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How To Use A Honey Extractor
A honey super is the part of a beehive where the honey collects. Honey supers normally contain between eight and ten frames. The bees store nectar in the honeycomb of a frame. When the supers are full, the beekeeper takes the full honey supers from the hives and extracts the honey. This takes place in the fall just before winterizing the hive. Honey Extractors consist of a drum that contains a rotating wire basket. Combs that the beekeeper has uncapped (the bees seal full combs with wax) are put in the basket and then the beekeeper turns the basket, either by hand or with the aid of a motor. The honey flies out of the come onto the sides of the drum and then drains through a spigot. Here’s a short version of how to extract honey: Removing the Frames The beekeeper will need certain equipment to get the frames from the hive to wherever he plans to extract the honey. He will need to have all of his protective gear on: a helmet or hat and veil, a bee suit, gloves, etc. He will also need a smoker and hive tool, a hammer, a wheel barrow, trash bags, an empty hive body for each super of honey, a sheet of plywood to cover empty hive bodies and a frame gripper. The supers will have to be taken off the hives and moved to the area where the honey will be extracted. The idea is to get the frames to the honey extracting area without irritating the bees and then getting a honey room full of bees! A smart beekeeper will have all of his equipment ready and line the bottom of a wheelbarrow with plastic to move the heavy frames. The bees need to be lightly smoked. After carefully loosening the hive top with the hive tool and hammer, each super needs to be loosened as well. Once the supers are collected and taken to the honey house, the honey needs to be extracted. Extracting the Honey For extracting honey, the beekeeper will need some more equipment. It’s best to put plastic sheets down on the floor and keep some old newspapers handy. The beekeeper will need an uncapping tank, an electric knife, a five gallon plastic bucket, the extractor, a spatula or scraper, and some wet rags. The plastic sheets are to keep honey off the floor of your honey house. The newspapers are to drop on any of the honey you get on the plastic sheets (this keeps it off your shoes.) Move the frames in the wheelbarrow close to the uncapping tank. The tank should be as close as possible to the extractor. This is a drippy, messy, sticky job so keep the distances that you need to move honey from one place to another short! The frame will be placed on the uncapping tank and a knife will be run down the frame to uncap the frames. Once the frames are uncapped they go into the extractor and the honey is removed. The extracted honey is then run through a strainer from the extractor into the plastic bucket, scraping the sides of the extractor with a spatula. The next step is bottling the honey and cleaning up. Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com My name is Nancy Ketner and I have been fascinated by Bees for as long as I can remember. Beekeeping can be a daunting hobby to start. Understanding Bees, Bee Craft and using Honey Extractors can be difficult. I started Beekeeper Central as a free resource for others who wish to explore Beekeeping as a hobby or small business venture so people can get the most enjoyment they can from Honey Bees. |
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