extracting honey for newbees

[stella]

Im wondering if and when I get to the point of collecting honey, how do you do it if you have no equipment? I have plastic foundation frames. Would I need to have a heated capping knife? And then just let the honey drip out into a clean container? Then toss those frames or can they be reused?

[Francus]

Crush and strain. That's the options I'm going with. You can make the equipment or buy it. A good setup with fine mesh and all the trimmings can be found online for around $60.

[Hethen57]

Use a stiff plastic spatula to scrape off the cells of honey from the frame, mash up cells on a large plastic cutting board or big pot or bowl, then strain through a Home Depot paint strainer into a bottling bucket, let sit for a day or two to let the bubbles and particles settle out, then bottle.  It can be done very inexpensively and you can end up with a really nice product.  Let bees clean up the frames.

[Bee-Bop]

Follow, Hethen57's advice, then Reuse the frames !

Bee-Bop

[AllenF]

Ditto

[stella]

Thanks!

[mikecva]

If there is a beekeepers club near you, they might let you go over and use their extractor. Clubs are also a great way to get some advise and training.  -Mike

[indypartridge]

If there is a beekeepers club near you, they might let you go over and use their extractor.

I've borrowed several extractors over the years. Even if there's not a "club extractor", belonging to a club will connect you with members who will loan you an extractor. I know generous beeks who will loan you an extractor for free - just return it clean; others who will loan you one in exchange for some of the honey, and one who loan his out in exchange for an hour's work in his beeyard.

[VolunteerK9]

Or if you prefer a video....

http://beekeeperlinda.blogspot.com/2007/06/honey-harvest-crush-and-strain.html

[Kathyp]

lindas video is great.  i got a large bakers pan at a garage sale.  it's about 2X the size of a cookie sheet and deeper.  it's great for crush and strain.  i use a cullender over paint strainers, over bucket.  do it on a warm day.  be prepared to let it sit and drip for at least 24 hours.  works very well.  i do it with cutout comb, messed up supers, etc.

[beewitch]

I just harvested my first honey using Linda's crush method and it worked like a dream.  This weekend I'm trying her solar melter for the beeswax.  Go forth and harvest!

[stella]

I do belong to a local beek ass. but I feel the group is too advanced for me. I need beginners help and they are veteran beeks, now involved in the county fair and putting out bulletins and such.  More talking about meeting rhetoric than beekeeping. I havent been able to take much away from the meetings so I stopped going.

I watched the video but I have plastic foundation. How do I manage to extract from those? Cut off the caps and let it drain out (is that what hethen meant? I should just scrape it off down to the plastic foundation)? Or cut out the entire plastic foundation and crush it?

Sorry to be such a bother.

[sc-bee]

Scrape it down and crush and strain ---- let the bees clean your plastic and reuse.

[mikecva]

The slowest way would be to use your decapping tool/rake and remove only the caps and let it all drain out, this will save the comb. But since the bees will clean your foundation and repair your damaged comb, you might want to use your rake tool, rake down to the foundation the put your frames and comb in a warm place to drain (after crushing the comb). Note: you do not want your draining honey to be accessible to the bees or you risk a robbing frenzy.   -Mike

[tillie]

If I had plastic foundation and wanted to crush and strain, I'd take a bench knife(it's a rectangle - not sharp about 6inches by 3 inches) and scrape the honey off of the plastic into a pan to crush it.  You could use a spatula like you'd take cookies out of the oven with if you don't have  a bench knife or something similar.

Then next year try using foundationless frames and see how easy it is!

Linda T in Atlanta

[Mason]

I crushed and strained for a couple of years.  I didn't have much honey and it was probably the best decision.  This year I pulled the trigger on a beginner extractor and some other equipment.  It turned out to be a good move.  I saved my comb and was able to harvest about 60lbs in June and another 70lbs last week.  At $8 per lb do the math.  Plus you don't waste all your built out comb which ultimately gets you more honey.  The crush and strain strainer and bucket is something your going to need even if you use an extractor so it's a good purchase.

[Hethen57]

Even with an extractor, I still use both methods.  If I'm only pulling 5-10 frames, I will just crush and strain. I also crush and strain if I am going to cull out some honey combs that are built funky or too fat for normal spacing.

[stella]

Thank you all so very much!

[Michael Bush]

>The slowest way would be to use your decapping tool/rake and remove only the caps and let it all drain out, this will save the comb.

When I have tried this, I have never seen any significant amount drain out no matter how long you wait.  The surface tension of the honey exceeds the pull of gravity.

[sc-bee]

  I saved my comb and was able to harvest about 60lbs in June and another 70lbs last week.  At $8 per lb do the math. 

$8 a pound :jawdrop: