Be still my beating heart. From shame I will omit the names of the lovely lady
beekeepers I thought of. when you wrote of the semi-naked honey extractors.
Eric the bad
________________________________
From: oxnatbees-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <oxnatbees-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> on behalf
of Gareth John <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: 11 June 2020 10:16
To: oxnatbees@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <oxnatbees@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [oxnatbees] Re: Sticky Floor Time
Bar width
The standard spacing, centre to centre, of combs in a Golden Hive is 36mm.
Bees like to make honey combs a bit wider than brood combs. Apart from anything
else it is more economical of labour and wax to store honey is wider combs. It
also makes life easier for the honey robber (beekeeper) as there are fewer
combs to handle. I have experimented with super combs in my Golden Hives at
spacings between 45mm and 50mm centres. At the top end of this range I find
the bees insert extra little combs in between, so I find around 46 or 47mm
works well. There is no need for huge accuracy but remember that although 1mm
seems a small amount to us, to a bee it is 1/6th of its body width.
The frames need to have a bottom bar. Otherwise the comb will be attached to
the top bars of the box below. For comb guides I run a bead of wax down the
centre line of the top bars, or round the centre of the rim of the roundels.
Harvesting
I cut the comb from the frames and place it in jars. I also use a stainless
steel small wine press to crush some of the comb to get run honey to fill the
gap between the cut comb and the sides of the jar. I avoid agitation as much
as possible when creating run honey as the more the honey is disturbed the more
one loses the volatiles that give honeys their distinctive aromas. Processing
is best done in a warm kitchen to aid honey flow; even a few degrees of extra
warmth massively increase the speed at which honey runs. But don’t over-warm
honey; one loses volatiles and also heating speeds the formation of unwanted
chemicals in the honey, such as HMF. If I am warming honey I never do so above
40 deg C as this is about the maximum temperature the honey will reach in the
hive while it is being processed.
If using roundels, they need to be a few mm smaller in diameter than the neck
of the jar. Too tight a fit and it gets messy, which obviates the beauty of
the approach.
Human Factors
Negotiate with other users of the kitchen before handling any quantities of
honey. Careful planning of workspaces will minimise honey on the floor but it
can never be eliminated and it walks everywhere on the soles of feet or shoes.
In particular, carpets don’t like honey. I keep a set of footwear just for use
in the kitchen when I am honey processing and ensure the soles are meticulously
clean before I start. I know one US natural beekeeper who processes honey
almost naked to prevent it getting all over her clothes and to keep cool in a
warm kitchen!
Gareth
On 11 Jun 2020, at 09:43, Stefanie Taeumer
<stefanietaeumer@xxxxxxxxx<mailto:stefanietaeumer@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
Hi Robin,
I have 2 National hives (I rushed into choosing those when a friend offered me
a swarm in 2017 and I felt more confident starting with them as I had done a
conventional beekeeping course 3 years previously where they teach you mostly
on those. I am thinking of getting a top bar hive next), one of which has 2
supers on at the moment. I took 3 (foundationless) fully capped frames out from
the top super last week and cut the comb out of the frames, put them in a big
bowl and mashed them up with a potato masher. I poured the whole mess into a
double metal strainer (from Thornes) which I put over a honey bucket with a tap
(also from Thornes) and left it overnight, covered with a kitchen towel. The
next day I opened the tap and let the honey run into the jars. It is quite a
straightforward procedure but your kitchen surfaces and floor can get a bit
sticky if you are not careful...
Stefanie
On Thu, Jun 11, 2020 at 8:52 AM Robin Colyer
<robin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:robin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
This is inspirational. Thanks for sharing!
On a practical note, having so far only dreamt of the honey harvesting bit,
what are the favoured methods in this group? Do you do any kind of pressing or
mashing, or do you just put the cut comb straight into jars?
Robin
