Bees on a Budget Bees on a Budget - Honey Processing Kit.

[The Riviera Kid]

I have just been looking at the "Bees on a Budget Bees on a Budget - Honey Processing Kit" on the Thorne's website...

the complete kit is less than half the price of the cheapest extractor alone.

has anyone on here ever bought the Honey processing kit? Any comments on the extractor?

I appreciate that you get what you pay for of course, but I have just got a couple of hives and may well get a third so don't need a massive extractor or an electronic one.

I have struggled to find many places selling these products.

 

[Queens59]

I think the main problem is that they never have it in stock...

 

[The Riviera Kid]

they seem to have it in stock at the moment according to their website...

 

[SER]

I brought it last year, I have nothing to compare the extractor to but it seems ok for the money.

It only takes two frames so you wouldn't want to do too many supers at a time!

I am perfectly happy with it for the moment.

Si.

 

[Queens59]

Miracles!!! I'm off...

 

[ammriver]

question on the kit

After missing out on the budget kit during the honey harvest, I ordered it when it came back in stock.

All looks great value but I cant for the life of me work out how to mount a British standard shallow frame into the extractor. I am probably being daft but can anyone help?

 

[oliver90owner]

Before jumping, perhaps read this thread?

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7916

Regards, RAB

 

[fatshark]

I've used both the "BoaB" extractor - borrowed from a friend in my first year - and subsequently purchased a stainless steel four frame radial extractor, filter + tank from a Gloucester-based supplier. If you attend and are quick you can get extractors at big discounts at the Stoneleigh convention ... I think I got about 30% off the list price.

My comment relates to overall quality and ease of cleaning. Both are far better with a stainless extractor. I suspect the gearing, handle and other fitments on the stainless unit will last much better. I found the stainless unit much easier to clean - the colour and smoothness of the walls/joints etc. made tracking down all the remaining cappings and wax scraps was relatively straightforward.

However there's little between them when you're busy sweating over the extraction ... I cursed both equally after 30 or so frames. I suspect that running a two frame manual extractor for much more than this would be very unpleasant. I think Monsieur Abeille in the thread highlighted by RAB has it about right ... a gentle and relatively inexpensive introduction, but unlikely to be useful long-term if you're expecting to have many more than three or so productive colonies.

Does your local BKA have an extraction facility and/or extractor for hire? Many do.

--
fatshark

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

As fatshark says, I bought one of these last year and was very pleased with it.

The spinner worked well and its only drawback was the fact there were just two trays - but these coped with both supers and standard national brood size (ammriver - the frames simply drop into it. If they are falling to the floor you are missing the two metal "L" shapes that slot in the bottom that the frames rest on). Cleaning was a bit fiddly - having to unscrew the inside mechanism to reach the bottom, slimmer arms may fare better, but certainly manageable.

The rest of the kit - buckets, strainer and fork perfectly fine, though you'll need a better strainer if looking to produce show honey.

Very good value for a starter I think, and the spinner should be easy to resell if you decide to expand later.

 

[ammriver]

Thanks Monsieur

Those would be the two bits of spring steel rattling about in the bottom then!

 

[Hombre]

I just love people that run safety dependent systems and either have spare parts left over after assembly or loose items rattling around.

It does indicate a certain relaxed attention to detal. LoL

I shouldn't take up sport parachuting if I were you . . .

 

[broandy]

loooooooooooool

 

[broandy]

I just love people that run safety dependent systems and either have spare parts left over after assembly or loose items rattling around.

It does indicate a certain relaxed attention to detal. LoL

I shouldn't take up sport parachuting if I were you . . .

looooooooooool

 

[Drew]

loooooooooooool

looooooooooool

Its not that funny ;-)