early swarm control measures or the primary variation in colony manipulation for comb honey as compared with extracted honey previous to the honey flow. In producing section honey the brood room is reduced to one story and comb honey supers replace the body removed. In producing extracted honey no bodies are removed, but other bodies are added just as fast as the bees develop the strength and numbers to occupy them, when the honey flow begins.

124. The requirements then for producing extracted honey successfully are two 10-frame or one deep hive body full of worker bees and emerging brood at the beginning of the honey flow. This will have been obtained by successful management the previous fall and up to this point in spring. It is necessary to keep these colonies strong by the control of swarming. An abundance of perfect worker combs must be available for the queen to occupy with eggs during the eight weeks that elapse before the beginning of the surplus honey flow. Up to this point, then, your procedure is exactly the same as if the bees were to produce section comb honey.

125. It is of equal importance in producing extracted honey that sufficient extracting supers be on hand to prevent the bees from becoming crowded for room at any time during the honey flow. This is necessary, aside from a swarm control measure, because one is not trying to get perfectly capped and white combs of honey as in producing section honey. All the cappings are to be cut off and the honey thrown out of the combs by the extractor in producing extracted honey. This type of honey is sometimes incorrectly called "strained" honey, which term originated from the improper method of cutting the comb out of the frames and squeezing the honey out of the combs. This procedure destroys the combs and prohibits their future use by the bees, necessitating the rebuilding of the combs, at a loss of a great part of the surplus honey crop. In correct practice after the combs are uncapped and extracted, the empty combs may be returned to the bees to be used over and over for many years so long as they remain whole. See figure 52.

126. It might be well to point out again that it is absolutely essential for the beekeeper to really know when plants will come into bloom from which the bees are able to get sufficient surplus to store nectar in the supers. Perhaps there is no more misinformation in the minds of beekeepers than what they think to be the important honey plants of their community. In traveling about the country we find many beekeepers naming a certain plant as important for honey when investigation showed in that locality that the plant sometimes did not even yield nectar because of temperature or soil conditions unfavorable to the plant in that community. Frequently several honey plants are in bloom at the same time, one of them yielding more nectar than all the others put together. Careless observation frequently credits the unimportant honey plant with the secretion of the bulk of the nectar. You will see, then, that unless the beekeeper really is correctly informed about the more important honey plants in his locality, he cannot handle the manipulation of his colonies. They must be brought up to the maximum of strength at the beginning of the honey flow from the most important honey plant.

127. At the beginning of the honey flow all colonies should have been built up to full storing strength. Your problem from that time on is to control swarming without disturbing the colony in any way that will prevent the storing of a maximum amount of honey. It is necessary to give at this point at least one type of swarm control that will work in most localities in connection with producing extracted honey. Your swarm control measure should be such that at the same time an ample outlet is provided for the energy of the bees. In this form of swarm control which is known as the Demaree method, it is necessary to find the queen in each colony that you treat, and she will more than likely at this season be found in the upper hive body. Before the cover is removed, lift off the upper hive body from the lower one, using a small amount of smoke to control the bees. It is recommended to lift off the upper body before removing the cover in order not to frighten the queen and make her run below. The upper hive body when lifted off should be put on an inverted cover to prevent the bees from being crushed as they might be if the body were set directly on the ground. Then remove the cover and with only sufficient smoke to keep the bees below the top bars, examine the frames until the queen is found. If she is not found in the upper body, then look through the lower one for her.