Old school honey extraction: some basic tips!!
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- Опубліковано 13 тра 2022
- so here is how i just extracted 2 tonnes (yes 2000kilos plus) of honey in my own veranda (conservatory at my house)
I have no workshop this summer, thats coming but here is a few things ive learnt over the years to get the frames extracted before the honey crystallises. - Домашні улюбленці та дикі тварини
Great video. Extremely informative answered so many questions that I’ve had about extracting honey. Well done.
I have a feeling that keeping bees is like raising chickens. You start out with a few birds and before you know it, you have dozens! But we chickeners overcome this problem with "Chicken Math" a.k.a. denial.😏 "No, I don't have 50 chickens, I only have 5, I don't know what your talking about I only see 5 chickens."😂 Same with bee hives, huh? 🌻🐝
The beautiful mysterious world of the bee surrounds your workshop. Always have such blessings.
Thank you Richard for your honesty. We are starting beekeeping this early spring and haven't harvested yet. We will make sure to choose a specific setting and design a system that works for us in the Southern California desert 💛
Thats a mighty extractor. And a beautiful harvest.
Honest assessment as always. Well done on the spring harvest 👍🐝🍯
I appreciate you for this kind of experience, thank you.
That's a nice spring crop! and yes... space issues are the bane of beekeepers hah! 😁
For sure, over here as a rough estimate, its calculated to be about 1 square meter of dry storage needed for each hive, so 200 hives + 200 square meters. Actually i think its more than that lol
Beautiful frames of honey
Really love that extraction facility
Your very kind Ian, it kinda does the job. Very labour intensive but all being well that will change next year!! Great to be see your “boxes of bees” looking like a”box of bees” again!! I definitely got lucky this spring. 🤷🏼♂️💪🏻💯🐝
Love this. Always something to learn
Great demo and advise, thank you 🙏🏼
Thanks you Richard your honesty. 👍👍💪❤
The enemy of "Good" is "Perfect." What you are doing is good. No need to change!
Thanks Mike.
I love your videos Richard, we didn't have much of a spring it just rolls into summer so fast hear in south Texas....having to keep the sugar syrup going because of no rain....
I set up a board with a thin metal guitar string across the top nice and tight and use a low car battery to heat it and then just slide the frame under the wire, turn it over, do it again and it’s decapped. The entire process cost me about $8 and an old nearly dead battery. Very fast and works almost every time. As far as price it is all in marketing. You have to find the market that wants…NOT the sugar water from China…
exciting, just checked my 5 hives and supers are getting filled with nectar. Nothing is capped yet. I'm a out 5 or 6 weeks out from harvesting here south of Kansas City, Misouri USA.
good news, best of luck!
Great job 👏 ❤and i kove your old school setup 👌
Good afternoon Noel I love your content and learning a lot .
Am a 50 hive Beekeeper from india 🙏
I'm getting sound fine thank you Richard look forward to another video soon thankyou
Another great video Richard.. I hope in a few years that I can make Muff honey as successful... thanks for the tips... I always learn more from your videos.
I follow you on instagram Alain, how could i forget the name "muff" best wished my friend!
@@richardnoel3141 thank you very much 😊
nice video, and a nice moment to learn how those big machines works, no need to turn frames, all in rigth direction. kind of a step to uppgrade to those bigger machines. Thank you.
thanks Bub, yes its a whole new ball game having a larger machine!
You really got faster near the end!😁 it’s awesome you get two crops. This process will just make you appreciate the new shop even more.
Thanks Richard, I hope your having a good start to your season . i hear you've got a strong Dandelion flow?
@@richardnoel3141 Hey Richard, We don't get those heavy dandelion flows down here in the mountains of Virginia. I imagine Mike might be in the middle of dandelion now. That's dandelion heaven up there in Vermont. We're just finishing with out tulip poplar and black locust flow. It wasn't too bad along with the April flow from the invasive autumn olive, it's been a good crop. Now we'll see if some rain will extend the flow into the hot weather. Most years we get nothing from mid June onwards. Hoping to make it to Vermont again in July. When are you coming back?
@@richardreid2059 I just don’t know!! May be early new year as I think I am going to be at Kamon’s hive live conference, first weekend of the new year in Tennessee 🤗
@@richardnoel3141 I'm about 5 or so hours up the road from Kamon's conference. Maybe I'll make the next one. Who knows maybe Mike too?
Great video sir.
Thank you.
Mmmmm, looks amazing!
7.5 barrels impressive .. I'd never thought those two loads add up like that .. that singing extractor seems pretty smooth running .. I love my hot knife but think it's what you're use to using .. now to get all that honey out of your cappings .. my lyson solar melter does pretty good job at separating honey from the capping but I wouldn't sell it normally just feed it back
I did ok in the end. it was a massive psychological win after last summers pretty awful harvest. yes i will melt down the Cappings later in the season!
Honestly a sharp serrated knife is just as good as a hot knife imo. Hot knives can be a pain if they don't have an adjustable thermostat and if they sit for anytime at all, the honey starts caramelizing and throwing smoke everywhere. They certainly come in handy when cappings and wax get thicker though, or if the frames aren't completely capped but are built out nice and fat. But I do love my silver queen, so I'll stick with automation whenever I can 🤣
Thanks for sharing
Great Spring harvest there Richard. You must be relieved to have it in the barrels. I have 3 apiaries to finish this week…
thanks Jim, I think you will be ok! i probably harvested as early as i could have and for us the honey was cured enough so just got away with it this year. I reckon you will still be ok. Yes very relieved its in the barrel!! phew
Awesome frames
big help thanks for sharing mate.
Thanks 👍 I AM FROM SOUTH AFRICA 🌍 GREETINGS
Richard, Cut a slot in that resting board that's in your uncapping tank.
Make the cut just long enough to where you can stick your uncapping knife through as a "rest".
After a while, leaving it in that slot will become second nature.
Thanks John, will hopefully come up with a frame base holder before the summer flow start.
Putting the camera ontop of the extractor. Your tempting fate there Richard 😂
Living on the edge!!
@@richardnoel3141 literally 😂
I use an old thin serrated bread knife. It works great. I use a honey fork for the areas not drawn out far enough for the knife. I don't care for the hot knife.
That was a really interesting video
thanks Melanie.
Just a comment on your process. If you run a screw up through that support board, right in the center, and slightly longer than your frame ears, you can stick the frame end on the point and spin it to cut each side. Frame doesn't slip off the board. Simple and effective.
thank you!
Good job 🥰
I would love to have one like that very nice
Looks good to me. Great set up until your shop is built
thank you ! I feel that its kept cleaner than my new shop will be but we shall see lol
So true that bee keepers have an uphill battle proving the value if natural honey. The spoiled cheap stuff in these box stores shouldn't be called honey.
a good way to uncap is have a nail through the wood you're resting frame on, you can position frame to any angle easily, also do not have your hand hanging over end bar, you don't want blood in your honey !
Thank you
Beautiful 🤗
I use a filter on top the 5 gallon bucket from spinner. I use a 5 gallon bucket of water/soap to wash hands next to decaping table. Are you using a wax spinner for your wax in the capping table?
Nice 👍
Thanks, great info.
Great vid, if you haven’t got a spinner can you uncap and leave in hot room to drain, would it work eventually, thanks
Yes i absolutely see the value in 9 frame supers!
yes its just get a little bit more honey on the frame and a little less of a problem to recap cleanly. Thanks Jonathan
Sir do, 😊 very nicely explained chew some propolis also, we will get the best honey the bees make for our customers.
I always prefer the old proven method sometimes speed can be not efficient.
I have a good feeling about your operation 🐝 well and steady-going forward.
Anyone who adulterates honey the what goes around will catch up with them when it is time to pay.
Yes, I love the info and yes my crop was good this season given what I had to work with 🙂 👋.
Sir Do, thank you for your kind words. I agree with you, i would like to think eventually it will catch up with them! best regards.
You must have some very strong colonies and a spectacular nectar flow for this much honey production. Even with 12 good colonies and a decent nectar flow, I never had upward of 25 or 30 supers. I could come close, but it had to be in a rainy summer which was rare for my location in western Montana. Bob
Hi Bob, yes we’re kind of fortunate and unfortunate. When the two flows start they come from nothing then everything is in flower straight away. This lasts about 5 weeks in the spring but it’s sometimes good weather, sometimes not. The nightmare in spring is getting a good spring flow is early then just before you harvest it goes warm again and the remaining supers are full of non cured nectar making harvest à nightmare . But usually we get through it. Also crystallisation can play a major problem, some years lots, some years like this year, hardly any. Often if the winter has been cold the bees are not up to speed in numbers to deal with it either!!
Sumner is good because the honey is really strong and delicious and more highly prized here. It also does not crystallise quickly, taking the pressure off us a little l. Both flows can be really good but only the spring flow causes problems because often no matter how hard you try the brood nest becomes backfilled with nectar. We do what we can. 🤞🙌🐝
I'd like to see when you pick up the drums and selling process of the honey....is that possible.
I will do my best to show you! thanks Richard.
its a fairly easy job to attach copper tube on back of knife and have it steam heated ..
Spent a good day pulling boxes clearing frames, uncapping and extracting but then spent 2 more days trying to filter the honey its so thick and keeps clogging filters, using conical filter was a nightmare in the end. I'm thinking straight from the extractor into a settling tank next time. But then the tank is going to be cold
Agree with you about the cost of honey and how it is adulterated . Honey from artisan beekeepers is far too cheap!
That last frame is the one you should have started from 😂 . It is so great to you had a great season. Thanks for taking us along on this trip with you . On your fall season will it be mostly for the bees or will you get a fair crop out of it also ? . Thanks
we get two nectar flows here most years. one spring which this year was very good and one summer flow which can be even stronger. the autumn flow which is ivy is also sometimes good but most years we leave that for the bees.(sometimes we take a little but its incredible strong scented stuff!!)
Hello there. I enjoyed the video, thanks for that. Can I just ask, is that plastic foundation in the frames too? I have just started swapping to plastic foundation and wondering how others get on with it. Cheers.
So was that canola honey crystallizing in the frame?
good luck!
thank you!
You should try putting a nail or a screw through the bit of wood on your uncapping table to stop the frames from slipping. We all have to work with what we have. Keep up the good work 👍
Thanks Barbers bees, yes it will be in place for this summers crop, if there is any lol
@@richardnoel3141 watching your video bought back fond memories of watching mum and dad extracting honey when I was a child. I could remember the bit of wood with a nail through it 😂 We have a Thomas flail uncapper now which works a treat!
@@barbersbees9834 the flail uncap pets are really good!! As by long as you can sort the cappings they are really good at how they work!!
@@richardnoel3141 we have a heated tray the uncapper sits on. The melted honey and wax then drips into a mini separating tank with an adjustable outlet to get the honey into the sump tank and wax into a bucket. Brilliantly simple. All my Dads design. I’m over here just riding his coat tails 🤣
Рамки добротные, красота. Нож джеро, ребята, разрабатывал человек, который рамки никогда не распечатывал, только так я могу объяснить его функциональность, которая практически равна нулю. Более убедительно не может быть, потому что честно. Лайкос.
Спасибо за ваши комментарии. Есть много разных ножей.
Для меня это работает отлично в этом году. следующий год будет другим. Я надеюсь, что будет новое здание и экстракционная установка (новая экстракционная машина), так что все очень интересно.
Надеюсь, вы хорошо провели сезон!
well done Richard.!!! do you run 1 less frame in your box to get thick frame so easier to cut cappings off?
Richard I got a question will the bees take a larvae out of a cell and put it in a queen cell or does the queen laid egg in itself in the queen cell best of wishes
Hi Gary, well its said to happen but documentation and proof is very thin on the ground.the queen generally lays a cell in a pre made cell if its a superscedure cell or a swarm cell.
If its an emergency cell (the queen is suddenly missing) the they go to a larvae of ther right sized age and then draw the cell out, changing the cast determination as we do when we raise queens. bees generally dont move eggs and larvae, it would probably be good in some cases where they could steal a larvae or egg from another colony to fix their own hopelessly queen less colonies, but on the other hand it would probably complicate thing re grafting! However if bees dont like the eggs or larvae, they will remove them and use then as a source of protein! Best wishes!
My father showed me an article in the Telegraph last week re beekeeping in Turkey. Jars of honey selling for £50 !!
well Turkish honey is a good quality. interesting though! thanks for the info!
Very helpful tip balancing the crystallized.
Thank you Josh.
I mm metric would be consider the wright measure on a eight score?
👍Bravo svaka čast
Thanks for the video, Richard. Other people have success with an electronic bread knife. Those blazes are like saw and they move back and forth on power. Look it up on UA-cam ;)
Hi, yes i have seen those. very effective. thanks for the info! regards.
@@richardnoel3141 Thanks for replying :) I actually got a electrical knife on sale from Walmart for $10, put it into use a couple of days ago. It worked alright. Unfortunately temperature is still pretty cool here in the San Francisco area (like 20 C). The blades collected a lot of honey quite quickly and stuck together. So it works, but please perhaps it's more effective on warm days. Oh well, $10, no complaints. haha.. perhaps the more expensive ones could work better.
Old school seems like it would be the crush and strain method. I’m not sure what would be newer than this.
What happens to the crystalized honey left in the frames?
Will the bees clean it out before putting more honey in there?
Hello, yes in most cases they use it all up before the start of the next honey flow. if there is a lot we will try and get the bees to clean the super frames whilst the supers are off the hive , otherwise they sometimes leave the excess honey and just add two it. this makes harvesting the next crop a little more work if there is crystallised honey in the frames.
Richard what is this honey from? Does most of your honey crystallize that quick? We remembered you talking about the Heather honey, when does it come in?
Hello, well its general spring flowers but this year a lot more rape seed oil flowers because it was a heavy nectar flow.probably 60% rape seed or Canola. however most spring does crystallise a lot quicker than summer honey and we really need to extract within 5 weeks of placing the supers. best regards.
Some people, rather than bolting the extractor down to the floor/pallet, put it on a little platform that is on castor wheels.
There's a little bit of movement of the whole thing while it gets going but it settles down and you don't have pressure being put on welds, metal, fasteners etc
Moves live a trebuchet, back and forth but stays roughly in the original location?
@@sinisterhipp0 Roughy in the original location, you could say that. It gyrates rather than just back and forth, on account of the rotational forces, and the castors. Settles down then as the frames equalise.
Barrels completely full…
We keep about 10” of head space. Sometimes when crystallizing it expands. Not sure if you ever run into this.
I would agree its a possibility, never really noticed much expansion to be honest but thank you for the heads up!! best regards Justin.
Hi Richard on your konigan the speed is percentage of maximum if that makes sense eg 25 is 25% of top speed
thanks Toby, appreciate the input! cheers.
Thanks mate, this really helps alot
Very impressive, How many days of extracting did that take you, I presume you are basically doing all this extraction alone. One more question if I may. I seen when you took the barrel lids off it was white, I presume that was fine wax, how long do you wait to skim that off? Really enjoy your videos. I too am basically a one man show here and usually produce 1000 pounds or more yearly in central USA.
Think its more that the Honey on the surface has Crystallised... 😏
²
Richard, is your beekeeping operation all your full time business? If so, do you do also pollination (for orchards & so)? Impressive harvest ❤️!!
I have a contract with the state which contracts 200 of my colonies which is a real help. It’s like a “European Aide.” I don’t have to move the hives anywhere.
Yes full time just keeping bees now.
@@richardnoel3141 Thank you, it's awesome! I'm also EU based, and if/do you know, is it only France's agriculture "deal" or something more paneuropean? And it explains your harvests in tonnages perfectly😉.
Hello Richard, I put mine through a screen to get out wax, how do you get wax out of yours?
Yes the same Scott, I use a big sieve, it sits on top of the barrel. Very crude but works just great. You can see it at the end of the video as I pour the honey in.
Have a good season too!!
Richard.
Hello friend! Show Like e agora estamos juntos!
hI, Richard. I got a question: I see, you are located in France. Geografically, how far north do you think, honeyproduction is possible? I know, honney is produced in Denmark and at least as far north as mid England. How about as far as Scotland or even further north?
Difficult to say, you can produce honey in Iceland on certain plants but that’s not the issue. Where can bees survive and produce honey. I have friends in Sweden who have bees that do well. But you have to take in to account just how much care is needed versus is it practical and cost effective
We are in Ireland and have good honey production
Hello
how many bee colonies you have and how much honey is produced
What do you do with all your Super frames over Off Season?
their cleaned by the bees, above a feeder so the bees clean them slowly and not in a frenzy but they are dry stored with mouse protection, just outside but under cover.
@@richardnoel3141 thanks for your reply. In the States we have to worry about Wax Moths especially with frames containing pollen, I thought you might have another way for preventing them from doing their worst.
I have caster wheel's on mine to stop the wobble
Thanks Jeff, another thing to think about!!
I love bee
Wow good 🤗🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝
who do you sell your honey too and do they provide the barrels
I generally keep most of my barrels and try and build a stock up.the problem is, lots get used for other projects so I am happy to obtain them from a buyer. I dont sell much to them at the moment but may do again in the future.
Yes originally was selling in bulk but selling more and more by my own pots and Marque. Watch this space.
I'm a beginner and I use to be in hast because I don't know how long it takes the bees to make honey
Dobar poso moj prijatelju, prelepi ramovi od čega je taj med, od koje biljke, pozdrav iz Srbije
Hvala na lijepim riječima, bila je ovo dobra godina, do prošlog tjedna smo imali 42 stupnja Celzijevih i bilo je stvarno teško, ali sve dalje i gore. sretno do kraja sezone
why stack the hives on tires?
Hi, its a barrier from the moist ground and the pallets and it also helps stabilise the pallets and lift the hives safely up to a workable height. the winters here are very damp and the tyres do a really good job!
I don't believe changing the direction of spin will get any more honey out. The force vector is the same.
i agree except there may just be a tiny bit at the bottom corner of each frame, of the reverse side to the spin, but i think your probably right!
@@richardnoel3141 just my 2 cents. Not trying to troll just saving you time.. maybe. I also thought about it on my radial spins.
@@thesloppyscientist4428 thanks for your comments. i appreciate all constructive feed back!!its how we make it better !!
Around 0:30 seconds there's some upside down things are those morels? Did you find the secret?
queen cells.
tuyệt vời luôn bạn ơi 👍👍👍👍
Thank you sir!!
Make the community around you aware of the superiority of the product your hard work creates. I will pay more for real, raw Honey & I’m not alone. I just don’t have easy access. Go to local markets & tell everyone about your product. Give free samples & then charge more than the supermarket for an actual jar or comb
So is this your permanent set up ?
No its just temporary until my new building goes up over the winter.
@@richardnoel3141 ah! I don’t think we was very clear about that in video. 😂
@@sinisterhipp0 your right!
Your using an extractor so how is it old school
Lol I saw on your control panel the Hungarian word: "időzítés".
Lol yes these machines are actually made in Hungary and exported to Poland.
What do you mean, "importing honey that isn't real honey,"? please explain
Hi Meredith it’s tongue in cheek to say that lots of honey on the shelves is faked honey, or honey that has been diluted down (adulterated) when you harvest honey from supers it’s usually the real deal.
Bolt it to the floor
Richard, I am not getting any audio
It's all good here.
Old school harvest? Mhh i think old school are not with high tech😂👌
I'd think it'd be easier to use plastic barrels.
tell me why please, These barrels are free and very strong. plastic ones are liable to crack and split with 300 kilos inside when you try and move them!