Last Wednesday I was part of a panel on ways to harvest honey. I talked about harvesting without an extractor. Below is the slideshow of slides I used for my part of this. Each type of harvest has been more extensively talked about on this blog previously and most can be found in the video/slideshow bar on the side.
Here are my slides illustrating four ways to harvest honey without an extractor:
Click on the slideshow to see captions for each picture.
I have detailed slide shows and videos on all of these ways on the sidebar on the right.
Crush and Strain Honey Harvest
Cut Comb Honey
Chunk Honey
Jar to Jar several links: one, two, three
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Linda: I'm a year behind you in the beekeeping learning curve, and what a help your site has been.
ReplyDeleteI'm also from Georgia, a quilter and a psychologist. I wonder what ties all those together.
I just used your "crush and strain" to harvest my first honey. It worked well, and is of course..delicious! I'm looking forward to trying the wax melter this weekend.
Thank you!!!
Thank you for your helpful video.
ReplyDeleteIt is so much easier to get a new idea w/ pictures!
Mrs Linda,if you have 50 hives,you cannot solve harvest problem at this way, I wish you easaly jobs anyway.Best regards
ReplyDeleteIf you're not using natural beeswax foundation can you do this by scraping the comb off of it?
ReplyDeleteThose photos and comments were wonderful! I have two hives and just can't see justifying the cost of an extractor, even a used one. I love this idea. Of course, the bees would have to draw out the comb again rather than working with emptied cells, but it's a way for use neophytes to get started. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThe jar to jar method is not dependable - sometimes the filtering material does not actually allow the honey to go through. But it always works if you put a metal tea strainer between the jars.
ReplyDeleteHow often do you extract honey from your hives?
ReplyDeleteI harvest honey when a super is full of fully capped frames. So there's no predetermined frequency - it's up to the bees and the nectar flow.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the photos! First honey harvest here...very helpful to see your process. :)
ReplyDeleteLinda, Thank you very much for your blog! A friend who is a beekeeper gave me a capped super because she had to make some room in her hive and didn't have time to extract the honey before going on vacation. I followed your instructions using the 2 jars process and heating up my house. It worked beautifully. Your photos are very useful! Note: I found the honey dripped easier if the jars were tilted at an angle.
ReplyDeleteI propped up the jars by the heater (on a chair), making sure they wouldn't slide down.
Thanks again for generously sharing your knowledge.
Hello Linda, my name is Kyle and I am14, I live in Scotland and I want to start 'farming for honey'. Can I ask how many times a year do you extract honey from your hives and is there a way that allows me to just have supers' and not to have brokered too?
ReplyDeleteThanks,
Kyle
Hi Kyle, I only harvest honey once a year. How often you can harvest depends on the nectar flow where you are - we only have one significant nectar flow in Atlanta. I don't know what you mean by "not to have brokered too?" so I'm afraid I can't answer your question. You do need supers on your hive to allow the bees to grow and store resources. But I don't know what brokered means.
ReplyDelete*brooders, sorry! Also where do I get all of the equipment and get advice?
ReplyDeleteKyle
When we harvest honey, what we are doing it taking extra honey that the bees won't require to get through the winter. You can't simply raise bees to get honey because they make honey for their brood and to feed themselves in the winter when nothing is in bloom. The beekeeper is lucky because if we give them space to store it, and if there is a nectar flow, the bees will keep storing honey beyond what they need to survive the winter. That extra honey is what the beekeeper harvests. I encourage you to get a good beginner bee book - The Complete Idiot's Guide to Beekeeping is good and Keith Delaplane's First Lessons in Beekeeping is good. Also see if there is a local bee club near you. It's invaluable to learn directly from other beekeepers. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteHello Linda, thanks for your advice!! I have one more thing to ask! For example; if you have 3 supers will all of them get filled with honey? I mean if you have 1 super, it will get filled with honey after a while, but what if you have 3 supers will they all get filled?
ReplyDeleteAlso how long does it take them to fill 1 super?
Hello again Linda! Your advice is great! I have some more questions that I hope you can answer for me! This one may puzzle you a bit; if I had 3 supers ( for honey) on my hive instead of 1 would they all get filled with honey? If I had 1 super it would fill with honey bur if I had 3 would they fill? How long does it take the bees to fill a super with honey? Where do we take the honey from if the bees need some too?
ReplyDeleteThanks
Kyle
Kyle, How much honey the bees store si completely dependent on the nectar flow. They can only make honey if nectar is available. Bee books or a basic beginner course would really help you in understanding all of this. As I said earlier, we take extra honey that the bees store. There are guidelines for your specific area about how much honey should be left on the hive for the winter - the rest it's OK for the beekeeper to take. Your local bee club should be able to tell you how much to leave on the hive. In Atlanta where we have mild winters, I overwinter with three mediums.
ReplyDeleteLinda, Are you aware of a primitive device with which to spin one Langstroth style frame? I have read about and seen a picture of such a device; but I cannot find the device on the internet. Thanks your help.
ReplyDeleteLonnie W. Funderburg
Hi Linda,
ReplyDeleteWhen you stated " I overwinter with three mediums" are you referring to frames or supers?
Thanks
Cecil
Three medium supers. I don't use deeps - so I typically overwinter with the bees in three boxes - all medium boxes.
ReplyDelete