Extracting Honey

Finally we are doing our 2013 honey extraction!  This is what we are all about here on Honey B Farm.  We have been so busy the last couple weeks, it's been hard to find time to get the supers off the hives, and get our honey done for the year.  The last two evenings we have extracted honey, and we have done about 90 pounds so far.  We expect to get somewhere around 250 lbs this year - not a real good year as the summer was very dry and hot and the wildflowers were not as abundant as they usually are.  Last year we got about 300 lbs.  We should fill up about 6 buckets full of honey.   This year's honey has a very strong clover taste and a little darker than last year.   All the various clovers were about the only plants blooming during the hot dry summer.  But it is good tasting honey and we are pleased with it!
     For the next week or so, my kitchen will be a sticky, messy place to be.  We have the honey supers stacked up on the kitchen table, and equipment scattered all over.   We do a little bit each day and should have it all extracted by the end of the week.  A radial extractor is used that will accommodate 18 frames, and they are spun out by centrifugal force.  We accumulate a lot of wax/honey combination, and that is filtered again, and that honey is what I use in cooking (I put honey in all my breads and also many cookies).  The wax is then melted into a large block and used for candle making.  When we're all done with extracting, we take the hive boxes and extractor outside and let the bees clean up the residue.  Then everything is washed and cleaned and put away until next year.  Here are some pictures to help explain the extraction process.

The honey supers are stacked on the kitchen table.

Harold uses a hot knife to cut off the wax cappings (the bees seal up the honey with wax)

A close-up of the capped honey.  When the wax is removed, the honey is in the frame.

The frames of honey are placed in the radial extractor

The honey is filtered through a 600 micron mesh filter into a honey bucket

Harold turns the crank on the radial extractor (while my Mom looks on).  Two honey buckets are almost filled.

A container full of wax cappings and plenty of honey still left in the wax before refiltering