A Beekeeper’s Harvest

 

A jar of Bee Whyld's fireweed honey from 2015

Once the first frost hits and the flowers are done, it’s extraction time!! This is August here in the Yukon, and February over in New Zealand!

Those busy honey bees have done their part of the whole honey production. It’s now up to the beekeeper to get that delicious product to your table.

Although honey, in its most natural state can be sampled right at the hive, most people prefer it in a jar that is a little more convenient.

A full frame out of a super

As the bees continue to collect nectar and make honey all summer long, the beekeeper has been stacking boxes on bee hives to provide room for the bees to store this excess honey. These boxes, or supers, are what the beekeeper is going to take, or ‘pull.’ Since some hives take exception to sharing their honey stores, a beekeeper will usually start by puffing some smoke into the hive. Despite popular belief, it does not put the bees to sleep. What it does do, is mask the ‘alarm pheromone’ that is released when the hive is opened, and keeps the bees relatively calm and easy to work with.

Liz and Barb using hive tools to remove super

Liz removing bees from super

Our resourceful bees have literally sealed the boxes together with a sticky product they produce called propolis. No beekeeper is without a metal hive tool to pry the boxes apart. This is where things get a little heavy. A standard super can easily weigh 30 or more pounds when it's full of honey, and a large super can be well over 50 pounds. Once removed from the hive the super is stood on end and the remaining bees blown off the honey frames with a bee blower (similar to a super powered leaf blower.) We don’t want to bring any bees back with us, we want them all to stay with their hive.

Small and large supers waiting for extraction

With the bees removed, the supers are stacked in the back of a truck or trailer and hauled to the honey house, or extraction room. To prevent the honey from crystallizing (how fast honey crystallizes depends on the type of honey) the supers are kept warm until extraction begins.

It's best to have lots of help on hand for extraction day! Each frame is removed from the super and the caps cut or scraped off. A hot knife is usually used to accomplish this. The wax and honey removed with the knife will be kept and separated later.

Ruth and Courtney spinning

A frame in extractor waiting to be spun

The uncapped frame is placed in a honey spinner or extractor. The frames are spun and the honey removed from the comb hits the sides and drips to the bottom of the extractor.

Extractors come in many different sizes. From the little two-frame hand-powered extractor shown here to massive 80 frame extractors complete with automated uncapping as well!

This is the best part!! The tap at the bottom of the extractor is opened and fresh raw honey flows out! It is strained through cheesecloth or a colander to remove larger pieces of wax (or can also be left to sit for a few days as wax will float and can be removed then) before being poured, or tapped, into jars.

Freshly extracted raw honey