What Should you do Before Honey Harvest?

[laphir99]

Almost every beekeeper looks forward to the day when they are able to reap the rewards of their hive - the honey! Local honey created by your bees is one of the best aspects of starting a hive. For those beekeepers who have never extracted honey from their hive, the process can feel a bit overwhelming.
Before you can begin extracting honey from your hive, you need to remove the desired frames. Some beekeepers decide to extract all of their honey at once, others that have many hives, divide up their extraction time. I borrow the honey extractor from our local Bee Guild, so I extract all of my honey at one time.

Also, using an honey extractor allows you to return much of the honey comb back into the hive intact -- whereas the crush-and-strain method destroys it, forcing your bees to have to spend valuable weeks rebuilding the entire comb before they can start stocking honey again.

As I tell most people who are curious about the process, prepare to be underwhelmed. If you're using an extractor, harvesting honey is straightforward and takes surprisingly little time. So the good news is: anyone with zero prior experience can easily do this.

As a beekeeper, it is necessary for you to buy a honey extractor at your local beekeeping store or from your local bee guild.