Ever wondered how you get that beautiful golden honey away from the bees and into the jar? Well, here is how it's done.
First you must go into the bee boxes to remove the frames. Each bee box has 10 wood frames each holding a foundation that the bees use to build comb. Here Charlie is showing one of the frames that is full of capped honey. When the bees cap their honey with wax, it means that the honey is ready and at the perfect moisture content. Not all the honey frames are removed. Some are left for the bees to use over winter.
The honey frames are then taken away from the bee hive to the extractor. If you try to extract the honey anywhere near the hive outside, the bees will come looking for their honey... not a pretty sight! In this photo, Ben is using a hot knife to cut/melt away the wax caps to expose the honey.
Charlie is using a tool to puncture any caps missed by the hot knife. Just look at all that glistening honey dripping onto the board!
After all the caps are removed, the frames are fastened inside the extractor. This electric extractor will spin with such a force that all the honey will be drawn out the combs. Some extractors are hand cranked... that's when we would put the kids to work taking turns spinning. It's a fun job but it can get pretty old real quick.
As the honey is spun into the extractor drum, it pours out the spout into a straining bucket to be colleted.
As the honey is strained, any foreign particles are removed.
Once all the honey is strained clear and clean is can be poured into jars.
We are so excited about our first year honey. From our single hive, we collected about 62 pounds of honey.. and it is delicious!
