extracting equipment for a few hives

[gardenbees]

I only have three hives and will only be taking honey from one or two of them this year (I hope). The supers have plastic foundation so crush and strain is not an option. What is the minimum amount of equipment I will need? I will probably borrow an extractor but would appreciate reccomendations on them anyway. It's so confusing looking at all of the strainers and buckets in the catalogs. I will be bottling for my own personal use. Thanks. Theresa.

[Todd Zeiner]

I like the plastic double bucket strainer with gate valve
http://www.beeequipment.com/products.asp?pcode=365

It seems kind of pricy but I've bottled a bunch of honey with mine. For three hives it would be purfect.

[Michael Bush]

> The supers have plastic foundation so crush and strain is not an option.

I've done a lot of crush and strain. I've never done it on plastic, but a lot of people scrape the comb off the plastic.

>What is the minimum amount of equipment I will need?

An extractor, an uncapping knife, an uncapping tub, some kind of strainer (a double bucket works well) and buckets to put it the honey in.

> I will probably borrow an extractor but would appreciate reccomendations on them anyway.

I wouldn't buy anything but a 9/18 radial motorized myself. I can't see the point in buying a small tangential. If I could get a bigger one through my kitchen door, I'd buy a bigger one.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesharvest.htm

[gardenbees]

Thanks you all. Sadly, I don't have $800 dollars to spend on an extractor which is what brushy mountain wants for their 9/18 motorized. I don't plan on having more than five hives so I'm hoping a smaller one wouldn't be too much hassle. Theresa.

[Hanginin]

gardenbees, I have a two frame manual extractor [new] for sale. If you'll PM me, I'll give particulars.

[Michael Bush]

>Sadly, I don't have $800 dollars to spend on an extractor which is what brushy mountain wants for their 9/18 motorized. I don't plan on having more than five hives

IMO, if it's not worth $800 to you to have one, then you don't have enough honey to be worth buying one new. The smaller ones aren't that much cheaper and are MUCH more work.

For a 9/18 radial, you uncap two supers worth (18 frames), put them in, spin and take them out.

Do do the same thing with a two frame tangental you uncap two, put them in, spin out half the honey, pull them out, reverse them, put them in, spin the honey out of the other side, pull them out, reverse them, put them in and spin the rest of the first side out. Then repeat this 9 more times.

Thats 27 times to load and 27 times to unload and 27 times to spin for the tangental. 1 time to load 1 time to unload an 1 time to spin with the radial. The radial is no where near 27 times as expensive as the two frame tangential.

[Keith Benson]

"IMO, if it's not worth $800 to you to have one, then you don't have enough honey to be worth buying one new. The smaller ones aren't that much cheaper and are MUCH more work."

I dunno, I have a 9 frame radial hand crank that I love. One guy uncaps, the other spins. Even when I am alone it goes fairly quickly. I got mine from brushy mountain. Would I like a motorized one? Sure, but the hand crank deal is easy too. I think it is a reasonable option for folks with 5 to 20 or so hives depending on your average per hive.

Keith

[ April 19, 2006, 09:23 AM: Message edited by: kgbenson ]

[gardenbees]

I guess it comes down to how much is your time worth. I am looking at a three frame hand crank and since I run shallows it will hold six of them at a time and extracts them radially so they won't have to be removed half way through and I'll have at most six supers per season. I hope to find one used because you are right if I'm buying one new, the price difference isn't that great between the 9/18 and the 3/6. Nobody told me how expensive this hobby would be! Theresa.

[ April 19, 2006, 01:53 PM: Message edited by: gardenbees ]

[Michael Bush]

>the price difference isn't that great between the 9/18 and the 3/6.

Exactly.

[gardenbees]

Ok, I've done alittle more research on the extractors that are out there. I think I have decided that the nine frame radial from brushy mountain with the attatched holding tank looks like it will fit my needs. I don't feel the need for the added expense of a motor. I would love to find one used but I know that is a shot in the dark since this is a fairly new set up for Brushy Mountain. Does anyone have experience with something like this? Thanks, Theresa.

[Todd Zeiner]

Theresa,

I got a chance to "drool" over the one you are talking about at our state bee meeting last month. Steve and Sandy were both there. (They are great folks) That extractor has a great feel to the roatation and it is very well balanced. No motor is needed unless you are doing over 10-15 hives. Looks like you might be close enough to go pick it up! I've heard they have a great place to tour in the hills.

[gardenbees]

Todd,
Good to hear that. It's pricey but if it is well made I think I will get it for myself for mother's day. I have wanted to pay them a visit up there since last year. It would cost me more in gas than what they would charge to ship it but at least I would get to try it out before commiting to it. Nice drive too. Thanks for your input. Theresa.

[magnet-man]

Theresa, check out an inexpensive extractor that I made for use with a few hives.
http://www.members.cox.net/wsamplesis/

[mdotson]

If I were looking for an extractor for a few hives I would probably purchase the Italian Extractor from Betterbee.
http://www.betterbee.com/products.asp?dept=1249

[tecumseh]

if I had less than 3 hives I would not directly purchase an extractor at all, which in my mind is way too much expense for such limited use. first I would try to locate someone (or some bee club) whereby I could borrow the equipment for the few hours of use that extracting three hives would require.

if this first strategy was a no go, I would do as I did 40+ years back when I first picked up beekeeping as a 4-H project... simply stated uncap and drip. all you need is a long deep baking pan, a rack to go on top of this deep baking pan and a hot knife. Place rack on top of pan, uncap one side of comb, place on rack uncapped side downward and let gravity do it's thing. flip frame and repeat. not exactly the fastest method (although you can obviously speed up the process by adding more pans and racks) devised by man, but it definitely does minimize extracting expense. another benefit is... because the honey extracting is so time consumptive, you will likely not remove so much honey that you will impair the well being of the hive.

[magnet-man]

Don't forget freight. It can be a killer!

[gardenbees]

Tecumseh,
I asked if the cut and drip method was possible at our last beekeeping meeting and they told me it would not work. I trust you more though. It would be alot of work and very time consuming. It's looking like I will only have two shallow supers to harvest this year so I will have to take that into consideration.

I really like the looks of the Italian extractor but am not sure it it's radial or not. I really don't want to have to flip the frames. So many factors to consider. Thanks, Theresa.

[Dave W]

gardenbees . . .

I've always used the "crush-n-drain" method to "extract" my honey (1 hive).

Try a "search" (at top of this page) for how-to info.

Dont trust tecumseh smile.gif , trust me instead smile.gif smile.gif

[Michael Bush]

I'm sure there is somthing to how thick the honey is, what kind it is ect. but I never had any luck with the uncap and drip method. It just wouldn't run out.

[gardenbees]

I have plastic foundation in my supers so crush and strain isn't an option. I would like to destroy as little of the comb as possible as it's taken these hives so long to draw out the supers. I don't want to have to start from scratch next year. Theresa.

[iddee]

I know you said you didn't want to have to turn the frames, but I'm going to post this anyway. I think you are near Fayetteville. If so, I am 90 mile from you. I have an old two frame that you have to lift the frames and turn them around. I have used it for over 20 years. I bought one last year with the flip baskets and don't use the old one anymore. If you want it, you can have it for 50 bucks.

[tecumseh]

gardenbee sezs:
I asked if the cut and drip method was possible at our last beekeeping meeting and they told me it would not work.

tecumseh replies:
well I can imagine any number of variable that would make the drip method undouable: very thick honey, cold honey, cold work space, etc. it did however work well enough form me to win a couple of blue ribbons and a paid trip to 4-H camp... a long, long time ago in a universe far, far away.

allowing some space between the frame and collection container is more than a little bit important (this is due to the surface tension of the honey). if you have some question as to if this process will work for you gardenbee, why not just give it a try and e mail me your own observaiton. just start by uncapping a frame directly acquired from the hive (this will insure that the honey is moderately warm), turn the frame on it's topbar (this make the angle of the cell's horizontal wall slope slightly downward) or side over a shallow pan. once you strain (I would use a womens nylon hose) and pour off the result you will have a fairly good idea of exactly how much honey each frame will produce. I would typically do this process two frames at a time which was likely what I could most easily carry at that point in time.

as I stated earlier another advantage for someone just getting a start is that you do not accidently remove so much honey (which is done more often than not) that the hive has problem surviving the next winter.

another advantage of this process is that all you need is a bee brush to seperate the bees from the honey; no blower, no fumeboards, no bee go.

as to preferred path...at $50 for I would already have mr iddee old extractor in the back of my pick up truck.

[mdotson]

The Italian Extractor from Betterbee is not a radial extractor and you do have to flip the frames.

[ April 30, 2006, 10:25 AM: Message edited by: mdotson ]

[gardenbees]

Tecumseh,
I think I will take your advice if Wally is willing. I think we can work something out. A two frame is small but so is my honey collection this year! I will be leaving a shallow each for all three of my hives for the winter so that should be enough with double hive bodies as well. Thanks, Theresa.

[garyl]

I'm thinking of the Italian job too,, but was wondering about the fact that it is the only one I've seen anywhere that sells replacement gears and handles... I really like the looks of the Swienty radial. I know someone here had an interest recently, has anyone seen/tried one yet?
Gary

[Parke County Queen]

Gardenbees -
I only have three hives too, but am hoping to expand. Be sure to consider that when you buy. I like the 9 Frame Radial from Brushy Mountain too. If the Italian one was radial, I'd get it. Maybe you can get the $50 one and save money for a bigger one next year. You are right about this hobby being expensive. I'm always looking at the catalogs.

[Michael Bush]

>If you want it, you can have it for 50 bucks.

That's a bargin.

[Dwight]

The year I started keeping bees (15 Yrs. ago) I bought a used four frame tangential and an electric uncapping plane for $75.00. They both work great to this day. I keep 10 to 15 hives and the old four frame extractor suits my needs well. I extract my whole crop (usually around 1000 lbs.) in two evenings. I do plan to increase my colony numbers as I creep toward retirement and will replace the old four frame some day.

[Cyndi]

If Theresa didn't come get that extractor Iddee, I'll take it.

[iddee]

She got it, Cyndi....Check her post under everything honey...Sorry.

[Cyndi]

I figured, but just in case, smile.gif Anybody got any more deals out there in the vicinity of the S.E.??

[gardenbees]

Cindy,
I have sent you a pm regarding this extractor. Theresa.