>
> Producer-packers in Canada are encouraged to put lot numbers on each barrel
> packed but I don't know anyone who does so. Is there an inexpensive machine
> that will apply permanant codes to glass and plastic? This would be much
> more convient than making up seperate labels.
>

Ted;
    It isn't that difficult to mark different lot #'s on your barrels. Provide
a spot on your label for lot #'s, just writing the numbers on the lid won't
work anymore.  Something else we do, and alot of other commercial honey
producers do, is to mark each lot of drums we fill each day with a sequential
number followed by a letter. The letter is for tracking the honey back to the
yards we pulled the honey from. So there is a corresponding letter in the daily
diary for that grouping of yards. It would be quite difficult to track back to
each individual yard, but it is quite easy to track on a daily basis. Lot
numbers are load numbers, letters are for yard tracking. We also mark our
barrels with 1,2,3,or 4 as a lead number for which pull they came from. Example
1-247H, would be 1st pull, barrel #247, extracted from the supers we brought in
on day H. Hope this helps clear up marking honey drums for you.
Tim

P.S. We don't always start each year at number 001, we normally carry on from
where we left off the year before.