Beekeeping Lesson #4

You do not realize how much work goes into extracting honey, it takes hours.  If I had more hives it would take days.  I'm inclined to just use these little square boxes (forgot what there called) and let the bees make it all from scratch.  That way all I'd have to do is cut the comb in pieces and be done with it.  

Anyways, before you extract honey from the comb you have to get the honey supper away from the hive without any bees attacking you.  After all, your stealing there precious food source.  If they notice it's gone they'll come after you.  Now there are many ways to do this, but I think it's easiest to...

• Get a bee escape board, place it under the top supper, and wait about a week for most of the worker bees to funnel down to the rest of the hive.  The bee escape makes it so they can't climb back up.  
• Remove the supper (about 50 pounds of honey) and rush it inside.  The bees shouldn't be able to come after you but why risk it?
• Lay out all bee equipment.
• Remove the top layer of wax (caps), this you can use later for candle wax or lip balm.
• Place the frames into the honey extractor and turn it on (works best in a heated room at about 82 degrees F).  Honey extractors are pretty expensive so it might be best to borrow one.
• Pour out honey onto a strainer to get any loose bits of wax out.
• Put into jar and enjoy. 

One interesting fact I learned was the difference between raw honey and "regular".  Raw honey still has pollen in it which is good for you.  "Regular" honey from the commercial beekeepers has been heated at 170 degrees F, which kills all of the helpful enzymes and then they remove the pollen.  I don't know the whole process but it seem like a waste to me.