Honey Harvesting Tips -Who has Some?

[gtrr4]

So this year was my best yet in the five years I've been beekeeping.  I extracted twice, July begin and August Mid.  This is something I do myself, start in the AM, go to 3 yards, bring supers back and set things up to start the process.  I finish cleaning everything up around 10pm.  This totals about 13 hours.  I will list my process and am curious what I can improve on efficiency.  I have 12 producing hives and plan to have 20 next year.  So you can see why I need to shorten the 13 hours.

1. I uncap by hand with an electric heat knife into a plastic Mann Lake uncapping tub.
2. Frames go into a Lyon 8/20 electric extractor, holds about five gallons before I have to open the gate.
3. Honey goes through the typical stainless steel filter into a five gallon bucket.
4. Then I pour that through the 300 micron filter that sits on the bucket. (I do not have a bucket spacer fyi)
5. Seal the bucket, pull the empty frames and repeat.

I also typically bottle the last five gallons depending on where my inventory is at.  I clean everything immediately as I learned leaving it makes the cleanup process harder once the honey cools.  Each of the two extraction were both close to 300lbs.  So does anyone see any efficiency improvements?

[Some Day]

I am going to guess that your bottle neck is the uncapping station followed by the filtering through the 300 micron filter.

I would look at the Simple Harmony Farms Uncapper for a one man operation. 



How warm is your extraction room?   

[gtrr4]

That is pretty slick.  But do you get any capping for wax products?  Any idea how that tool works with frames where the bees have not drawn comb out past the frame?

[Lburou]

Help from friends and family reduces the workload and speed the process. 

[Les]

Now that is sweet!

[Some Day]

That is pretty slick.  But do you get any capping for wax products?  Any idea how that tool works with frames where the bees have not drawn comb out past the frame?

You get very little capping wax compared to using a hot knife.

On newly drawn honey frames I have found that you need to run the frame down into the uncapper and then pull back up at a 30 to 40 degree angle and repeat, pulling up in the opposite direction.  An uncapping fork tool will lift off the caps that are not slit by the uncapping reels.

When placing the extracted wet frames back on a hive they have less work to do getting the cells ready as they have more wax for building material.

Using a hot knife I have had to use an uncapping fork on low lying cells also.  I would guess that this uncapper is at least twice as fast as using  a hot knife,  I haven't really timed it.

[Perry]

I currently use a Kelly vibrating jiggle knife and love how it leaves almost all the frames a nice uniform way. I also have plenty of market for the wax I end up with, but I have to admit I have really looked at this uncapper Some Day posted about and for the money it seems much quicker and cheaper. If I didn't have my Kelly I would have one of those Simple Harmony ones for sure. Almost nothing to break down and seems much faster.

[riverbee]

"So this year was my best yet in the five years I've been beekeeping.  I extracted twice, July begin and August Mid.  This is something I do myself, start in the AM, go to 3 yards, bring supers back and set things up to start the process.  I finish cleaning everything up around 10pm.  This totals about 13 hours.  I will list my process and am curious what I can improve on efficiency.  I have 12 producing hives and plan to have 20 next year.  So you can see why I need to shorten the 13 hours.

1. I uncap by hand with an electric heat knife into a plastic Mann Lake uncapping tub.
2. Frames go into a Lyon 8/20 electric extractor, holds about five gallons before I have to open the gate.
3. Honey goes through the typical stainless steel filter into a five gallon bucket.
4. Then I pour that through the 300 micron filter that sits on the bucket. (I do not have a bucket spacer fyi)
5. Seal the bucket, pull the empty frames and repeat.

I also typically bottle the last five gallons depending on where my inventory is at.  I clean everything immediately as I learned leaving it makes the cleanup process harder once the honey cools.  Each of the two extraction were both close to 300lbs.  So does anyone see any efficiency improvements?"

gttr, i keep no more than 6 hives, but sometimes wind up with 30 supers.  last year, i was blessed with about 750 pounds of honey.
honey extraction is always very laborious and time consuming, as is cleanup.  not sure how anyone can expedite this without help or more efficient equipment, but efficient equipment = help, dollars and still needs cleanup/maintenance.........

 do not leave the honey gate closed on your extractor, not sure why you are doing this?
leave it open to freely flow into your bucket and straining process, as your extractor is running.

this is how i do it: (i sometimes have help which does help in extracting honey)
1. i uncap all the frames using a maxant hand plane into an uncapping tub using this filter in the tub:
    B &B uncapping tub filter
2. after uncapping into the tub, frames go into a 9 frame radial extractor. while those are spinning out i keep uncapping frames with the maxant hand
    plane into the tub, it goes quickly.
3. i use this sieve under the extractor to strain honey into a 5 gallon pail:
    B & B Honey Farm Stainless Steel Double Sieve
4. in the 5 gallon pail below the above sieve i use a nylon pail filter, 100 mesh:
    Nylon Filter Bag
5. buckets are sealed.

i don't bottle anything right away. pails are left to sit and settle, crystallize and freeze during winter months.
when i need a 5 gallon pail of honey, this is what i do:

1. open the 5 gallon pail and scoop off the junk on the top, place lid back on.
2. place a 5 gallon pail heater on and heat until liquid, and heat no more than enough to strain through nylon filtering material.
    pail heater i use:
    B & B 5 gallon pail heater
    nylon filter cloth:
    B & B Nylon Filter Cloth   
3. strain the honey from this pail, using the nylon filter cloth, into a pail with a honey gate (nylon filter cloth draped over the 5 gallon pail secured to the
    pail by bungie cords)
4. let settle for 24 hours or over night. open the lid, scoop off any remaining bubbles, fizz, etc. pop the lid back on, pour honey.

this method gets me very crystal clear honey.

efficiency?  sometimes efficiency is in the end product and the labor to get it there.........
we learn to work efficiently with the tools and help we have available to us. i typically work alone, sometimes with one other person but have learned how to uncap quickly and keep moving to get through the frames and get them uncapped and ready to go.
set up for me is a pain and so is take down and clean up, i think it is for all of us.

[gtrr4]

Thank you for the info RB.  I really like the Harmony device except you do not get any cappings, or very minimal.  The Maxant EUP, it appears to set inside the medium frame so you can get the lesser drawn out comb...and you get the cappings.  I can say that I can not walk away from my extractor to continue uncapping.  1..I have no where to hang or store these dripping drames. 2..My 20 frame extractor likes to jump a lot so I need to hold its hand...lol.  I will utilize the clothe vs my current 300 micron filter.

[LazyBkpr]

14 hives produced honey this year. averaged three supers per hive, not all supers were completely full, but still ended up with about 60 gallons of honey.
   I do it almost exactly like you do.  My extractor is an OLD AI Root galvanized and cast iron extractor, 24 frame refurbished BEAST that doesnt need anyone to hold its hand while it spins.  THAT is a blessing. I have used smaller/newer/thinner and lighter extractors, and given the choice, I will never go back! A good heavy extractor you don't have to coddle will let you do other things while it spins.. start it slow and work it up.
   My bottleneck is the filter.  I run the honey through window screen, then let it settle, and TRY to run it through an 800 micron mesh. I do NOT heat the honey, but have considered it many many times. It would make that part of the process go so much faster... but the... people.... (I am being nice)  who buy most of it are adamant that no artificial heat touches it, so it can be difficult. It usually takes several days of filling the filter and coming back later, clean the filter refill the filter and come back later....  NICE clear natural honey that's never been heated.
   Speed up the process? Yeah, automatic decapper, a pump, a heater, a filter and a bottler.  Ignore Perry he already has all the good stuff!   

[Bakersdozen]

Bucket spacers are easily made by taking a food grade 5 gallon bucket and sawing off the top.  Just determine how tall you want the spacer to be.  I bought 2 buckets from the local BBQ joint.  They do make a difference in the amount of honey you can get into a bucket. 

[tedh]

We've found that running 9 frames in 10 frame supers allows us to use hot knives almost exclusively.  It's not untill we start using the uncapping fork that the filter starts clogging up quickly.  I'm more than willing to admit that this could be a case of operator error and not the fault of the uncapping fork.  Ted

Lazy: Congratulations on the harvest!

[riverbee]

"Thank you for the info RB.  I really like the Harmony device except you do not get any cappings, or very minimal.  The Maxant EUP, it appears to set inside the medium frame so you can get the lesser drawn out comb...and you get the cappings.  I can say that I can not walk away from my extractor to continue uncapping.  1..I have no where to hang or store these dripping drames. 2..My 20 frame extractor likes to jump a lot so I need to hold its hand...lol.  I will utilize the clothe vs my current 300 micron filter."

you are welcome. i do get cappings with the maxant hand plane, because i run 8 frames in a 10 frame medium super for honey.  the plane allows you to set the depth. also, just remember that whatever cappings you cut off, the bees will have to rebuild next season. running 8 frames i get a fair amount of cappings. don't set the plane inside the medium frame, (this is a mistake) just follow the top and bottom bars of the frames and only uncap the cappings above that or less, similar to using a knife. there is a bit of a trick to this, but learned quickly and works quicker than a hot knife.  having used hot knives and this plane, i stuck with the plane. it allows one to choose how much of the cappings one will take off. i use the plane set at a minimum depth.

my extractor gets bolted to a concrete floor. when loaded up i do my best to balance the frames so the extractor is not trying to dance a bit, even when bolted to the floor. i can continue to uncap in the uncapping tub the next frames, i have almost considered purchasing another, but figure i can drink a cool drink when that is loaded waiting for the next batch to spin out and next batch to uncap. maybe use another tub of some sort that your frames can drain into? you are using a 20 frame extractor, so uncapping in one regular uncapping tub is not going to help you to get all of these frames ready for the next spin.  maybe purchase another?  or as i said uncap into something that will help speed the process. you can always scoop the honey out and place in you mann lake tub to filter and drain. just a thought. considered it many times when i have 30 supers to uncap. almost purchased another uncapping tub........lol, it's about where i store all this stuff........

heat is essential when it comes to extracting honey and filtering it whether it be initial extraction or trying to filter from a bucket that has set, crystallized or has been frozen. i don't care about 'purists', apparently those who have never kept bees, claim to be organic or whatever, or those keeps who haven't had enough surplus honey to store and bring back to a liquid state from crystallized or frozen; or those customers who get stuck on purchasing 'raw honey' that has never been heated..... artificial heat?.....i get it scott. wouldn't go to the trouble you do. these folks have no idea about harvesting honey. the 'artificial heat' touches the bucket not the honey...........  

ted, good point on using the ucapping fork and running 9 frames instead of 10.  i think all ought to try moving to 9 frames instead of 10 frames in a honey super, or even 8. many good reasons why. the uncapping fork........i only use this if i missed or get some capped cells i missed or were hard to uncap with the plane, and then all i do is sort of poke at them, not scratch the beejeebers out of these.  this does cause or will also contribute to jamming up a filter. 

[Bakersdozen]

ted, good point on using the ucapping fork and running 9 frames instead of 10.  i think all ought to try moving to 9 frames instead of 10 frames in a honey super, or even 8. many good reasons why.

If I have frames that don't have drawn comb, I use 10 frames.  When they have drawn the comb out, I use 9 frames in honey supers.

[gtrr4]

I have 8 frame hives so I use 7 frames in my supers. I will use one of my filled buckets as a don't for a spacer one emptied.  I will also have to build a base for my extractor.  This will help with the wobbling and also add height to accommodate the spacer addition.

[riverbee]

"If I have frames that don't have drawn comb, I use 10 frames.  When they have drawn the comb out, I use 9 frames in honey supers."

bakers, very good point and very true.
many beeks have learned from starting out to use 10 frames in brood and honey supers in langstroth hives. i only use 9 in brood deeps and 8 in honey supers.....BUT.....when one is starting out with undrawn comb it might be wise to wait until frames are drawn before one starts reducing the number of frames used for honey supers or brood frames.

why are less frames advantageous?  less frames = more space for the bees to draw comb out and fill honey with and a great deal easier to uncap whether it be with a cold knife, a heated knife or hand plane.  also, easier manipulation, but for myself i find that the less frames in drawn frames in honey supers are advantageous for me when it comes to extracting and uncapping them. also, i use an old method for producing thick comb honey with nothing but empty frames. in good years these frames are very thick and very attractive, better than what one will see anywhere for sale anywhere.
as everything else in beekeeping, there is always a learning curve and management of our hives.