Honey Harvest 2013 Part 1

We've had such a cool spring which transitioned into a very wet period that I was concerned if we'd ever get a warm, dry day for harvesting. Today turned out to be a very lovely, sunny and super warm day - perfect for keeping the honey thin and flowing easily from the comb.

We harvested 11 frames today and there are another dozen or so that will be ready in a few weeks. The frames we didn't harvest had a large number of uncapped cells and, while it is okay to include some when harvesting, those uncapped cells mean that the nectar is not yet honey and has a higher moisture content. That additional moisture is what will cause honey to crystallize quicker than desired.

This being our third year with a harvest, we've got the system down pretty good. We remove frames one at a time from the hive boxes, brushing off any bees and placing the frame in a holding box placed 40 feet or so from the hive with a cover on the box. If we didn't locate the holding box some distance away and left it uncovered, the bees will find it and we'd have to brush them away all over again.

Once done removing the frames from the hive, we set up our workstation on the back deck as we like to keep the covered holding box and extractor in the sun. Honey can be quite thick and is easier to extract when warmed by the sun.

I was lucky to purchase a heat knife at a yard sale which makes uncapping the honey a breeze! Holding the frame on end and working over a cookie sheet, I slide the knife along the sides of the frame from top to bottom, letting the wax roll and fall onto the cookie sheet. These cappings are placed in a metal mesh strainer that has been placed over a baking pan and covered with an old kitchen towel. Leaving the cappings exposed would lure flies, bees and other insects so we're careful to keep everything covered.


Our extractor holds two frames at a time. Cells of the honeycomb actually angle upwards slightly so frames need to be placed in the extractor in the right direction for the honey to be easily flung out when spinning.


Transferring the honey from the extractor to the holding bucket, we strain it through a finer metal mesh strainer to catch any bits of wax that may have come off the comb in the process.


After straining, we jar up the honey in various sizes to give to family and friends. We extracted about 50 pounds of honey from 11 frames today and bottled it into 12 half-pints, 6 pints and 10 quarts. This is about half of what we harvested last year so we're on target for a great harvest this year with what will be ready in a few weeks.

It took us about 3 hours to pull the frames, extract the honey, bottle it and clean everything up, and we managed to do so with only one bee finding us at work on the back deck.