First time extracting opinions needed

rookie2531 · July 23, 2016, 07:58:56 PM

Hello all, I know it's been awhile, but day job, life and starting bee business have taken their share of my time.
Anyway, I am on year 3 and finally have a couple hives that I let fill a couple boxes up for me. One is a deep and the other is a medium. All 20 frames are full and capped. I haven't extracted any honey from my girls yet, because splitting and selling nucs took president, plus first 2 years, I fed and it would have been mixed. No feeding this year, so it all should be good 100% honey.
I have 20 queen right hives going, some double deep strong, some 5 frame nuc weak. But, looking at extractors and saw a 2 frame hand crank real cheap. 89.00 - 109.00.
If I do any extracting this year, it will only be 10 deeps and 10 mediums.
Do you think I should buy the cheapo, just for this year's harvest. I'm thinking, that the harvest will pay for it. And if I get alot more next year, just buy another/ different one?
Also, I don't want to spend a ton on the best one as I am getting ready to quit the time sucking job and get another less time consuming job, but this means less money in the bank.
Thoughts?

cao · July 23, 2016, 10:23:47 PM

I was lucky enough to get an older Kelley's hand crank 3-frame extractor for $100 at an auction several years ago. I works just fine for me. The last 3 years I've harvested 15 gal, 8 gal, and 6 gal (with one more harvest this year). I would say get the cheap one. Until you get to harvesting dozens of supers full of honey, you can get by with a small one. If you are planning on expanding, put your money from honey sales aside to pay for a larger one later when you need it. Then you can sell your smaller one to someone who is just starting out and wants one.

iddee · July 23, 2016, 11:01:23 PM

Buy the little one. Even after you expand, you will have times you only have a super or two to do. It will always come in handy.

rookie2531 · July 23, 2016, 11:17:11 PM

Thanks to both for helping me decide. I think I will order it tomorrow. It has been a long patient wait and I will be super excited when I finally get to jar up my own honey.

BeeMaster2 · July 27, 2016, 01:45:59 PM

Rookie,
I have an 18 frame motorized extractor (9/18) with 12 hives. I only have on average, 10 to 12 hives. I usually extract 3 times a year. Each strong hive can produce 2 medium supers per extraction. I would not want to have to extract all of that with a 2 frame extractor especially since you already have 20 hives. One good year and you will have at least 40 maybe 80 supers to extract.
Jim

rookie2531 · July 27, 2016, 02:22:41 PM

I definitely won't want to extract 400-800 frames, two at a time. If it comes to that, I will upgrade, but think I will wait for the girls to pay for it, through the sale of their honey. And I can't wait to get that much, that must be awesome.

divemaster1963 · July 28, 2016, 03:16:12 AM

Ditto on pulling trigger on getting the bigist extractor you can get. I hate having to do three or four frames and having to flip frames to extract other side. Get a radial extractor . I made mine took about four months .but I made the wooden barrel myself. I plan to build my honey house around the setup. My extractor can do six deep frames or twelve med. Or super frames..

John

GSF · July 28, 2016, 08:31:10 AM

When I first started I went ahead and dove in deep. I got the Mann Lake 18/9 extractor. I also modified my order and it came with both options; motorized & hand cranked. I've never regretted it. The bees had everything paid off in their 3rd season.

Michael Bush · July 28, 2016, 10:32:33 AM

There are a lot of situations where you would think there would be trade offs and happy mediums. But in my opinion you should buy the largest extractor that will fit through your door. If you can't afford it, then you don't really need an extractor yet... My 9/18 just fits through my kitchen door.

KeyLargoBees · July 28, 2016, 11:00:18 AM

+1 to MB .....buy what you can afford and fit. If you figure your time is worth $20 an hour that motorized larger extractor pays for itself in 2-3 harvests.

Beeboy01 · July 29, 2016, 04:45:04 PM

Three years ago I ended up extracting 4 deeps and 6 shallows in one day using a 1960's hand cranked Kelly reversible. I run 9 frames per box but it still took me a good 12 hours to pull all that honey. Got close to 40 gallons but a bigger extractor would of made my life a lot easier.
If you have 20 hives and only 75% of them produce a super you are still looking at 15 full supers of honey. I would think getting a small extractor would just take up too much time and energy, at least get a radial not one where you need to flip the frames by hand.
I'm still using that old Kelly but have downsized the number of hives I'm tending thanks to a SHB attack two years ago, four or five hives is all I need for my bee fix. Luck with your decision.