Tuckered out.

[rcannon]

I pulled all my honey Friday and me, Dad and one of the boys spent Saturday extracting. We put 1300 lbs in buckets. That's the most I've ever extracted in one day. It's painfully clear that I have outgrown my equipment. We worked from daylight until 10 pm ( Dad quit at 9. Had all the fun he could stand). Then I spent most of today cleaning up. I am tired as can be.
Before the fall flow, I'm seriously considering investing in another extractor and maybe an uncapper. I've got to manage the process a little more efficiently.

[Jen]

Hiya Mr. Rcannon,  how many hives are you running these days? I've been pondering an electric extractor.

[Perry]

Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.

[Wandering Man]

Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.

And the new building, new equipment, new market stand ....

But the same old truck.

[Perry]

Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.

And the new building, new equipment, new market stand ....

But the same old truck.

 

[kebee]

Hey don't knot the truck, for I have a chevorlet that is 20 years old  and just made a 200 mile trip with it  with only gas mileage to worry about and I believe it has another 20 years left in it.

Ken

[Bakersdozen]

I pulled all my honey Friday and me, Dad and one of the boys spent Saturday extracting. We put 1300 lbs in buckets. That's the most I've ever extracted in one day. It's painfully clear that I have outgrown my equipment. We worked from daylight until 10 pm ( Dad quit at 9. Had all the fun he could stand). Then I spent most of today cleaning up. I am tired as can be.
Before the fall flow, I'm seriously considering investing in another extractor and maybe an uncapper. I've got to manage the process a little more efficiently.

Somehow, I don't feel sorry for you...  
No, more like envious!  Your predicament is something many would like to have. 
Have you given any thoughts on what equipment you need?

[rcannon]

Hi, Jen. I'm up to 62 hives, but only about 25 produced enough to take. 30 of the hives are packages I started a month or so ago. The way they're growing, I expect to get some honey from them in the fall. There's usually a better fall flow here than in the spring.

Hi, bakersdozen. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about uncapping. That seems to be the biggest chore to me. I'm using an uncapping plane right now. It does a good job but it's a little slow. I use mostly deep frames and it takes two swipes to the side of each frame to uncap. It works better with medium frames.
My extractor is a bottleneck. I built it a few years ago to extract 9 frames at the time. It works great, but I'm quickly outgrowing it. I'm thinking about converting it to a cappings spinner and buying a twenty frame extractor from Dadant. I can always add another extractor in the future and run two at the time.

A little experienced help would be the greatest improvement. One of my sons helps me, but he has his own family to tend to. He helps when he can. My Dad tries to help but he's not in good health. But I wouldn't take anything for the time we spend together. I don't know how much more time we'll have together, so I cherish all of it I can get.

Perry, what kind of uncapper did you end up with?

[apisbees]

Perry is using a Kellyelectric heated jiggle knife. They are quight quick and are easier on the back and arms.

[Perry]

Perry is using a Kellyelectric heated jiggle knife. They are quight quick and are easier on the back and arms.

  And it's a lot cheaper than most other options when you step up to the next level. I feel for ya on the work that's involved, it's fun for the first half hou, 15 minut, 2 minutes! 2 extractors would be my next move if I decide to do anything more, but right now I don't mind the break when things back up now and then.