Extractor

[Martha]

I am looking at extractors. I don't extract deep, just med and small. I am considering these:

http://www.betterbee.com/products.asp?dept=1249

http://www.betterbee.com/products.asp?dept=1239

I know that a motorized one would be better and a larger frame capacity is preferred by most of you.

I'm just wondering if you have heard good/bad about these.

Money is an issue for me. We just had $830 work done on my 96 minivan. I might have to borrow one this year again then buy one in the fall after honeysales - for my birthday ;)

Thanks,
Martha

[Jim Fischer]

I'd stay away from tangential extractors, if I
were you.

Radials are much more productive, as they
do not require you to spin down to a stop,
flip the frames over, and spin up to speed
again to extract both sides of the frames.

Motors are a waste of money unless you have
a significant number of colonies. Larger
frame capacities are nice, but the trade-off
is that they are larger, and more difficult
for the hobbyist to store between seasons,
let alone have room to operate comfortably.

Brushy Mountain used to sell a 9-medium frame
radial hand-cranked unit for around $350.00.
I just looked on their website, and can't find
it, but you should call them. They are easy
to motorize when and if you "get big". I have
3 of them, so I put my money where my mouth is.

With 3 9-frame extractors, we have a smoother
flow of work than if we had a single larger
extractor. (At any single point in time, one's
spinning, one's being loaded, and one's being
unloaded.) Better throughput.