Honey Harvest Methods

[charlescfry]

  I am not sure I have found any concise write-ups on this topic - if I need to refer to earlier posts, sorry. But I am interested in the methods people are using to harvest their honey and other hive products. It seems there are three or four "tiers" of production, based on hive numbers. Some folks have a hive or two, and on the other end of the spectrum are commercial honey producers.

  So... where are the borders on hive quantities, and with each, what are people doing to effectively harvest honey and hive products? I am not looking to become a commercial honey producer, but on the other hand we do specialize in food at Fry Farms! How have people chosen to set up and harvest honey? If we grow our modest bee yard to 10 or 20 hives, how should we anticipate harvesting?

  I am interested in the hobbiest view, but I will personally have to balance the efficiency of honey harvest with other harvests I am doing in the fall. If we should buy an extractor, bottling tank, etc - I am sure it is cheaper than a lot of machinery we have to purchase! Bees are an interesting diversion for us - we can sell the honey at farm markets and through direct channels, but it is closer to a hobby than a business line.

  So... any opions about how to get set up for the rewards of our labors? Thanks in advance.

[sc-bee]

Automatic uncapping machines are very expensive just price them (and I would not think needed for 10-20 hives). That puts you back to a knife of one kind or another (I think most use electric knives). Some folks hate them. A storage tank food grade (w/gate valve) if you don't already have them on the farm.

And of course an extractor and uncapping tank. I would bite the bullet and get an electric one, if time is that big of a concern.

I'm sure I missed a few other things :-D.

[Brian D. Bray]

For uncapping, the 1st year or 2, just use a bread knife or 2 and a pan of hot water.  The water keeps the blades warm and free of honey and wax build up.  After uncapping you can feed the water, with honey) back to the bees it came from.

[indypartridge]

My method:
1) Borrowed extractor:  One of the benefits of getting connected with other beekeepers!
2) Church kitchen: Lots of space.
3) Tubs from Target, 5 gallon buckets from WalMart. The buckets are free; ask at the bakery for frosting buckets.
4) Helpers: friends, neighbors, kids, the pastor. An 8 oz honey bear can buy a couple hours labor!

Pictures:
http://s301.photobucket.com/albums/nn64/indypartridge/extracting/

[Scadsobees]

I'm harvesting between 300 and 500 lbs a year, I have about 6 hives.  It takes me pretty much two full days a year to do the harvest. A few hours to get the supers off, then a few hours to extract, a couple to clean up.

I just have a 2 frame manual extractor, and use a series of buckets to strain and store the the honey, and a serrated bread bread knife to uncap.  I really am at the limits of what I can do with my system, and definately want a larger more automatic extractor, I can handle the uncapping and straining at this point.

I too use the free 4 gallon frosting buckets.  Drilled holes in the bottom of one bucket, cut the middle out of the top of another, and with a paint strainer that will filter all of my honey and cappings.

But my bottleneck is the extractor.

Rick

[catfishbill]

hey Charles this is my first year at this and i too was wondering what to do about extracting.i have 8 hives now and saved alot of money building my own hives,but i use plastic foundation so i bit the bullet and bought an hand crank extractor package from dadant knife,uncapping tank,bottling bucket,strainers and all,i guess i looked at it as long term investment.i have been pleased with the whole thing,and have sold just about enough honey to pay for it.plus if we decide we don't want it any more they usually sell pretty quick.hope this helps.
bill

[utahbeekeeper]

Just three hives here but I wanted to bee self sufficient so purchased this Italian 9 frame radial import job.  I sure am happy with it.  3rd year on hand crank and I don't mind it at all.  I found prices and the all important shipping to vary so shop around.  I made a nice uncapping tank/stand out of "nesting" plastic storage bins . . . drilled several 1 inch holes in the inside one and line it with hardware cloth.  Procured a 2 foot long scrap of that counter top material that looks like cutting board, notched it to fit center top of my nested bins and screwed a stainless screw in to pivot frames on for uncapping.  Installed one of those yellow plastic gate valves in the bottom bin to empty honey from when too full.  Use new 5 gallon buckets with the add on screw top lids, and have same valves in each of those.

[Michael Bush]

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesharvest.htm