After our first summer as beekeepers, we were fortunate enough to enjoy a moderately successful honey harvest. Jesse collected the full frames from the hive and we brought them into the house to start the messy process of extracting the honey from the comb. Using an electric uncapping knife, we sliced away the waxy caps of the honeycomb to allow the honey to drain out.
The hot knife cuts right through the wax. You can see it starting to ooze out already.
Furthering our investment in beekeeping equipment, we purchased a honey extractor from Mann Lake, Ltd. The extractor holds three frames. Once the frames are uncapped, we placed them into the extractor for spinning. We learned from a demonstration at the State Fair to only partially spin one side out and then turn the frames around and spin the other side out.
The extracted honey sits in the bottom of the drum until opening the drain valve. Passing through a double-strainer, the beautiful golden honey drained into a five-gallon bucket.
After finishing with the extraction process, we were ready to put our honey into containers. We ordered 25 of these great honey bottles from our favorite bee supply company.
The final total for our bees was in excess of 50 pounds of honey. Not too bad for beginners!
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