Post by roadrunner on Aug 21, 2013 9:15:46 GMT
We have now finished taking off the honey so time for an update.
The top Bar hives have been given away.
We artificially swarmed one hive so now have 4 x hives in use.
Our "Bait Hive" did not attract any swarms this year.
The last inspection 3-days ago revealed that 2 of our hives are Queenless. I believe that one of our hives may have swarmed and the new queen didn't make it. The other one has so many bees in it I do not believe it has swarmed so it is possible I killed the queen during manipulation.
I intend to introduce 2 x new queens when they become available from "Mikes" sister company, we are now awaiting an email to tell us that they are back in stock.
Honey production has been good insofar as we have 3 x hives producing honey and we have taken off around 160lbs. (In comparison in 2011 we took 175Lbs from 2 x hives).
The main reason for writing is to update you on our new method of honey extraction; which was:
1. Remove foundation from the majority of frames. (I only retained frames already fitted with new foundation).
2. Pin half round moulding under some of the frames (I have a reference book that states bees will attach their honeycomb to a piece of curved moulding and this will keep the honeycomb straight). In the final event the moulding appeared to make no difference and the honey filled frames looked no different from those with foundation, regardless of whether they had half round moulding or not.
3. Do away with the honey extractor, I had a local engineering firm make me a draining tray out of 1.5mm thick food grade stainless steel. (Further details below).
Method of honey extraction:
1. Set up the draining tray on a slight slope I used books to support it at the correct angle on our kitchen table.
2. Position a double mesh drainer (£10- from our bee supplies shop) in a bucket fitted with a tap and place it under the narrow end of the drainer.
3. Hold the frame over the drainer and cut the comb out of the frames.
4. Mash the comb to allow the honey to drain. The tray will take 16 frames of honey at a time.
5. After draining overnight nearly all the honey is removed from the comb so collect the comb and place it in a big plastic tray on the garden table in the middle of the lawn and let the bees clean the remnants of the honey off the fragments of comb.
6. Repeat as often as necessary processing the contents of 2 x supers (16 x frames) per day
Why did we use this method of honey extraction?
1. We had previously harvested loads of honey and hardly any wax.
2. We wanted more wax and were prepared to sacrifice honey to gain extra wax.
3. I was fed up with extracting honey with a manual extractor.
4. I was fed up of buying foundation and getting sticky fingers fitting it in old frames.
Details of our honey training tray:
It is made of a triangular shaped piece of food grade stainless steel which is 38" wide x 48" long, a 2" strip along each of the long sides are turned upwards and a 2" strip along each of the short sides are turned downwards, all corners have a half inch radius. This gives a tray size of 34" x 44". The cost to have it professionally made was £40- which included the material and labour. It was laser cut from the original sheet so there are no sharp edges.
Was it successful ?
In our opinion it most certainly was and the spinner has been stored in the attic pending its sale.
We still get more than enough honey and now we have lots of wax. I have now designed a "Solar Wax Extractor" the tray of which is currently being made in the same material by the same firm. If it works as well as I think it will I will post details in the Forum.
The top Bar hives have been given away.
We artificially swarmed one hive so now have 4 x hives in use.
Our "Bait Hive" did not attract any swarms this year.
The last inspection 3-days ago revealed that 2 of our hives are Queenless. I believe that one of our hives may have swarmed and the new queen didn't make it. The other one has so many bees in it I do not believe it has swarmed so it is possible I killed the queen during manipulation.
I intend to introduce 2 x new queens when they become available from "Mikes" sister company, we are now awaiting an email to tell us that they are back in stock.
Honey production has been good insofar as we have 3 x hives producing honey and we have taken off around 160lbs. (In comparison in 2011 we took 175Lbs from 2 x hives).
The main reason for writing is to update you on our new method of honey extraction; which was:
1. Remove foundation from the majority of frames. (I only retained frames already fitted with new foundation).
2. Pin half round moulding under some of the frames (I have a reference book that states bees will attach their honeycomb to a piece of curved moulding and this will keep the honeycomb straight). In the final event the moulding appeared to make no difference and the honey filled frames looked no different from those with foundation, regardless of whether they had half round moulding or not.
3. Do away with the honey extractor, I had a local engineering firm make me a draining tray out of 1.5mm thick food grade stainless steel. (Further details below).
Method of honey extraction:
1. Set up the draining tray on a slight slope I used books to support it at the correct angle on our kitchen table.
2. Position a double mesh drainer (£10- from our bee supplies shop) in a bucket fitted with a tap and place it under the narrow end of the drainer.
3. Hold the frame over the drainer and cut the comb out of the frames.
4. Mash the comb to allow the honey to drain. The tray will take 16 frames of honey at a time.
5. After draining overnight nearly all the honey is removed from the comb so collect the comb and place it in a big plastic tray on the garden table in the middle of the lawn and let the bees clean the remnants of the honey off the fragments of comb.
6. Repeat as often as necessary processing the contents of 2 x supers (16 x frames) per day
Why did we use this method of honey extraction?
1. We had previously harvested loads of honey and hardly any wax.
2. We wanted more wax and were prepared to sacrifice honey to gain extra wax.
3. I was fed up with extracting honey with a manual extractor.
4. I was fed up of buying foundation and getting sticky fingers fitting it in old frames.
Details of our honey training tray:
It is made of a triangular shaped piece of food grade stainless steel which is 38" wide x 48" long, a 2" strip along each of the long sides are turned upwards and a 2" strip along each of the short sides are turned downwards, all corners have a half inch radius. This gives a tray size of 34" x 44". The cost to have it professionally made was £40- which included the material and labour. It was laser cut from the original sheet so there are no sharp edges.
Was it successful ?
In our opinion it most certainly was and the spinner has been stored in the attic pending its sale.
We still get more than enough honey and now we have lots of wax. I have now designed a "Solar Wax Extractor" the tray of which is currently being made in the same material by the same firm. If it works as well as I think it will I will post details in the Forum.