Harvested the honey!!! Youtube link in last post

[lesa]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HDzQ30LF9Q
This is a home made extractor made from a 55 gal drum and a ceiling fan. Just a short video to see it in action. (There are 5 videos all together- but you will get the idea after the first one!)

 

[hypnofrogstevie]

Very creative idea! Hope to have a honey bee hive in the near future. I know I am missing out LOL

 

[vfem]

Wow Lesa! That was so educational! Was this your own extractor or do you share with someone else? Did you make this?

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

Very cool. I know nothing about bees but that we have tons of them up here. They esp love my crepe myrtle trees when in bloom. The trees come "alive".

I had no clue how to get honey out of the hive. So now I know. Thank you very much for the education!

 

[lesa]

That is our own extractor- of course, we would be happy to share! Dh is an engineer and made it out of a drum and a ceiling fan motor. You need something to put the frames on, that spins around fast. So, the ceiling fan worked perfectly! He designed and built it last year (after we had harvested honey), so it has been waiting around for its first performance! I thought it would need a few tweeks-but it worked great and fast! Melted down the wax today. Having bees really is the neatest thing!

 

[vfem]

That is our own extractor- of course, we would be happy to share! Dh is an engineer and made it out of a drum and a ceiling fan motor. You need something to put the frames on, that spins around fast. So, the ceiling fan worked perfectly! He designed and built it last year (after we had harvested honey), so it has been waiting around for its first performance! I thought it would need a few tweeks-but it worked great and fast! Melted down the wax today. Having bees really is the neatest thing!

We looked at the bee displays at the state fair, and it just got us more excited about it. We're so bummed we had to sell the raised bar hive.

 

[lesa]

I know! I felt so bad that the bees didn't work out for you this year... When the time is right, you will really enjoy having them!

 

[Smiles Jr.]

We're so bummed we had to sell the raised bar hive.

Why did you have to sell the hive?

 

[retiredwith4acres]

Glad you got honey, and so much! We didn't get any this year with our three hives. We had a real wet spring (washed away pollen and not good foraging weather) and a drought for summer (not much bloom). We got into the hives Monday and all three have a super of honey to feed them through the winter. Having bees are fun, even when allergic to them. Not a huge amount of work but harder as I get older. I had them by myself the first year and managed OK. We have a beekeepers group and they have classes and assign mentors for anyone that is interested in starting a hive. Our club even gave 4 scholarships last year which bought the hive and bees. The recipients were only asked to give half of their honey to the club the first year. I encourage anyone that is interested to try. There is lots of info on the internet with videos to show how to do most of the work and of course lots of books on the subject.

 

[momofdrew]

I would love to have bees but I thought some species were in trouble with a virus or something killing them off... also being in the northeast it might be too cold here in a man made hive...????