On Tuesday, three hardcore bee keepers (including me) had taken off the supers of honey and stacked them up in the extractor room. Its been a totally dreadful year for bees - after several years of pretty poor weather we have had the wettest summer since records began. So from a total of 9 hives where you might ordinarily expect to get 3 - 4 supers of honey so 36 in total we have harvested a total of 4. I can't believe the newspapers aren't already full of scare stories about the impending national honey shortage.
So to work then:
Job 1: Use a scarily sharply pointed fork looking thing ( an "uncapping fork") to take the wax cappings off the cells of honey on the super frames...
The masters can uncap a frame in 2 slices ...us beginners took a bit longer... and made a bigger mess...
Step 2: load THE BIG extractor - with 12 frames (little extractors take 4 frames)... note how clean the inside and bottom of the extractor is at this stage...
Step 3: SPIN!!
At this point give REALLY BIG thanks that we are using the motorised extractor and not the hand cranked one - did I say that it was 34'c outside and all the windows are closed?
...but not TOO fast ...or the frame will "blow" ...ooops
That's a pretty big hole for the bees to repair for next year!
But look at that lake of honey in the bottom of the extractor...
...it must be time to open the valve at the bottom of the tank...
No sooner has it started to flow than the sweetness floods out, all the spinning has mixed in a lot of air and the air bubbles rise up through the honey as it passes through 2 filters on the way to the high tech collection device below, a.k.a. the bucket.
So, now it needs to sit for at least 3 days to ripen...and then we get to jar it !
So now to the bit I was getting really excited about - EXTRACTING MY HONEY!!!!
Only one of my colonies had managed to do anything at all with the supers - I had a whole 7 frames of beautifully capped honey and one where the nectar was still wet...
You know the routine now don't you?
Step1: Uncap the frames..
It takes concentration don't-cha know...
Just a bit more practice and I'll have it done in 2 slices.... honest....
STEP 2: load the extractor...
STEP 3: -spin - and today we give grateful thanks for the fact that Peter has modified his extractor to be powered by a drill!
LOOK!!!!!!
You can see the honey spinning out of the frames and pouring down the wall of the extractor - sort of golden candy floss - but 200% more gorgeous smelling!
STEP 4: open the valve and breathe in deeply...
Take out the empty frames - these will go back into the hives and the bees will lick them (well, they would if they had actual tongues - but you know what I mean) finally clean before they go away for the winter...
If you tip the extractor towards the valve you can tip out the very last drops...
Or you can employ the help of a lovely long armed teacher to tip it even further for you...
And what did I get?
A (very small) bucketful - but isn't it lovely...
And the $60 million question - how much honey is there in my very small bucket?
15.6 llbs Exac-erly
Now to learn the art of patient waiting whilst it ripens......
Oh well done you ... Well actually well done bees!!! Congratulations on your very first Harvet. May this be the first of many!!!!
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