crimp wire foundation

[sweet bee]

 I'm new at this whole beekeeping deal, so of course I will have more than a few very stupid questions. :-D  But can anyone explain the best way to harvest honey from crimp wire foundation?  It seems to me that the only way will be to cut it out and replace with a new one.  I've just installed two packages a week ago, so I don't expect to be harvesting any honey any time soon.  And since I don't have an extractor I will be using the crush and strain technique. That is possible with crimp wire, right? :?

~Angie

[joebrown]

I use shallow supers. I typically pick out my best frames and cut the comb between the wires. The rectangle formed by the wires, top bar, and bottom bar normally fit perfectly in a pint jar. I will place two pieces of comb in a jar and then fill the jar with strained honey. If you do not want to use comb in the jars, then you can just cut the comb out of the frame. Using the wires as guides may help keep the pieces small and easier to strain. Also, I use pantyhose to strain my comb. They are cheap and extremely tough! To do this, I put as much comb as I can in a half gallon tea pitcher, once full I place the pantyhose over the top of the tea pitcher, flip the pitcher upside down so the comb will start to fall into the pantyhose, and once the pantyhose are full you can crush away. It is important to make sure you get the pantyhose positioned where the honey comb gets to the bottom of the hose (where the toes typically go)! I typically strain the honey in a big bowl and use the bowl to pour the honey into jars, then place the hose outside for the bees to rob. I use to do this before I bought my extractor. It is rough doing large amounts of honey this way but I had to learn to adapt because I do everything my self!

[bee-nuts]

"the crush and strain technique. That is possible with crimp wire, right?"

I guess it would work but if you are going to do crush and strain you would have been better off using PIERCO plastic foundation because you can just scrape the honey comb off of the plastic foundation and stick it back in the hive and not need to buy more foundation.  If you intend to crush and strain in future years as well I would do yourself a favor and buy PIERCO plastic wax coated foundation so you at least dont have to replace it every harvest, and dont have to deal with wires.

[Michael Bush]

>But can anyone explain the best way to harvest honey from crimp wire foundation?  It seems to me that the only way will be to cut it out and replace with a new one.

Or cut it out and turn the wedge sideways and don't replace it so your NEXT crush and strain will go better.

>  I've just installed two packages a week ago, so I don't expect to be harvesting any honey any time soon.  And since I don't have an extractor I will be using the crush and strain technique. That is possible with crimp wire, right?

It's probably easier to remove the crimp wire now that later.  I've done crush and strain with wired comb but I don't like trying to crush it with the wires in the wax... and it's harder to get out.  The foundation you don't need anyway, you just need a guide and the wedge turned sideways will give you that.

[sweet bee]

Well, I thought I would check the prices for an extractor, needlesss to say, I will probably be pro at crush and straining before this is all over with  :-D I think i will be ok with the crimp wire for now because it's in the brood chambers.  When I add shallows next Spring, I may try that Pierco foundation. (providing that I get the hang of this new hobby.) My mom has had a hard time keeping bees in her Top Bar, that I half way expect to walk out to find the bees gone.  But it has been a great week so far.(It's ONLY been a week, seems like much longer :roll: I did a quick check on the hives today and found lots of beautiful white  comb. I didn't want to disrupt them too much so I only looked at a frame or two, mainly checking for SHB...none yet...keeping my fingers crossed :lol:

[bee-nuts]

There is a cheap two frame plastic one made of plastic $115.00

http://www.betterbee.com/Two-Frame-Plastic-Honey-Extractor

No idea if its worth it.

[sweet bee]

Thanks Bee-Nuts,

That may be worth looking into.  It sure beats spending hundred(s) :lol:

[bee-nuts]

Hey a plastic extractor made of plastic.  Imagine that eh!  LOL!

I just about bought that myself once.  I figured worse case scenario I could get half my money back if I wanted to upgrade but I ended up getting a bigger one.  If you are part of a bee club, Im sure someone would buy it used for 60 bucks in a year or two.

[sterling]

>But can anyone explain the best way to harvest honey from crimp wire foundation?  It seems to me that the only way will be to cut it out and replace with a new one.

Or cut it out and turn the wedge sideways and don't replace it so your NEXT crush and strain will go better.

>  I've just installed two packages a week ago, so I don't expect to be harvesting any honey any time soon.  And since I don't have an extractor I will be using the crush and strain technique. That is possible with crimp wire, right?

It's probably easier to remove the crimp wire now that later.  I've done crush and strain with wired comb but I don't like trying to crush it with the wires in the wax... and it's harder to get out.  The foundation you don't need anyway, you just need a guide and the wedge turned sideways will give you that.

I just last week harvested 12 shallow frames from two hives and used Mr. Bushes crush and strain method with the two buckets. It worked great for me. Four of the frames were foundationless with new white wax so I cut them into chunks and put into the jars. I know people who said I could use their extractors but I don't like borrowing others stuff. Just me I guess. I'll prolly buy an extractor later but right now after buying all the other equiptment crush and strain is the way to go for me. :-D