getting honey without an extractor?

[BeeGirl]

Is there a way to get the honey from plastic foundation that is filled with honey. I don't have an extractor yet and have only one super with plastic foundation. Thanks for any help

[Ribster]

Find a BeeBoy in your area that has an extractor.

Sorry. I'm not in your area. That is a tough question. Aside from uncapping and letting the honey drip I will be of no help. The cheapest extractor I know of is the plastic one from dadant for around $100.

Next time don't use plastic foundation. Sorry I don't have a real solution to your problem. Perhaps you could check with your local bee club. They usually have a group extractor or someone there who will help.

[COUNT ZERO]

When you say plastic foundation do you mean Permacomb? If you mean undrawn plastic foundation you could just scrape and crush. Permacomb is another problem altogether.

Brian

[LaRae]

Hi Beegirl,


There is a club in Missouri (they meet in Springfield once a month) and they will loan the club owned extractors (the club has a large and small one) to club members....it costs 10.00 per year to be a member. They also loan out uncapping knives etc.

Their website is here:

http://www.ozarkbees.org/


LaRae

[MichaelW]

I've cut comb from plastic foundation and ate it that way. The trick is to cut it out with it still looking nice and be able to store it in tupperware. You can take the comb out of the wooden frame and use a thin serated knive to saw the comb off of the plastic foundation then cut it in sections that will fit in your containers. It needs to lay flat with the cells down or it will eventually spill out. Cutting comb this way is messy and dosen't save the drawn comb which you really need to get started in beekeeping, but if you really want the honey then just eat it! As far as cutting the caps and let it slowly drip out, forget about it.

[Terri]

If only the inner core is plastic it is easy.

Just put a strainer over a pot and scrape the lot into the strainer. LEt it drip for a while. If desired, the little bits of wax that made it through the strainer will rise to the surface in a couple of hours and you can skim them off. This produces a FINE product!

IF the drawn cells are plastic also I have no answer. I have only used the plastic foundation.

[Curry]

I use a 5 gallon bucket that has a honey-gate at the bottom. I tape a 5 gallon nylon strainer filter in the bucket, so it doesn't touch the bottom. Then, just scrap all the honey and wax into the bucket. The wax will separate, and you can begin bottling your honey as it strains out (in just a few seconds). It's actually much easier than using an extractor... you'll see.

You can even reuse the wax if it doesn't have brood cells in it... just mash it up and paste it back on the frames. The bees will draw it back out in a day (during a nectar flow only).

[Ribster]

Just remember this is for permacomb, plasticomb, etc types of foundations that have a built in permanent foundation pattern. Four duragilt (plain plastic with wax foundation) you have to leave the bees something to build back on or get new foundation.

To the more experienced: Is it just me or is duragilt just outdated. Permacomb type foundations are permanent and stronger. My prediction is that duragilt will cease being produced soon.

[Michael Bush]

>My prediction is that duragilt will cease being produced soon.

I have no idea how long it has been in production, but I bought my first duracomb (and duragilt was available then) in 1974. I'm sure it had been around a long time then. I wouldn't hold my breath. It still has better acceptance than the molded plastic.