Comb Honey Production
“Heart of the Flow” Plan
for producers of extract honey who want to diversify with comb honey
Select strong hives which are already producing extracting honey, obviously not preparing to swarm; and shift temporarily to comb honey production by replacing the extracting supers with two or three comb
honey supers. The extracting supers are stored elsewhere; one partially filled extracting super on top of the comb supers is desirable. When the comb honey super(s) are full, remove and return the
extracting supers.
The “Juniper Hill” Plan
for full season comb honey production
Spectacular results may be expected when using the basic Juniper Hill Plan. Four or five supers of honey in the Halfcomb may be expected in most regions on strong hives and much more in prime regions,
weather permitting.
Comb honey production by the Juniper Hill Plan together with Halfcomb cassettes is no longer tedious, labor intensive or swarm prone -- comparable to extracted honey production.
Further by this plan, comb honey production does not require that beekeepers be specialists with knowledge of honeybee biology and behavior. The bees are induced and/or enabled by procedural design to
perform the necessary steps in the right order. Published as Plan B in the American Bee Journal (Feb. 2005), this procedure is the shortest possible comb honey method as well as the least labor intensive.
Procedure
The plan is started in the spring after the threat of brood chilling cold is past and before swarm cell construction begins. The queen of a double brood chamber hive is confined for 16 days in one of the
brood chambers (#2) placed at the top over an excluder. A notch in the excluder rim or a small auger hole is needed to allow the drones exit above the excluder. An empty Halfcomb super, a shallow food or
extracting super, and the other brood chamber (#1) with brood in all stages, follow in that order, as illustrated.
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The queen is confined in the top chamber at a distance from some of her brood in
the bottom chamber.
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The bees build supersedure queen cells in the bottom queenlesss brood chamber (#1) from which a virgin
queen is produced, already in place for comb honey production. The first virgin to hatch destroys all sister cells for you before the end of the 16-day confinement.
On day 16, before the virgin below is ready to mate, the top queenright brood chamber (#2) is set down to
the side on its own bottom board, facing rear. The excluder is removed. The field bees return to the parent stand. There has been an interruption in the continuity of brood rearing in #1, which continues until egg
laying is resumed. This is the most reliable swarm prevention measure known.
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The field bees return and are crowded into the parent stand after the set-down split.
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When the virgin on the parent honey producing stand (#1) mates and begins to lay, honey stockpiled in vacated brood cells is rushed up into the comb honey super(s) to make room for the queen to lay - an
artificial flow which is a sign of successful mating. Be prepared to add another super or two promptly. Also, the side hive will likely need a super before the splits are reunited.
With only young bees and brood, the side hive is in the best possible condition to accept a new queen if replacement for stock improvement is elected.
After the new queen is known to have brood in all stages (approximately 5 weeks) the two queenright brood chambers are reunited. With all supers on top, comb honey production is continued over a powerful
two-queen colony, or the bees of two queens since only one queen will survive eventually. The reunion
restores the now depleted forager population on the parent stand cause by the interruption in brood rearing at the outset.
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