Sunday we spent the afternoon with the bees and extracting honey. Here are a few pics of the process. First, you have to suit up and light the smoker, then head to the hive. We had 2 supers to take frames from. Each super hold 10 frames, and out of those 20 we had about 16 full frames and a couple that were only half full. We replace the frames that we take with new frames for them to start building out. After getting the frames, and getting most of the bees off those frames, we close that box and carry it over to the little “honey house” we have. Inside, we use the hot knife to slice off the top caps of the wax that holds the honey, then we place them in the extractor, which is motorized and spins the frames and all the honey slings out of the frame. When all that’s done, we place the now empty frames outside away from the hive so that the bees will find them and clean all of the remaining honey off the frames. I also take the extractor outside and lay it on it’s side, again, the bees wwill find it and clean it out. I have not bottled all of it yet, we are draining all the caps to get that honey as well, but it’s looking like we will have close to 5 gallons when it’s all said and done!
Do you sell any honey?
Not at this time, we are finally getting enough to take care of what we use for the year, but planning to add a few hives next spring and probably will have way more than we can use, and we will sell that.
Frank
Eventually yes, but not at this time. As we add more hives we will begin to sell honey. Thanks for inquiring!