Comb honey

Comb honey is produced by honeybees in a hive. The bees fill the hexagon shaped wax cells of the honeycomb with honey and cap it with beeswax. Before the invention of honey extractor almost all honey produced was in the form of comb honey. Now, only very little honey is produced as comb honey. Comb honey production requires good bee keeping skills. It cannot be easily mechanized and is therefore quite labor intensive. Comb honey production is more suitable for areas with a prolonged honeyflow from dutch clover , alsike , and yellow clover . Areas that are wooded are not very suitable for comb honey production as bees tend to collect much propolis which makes the harvesting of comb honey much more difficult.

Hive management

The colony is reduced to one hive body at the beginning of the honeyflow when the first honey super is added. Comb honey can either be produced in sections, shallow frames or Ross Rounds. Ross Rounds are likely the most popular comb honey production of 2005. The successful production of comb honey requires that the hive remains somewhat crowded without overcrowding which leads to swarming.

Sources: The hive and the honeybee, Chapter 16 The Production of Comb and Bulk Comb Honey by Carl E. Killion, 1975 published by Dadant