Harvesting the Honey

By vine | August 23rd, 2010

Apparently the whole reason to set up, maintain, and stock a beehive is to collect honey. You will know that it is time to gather the honey if you look in one of your hives supers and discover that the frames are filled with honey combs that your bees have covered with wax caps.

Now all you should do is remove the honey combs.

Harvesting honey won’t be a problem as long as your have on all of your beekeeping suit, have on light coloured clothing (beekeepers claim that lighter coloured clothes have a soothing affect on bees) and stay calm.

If the super is filled with capped honey combs you’ll have to take out the bees from that super. There are chemicals offered on the market that would make this simpler. One popular chemical that beekeepers use to take out bees from the super is Bee-Go. All beekeepers must do is apply Bee-Go to a fumer board. When the bees smell the Bee-Go they go to the bottom of the hive, leaving the super filled with capped honeycombs bare for you to harvest. One more product beekeepers utilize to empty supers is one known as Fishers Bee Quick. Neither of those products hurt the bees, the bees just find the odor unpleasant and move away from it.

Now that you are in possession of the honey comb you must prepare it to be taken out. The first step on this groundwork is to take out the wax caps the bees have used to stick the honey into the honey comb. Lots of beekeepers favor to make use of 9 frames instead of 10 in their supers. Through the use of nine frames they give the bees sufficient space to get the comb out, putting the cap right on the very rim of the comb. This makes it simpler to remove the wax caps. Beekeepers make use of a metal knife to remove the caps, the knife is really efficient if the knife blade is warmed, after all its easier to cut warm wax then it’s to cut cold wax. You possibly can keep the knife blade heated by means of frequent dipping in a basin that is full of hot water. Several beekeepers prefer to make use of their bread knife to remove the wax caps from the honey comb while other beekeepers choose an electrical knife that’s meant only for beekeepers. What do you think bee’s wax candles are made out of. Removing the caps from the drenched honey is easy, simply use a piece of cheese cloth to empty the contents into a second pot, the honey would drain through the cheesecloth and the bee’s wax caps would gather on the top.

Once the caps are taken out from the honey comb the honey is able to be removed.

As  you remove the caps, let them fall right into a pot, do not simply through them away. You’ll discover that there’s a shocking quantity of honey connected to those caps, honey that can be processed and made use of. Additionally there is a market for the wax caps. Once the caps have been taken out from the honeycombs the honey combs are ready to have the honey taken out.