Managing bees for cut comb or chunk honey is relatively simple, but coaxing them into other containers is a different story. Unless a colony is prepared for sections or jars, you will often see a dozen bees examine the supers, indifferent and bored. This can go on all season: you think your colony is not […] Read more
The next step up from cut comb honey is chunk honey . . . or maybe it’s a step down. I’m not sure which it is because, even though I totally get the idea of comb honey, I am mystified by chunk honey. If you are not familiar with the term, chunk honey is simply […] Read more
By far the easiest type of comb honey to produce is called “cut comb.” It requires no special hive equipment nor any special bee-handling techniques. It can be obtained from just about any type of hive and the options for packaging are many. Since the requirements are few, it is the most economical comb honey […] Read more
When you plan to make comb honey, you must decide whether to use foundation. A decision for or against will have a bearing on the type of comb honey you make. If you are opposed to any amount of foundation whatsoever, you will probably need to stick with cut combs, chunk honey, or Bee-O-Pacs. If […] Read more
Did you ever watch customers sort through pieces of comb honey? They want the wax to be nearly white, they want the piece to be heavy, they want dry cappings, they want the cells perfectly formed, they want as few leakers as possible and no empties. How do I know this? Well, I have been […] Read more
So you want to make comb honey. Well, I know many of you don’t care about comb honey, but an entire cadre of readers has been hassling me for nearly four years to write this series. However, since this is your idea of what I should do, instead of mine, there are rules. That’s right, […] Read more
“I plan on starting my first hive next spring. In researching which type to start with I found the top bar and liked it because I like the idea of comb honey. Reading on your site, I found two articles about using foundationless Langstroth frames. For the less-than-novice beginner, which would you suggest between those […] Read more