A BEE thread....for those interested in beekeeping.

[1muttsfan]

I do know that for bears you need a very hot fence, same for pigs

 

[Happy Chooks]

Well, they were starting to draw out comb on the 2nd super, but no honey in it. I only extracted 8 frames because the outer 2 frames were only capped on one side. Now I have to figure out what to do with those frames because I'll need to take the super off the hive to treat for mites.

It's hard to do the work and take pictures, but here is what I got with my phone. It looks like I'll end up with 2 to 2 1/2 gallons of honey. It's still draining and straining, but I came in to have lunch. Keep in mind this is my first time harvesting, so I'm certainly not a pro at this.


I chose to extract in our well house. It is a sealed building with lighting, so it seemed like a good choice. All set up and ready to go:


Borrowed extractor and double sieve ready.


The person I borrowed the extractor from had this homemade cappings tank. My hot knife, which was very handy once I figured out how to use it correctly.


I chose to use a fume board to get the bees out of the supers. I chose the non-toxic spray Fishers Bee Quick. It worked really well, only a few bees left on the frames to brush off. You spray it on the felt on the underside of this board on top, and the bees clear out of the super in 2-5 minutes.


Frames of capped honey.




After I took the knife to them, but before using the cappings scratcher.




Ready to go for a spin.


And the honey begins to flow out of the extractor into the sieve.


Frames after extraction. They went back into the hive for the bees to clean them up.


Getting more honey now. Pretty amber color.


Had to take a break and let the sieve catch up.


Cappings draining into the tub below, so I can take the honey from that too.


I'm glad I did this in the morning, it was starting to get hotter and the bees were less patient. I had the smoker ready to go, but I didn't need it. No stings either, though 1 bee was trying like heck to get me. Overall, it went well. It's not as labor intensive as I expected, though I did think of some ways to improve the process and make it easier. I haven't done the cleanup yet, so we'll see how that goes later today.

 

[1muttsfan]

 

[Happy Chooks]

I have to say, I was really surprised at how much honey came off of the cappings. Now I have a better idea of what I want in my own cappings tank, when I decide to buy one.

 

[3goodeggs]

And now you need to get the candle molds ready!
I did not save cappings when I did honey decades ago.
It never occured to me.
Now that I do plant grafting, I need bee's wax to seal the graft.
I am not tossing any ever again!
My son uses it for black smithing too.

so we have to ... buy it.

Maybe next year I will be cap happy!

 

[sgtmom52]

And now you need to get the candle molds ready!
I did not save cappings when I did honey decades ago.
It never occured to me.
Now that I do plant grafting, I need bee's wax to seal the graft.
I am not tossing any ever again!
My son uses it for black smithing too.

so we have to ... buy it.

Maybe next year I will be cap happy!

Cappings are the best wax ~ fresh, clean and light.

 

[Happy Chooks]

I washed my cappings and put them on paper towels to dry. Now that they are dry and clean, I'll probably store them in a plastic bucket until I can render the wax. I've thought about candles, but I won't have enough yet.

We are in a severe drought, so when we have a good amount of rain, the bees should be able to store more honey. Is 2-ish gallons a good amount from 8 frames?

 

[SillyChicken]

when we extracted our honey, the comb broke away from the frame. So we got a bunch of wax and I can't wait to make some candles. But one of the things I wanted to mention was what we used to uncap our honey. It worked great and we didn't have to mess with a knife etc. we used a hot air gun to pop the caps (melting).. they cooled right away and spun out great! We'll be doing a second batch of honey tomorrow.. love it! This is the color of what will come of the second batch, it's very pungent but tasty!

 

[3goodeggs]

do you use the plastic foundation?
That might have had something to do with the comb breaking away.
I have a hand crank centrifuge , and I would think with our wireless foundation I might need to be less enthusiastic when spinning these than when we had the foundations with the wires in them. The cells are smaller on the plastic ones as well...

Things have changed in the last twenty years. I have a lot to relearn .

What type of honey do you think you have? wild flower?

 

[sunflower4you]

when we extracted our honey, the comb broke away from the frame. So we got a bunch of wax and I can't wait to make some candles. But one of the things I wanted to mention was what we used to uncap our honey. It worked great and we didn't have to mess with a knife etc. we used a hot air gun to pop the caps (melting).. they cooled right away and spun out great! We'll be doing a second batch of honey tomorrow.. love it! This is the color of what will come of the second batch, it's very pungent but tasty!

This is my first year with bees and we had a swarm so they it looks like they are not going to give us any surplus honey this year. But I was intrigued on your heat gun method of removing the caps. Do the caps melt down the frame then? Do you hold the frame tipped at an angle so the caps can drip off? How does this not melt the comb? Sorry for all the questions. I just think it sounds much easier than a hot knife, but I'm trying to figure it out.