Breakeven for extracting vs crush and strain?

[TryingToLetThemBee]

So new threads are sometimes criticised for saying in more words: "I have bees; now what do I do?" Well, now the end of my season is here, that's my question, but with honey. My thinking is as messy as my kitchen is going to be, and I'm reading everything I can find (esp here, as always). But I have a specific question remaining.



It seems honey in comb is less saleable than I would have thought; a chunk (if that) in jars appears to be the way forward and keep the distinctive flavours in parts of comb for home use. So liquid honey, primarily. Some poorly-drawn combs I am happy to sacrifice; others, I would rather keep.



How many boxes/frames do people consider make borrowing an extractor (our BKA has several) worthwhile, v crushing and draining?

<ADD>To emphasise; I have access to an extractor. <\ADD>

 

[Old Boar's Apiary]

I have no experience of this, but our local association apparently rents out extractors and equipment for £5 a week, which is a no-brainer really even if just for a few frames.

 

[thenovice]

I am a beginner as well but I reasoned that I did not want to deal with the mess and bought a second hand extractor for £30. Simple 4 frame design tangential but it will do the job. it will also give me drawn frames for next season which is a plus.

 

[Dishmop]

a chunk (if that) in jars appears to be the way forward

I bet that people buy this for presents. Looks good and expensive.

 

[Teemore]

For me, crushing and straining is too messy and fiddly - pressing cappings is enough without having to do it for all my honey. I am fortunate in that I have the use of a friend's radial extractor in return for helping him extract his honey. Is there a neighbouring beekeeper who might allow you the use of their extractor in return for help with their honey harvest?

 

[Erichalfbee]

I'm happy to lend out my four frame tangential so I'm sure there must be somebody near you that would.
Drawn frames would be a real bonus for next year.
Maybe one of the suppliers will have a small one in the sales later in the year (sorry, I know that doesn't help now)
I have an eight frame radial too but I find the small hand crank invaluable if I'm extracting just the odd super

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

For me, crushing and straining is too messy and fiddly - pressing cappings is enough without having to do it for all my honey. I am fortunate in that I have the use of a friend's radial extractor in return for helping him extract his honey. Is there a neighbouring beekeeper who might allow you the use of their extractor in return for help with their honey harvest?

I have access to an extractor through my BKA but my take is that crush and drain looks LESS messy. Is that wrong? If extracting you're dealing with cappings anyway as you said. With crush and drain you just cut the frames over a bucket and have much less cleanup; no extractor to clean, anyway.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Extraction doesn't have to be messy if you get yourself prepared. I have a four frame tangential hand cranked extractor. With this standing on the floor alongside a super on a utility room worktop I take each super in turn, rest it on the top bearing bar of the extractor and scratch off the cappings which fall into the extractor vessel. Position each scratched frame into the rotor and repeat for all four any drips go inside the extractor.
When all four frames are in spin gently. Turn each frame round and spin gently again. Next turn round twice more and spin a bit faster until the frames are clear. I use mine with the top cover off so I can watch. progress to judge when finished. Don't spin too hard or you will damage the comb.
I've just extracted two supers and the extractor would have held a couple more frame contents if required.
Stage 2 was to run the contents into settling buckets via a two stage stainless steel filter. Again with patience and fresh warm honey no spills or splatter involved. My settling buckets each have gate valves so bottling is also clean if you take your time.

 

[oliver90owner]

There is always scrape and strain, rather than crushing the whole lot. At least you don't need to fit new foundation and you can be selective in what you scrape and return the rest to the bees.

Scraping or crushing is limited to un-brooded frames, in my book; extracting is not.

Propolis is the most messy part, I reckon. Not so easy to remove.

 

[Dishmop]

Its amazing how far a drip of honey on the kitchen floor can spread once you step on it..

 

[madasafish]

I crush and strain using a press like http://tinyurl.com/k8jzlcg

I place the press on sheets of newspaper , cover teh paddles with grease proof paper held on with rubber bands.. and have very little mess.. All combs held in honey buckets beforehand so some honey has run off before and can be strained without pressing.

Cleaning of press and table top is pretty minimal.. Basin of warm water and towel to clean as you go along.. (hands sticky)

Wash the floor and within 20 minutes, no-one would know that honey had been extracted..


(I used to put the combs in washing mesh bags prior to pressing but the bags don't last.)

Edit: the press was home built from pallets and a (new) unused car jack All foc.

 

[Ely]

I treat honey as if it was blood when disposing of a body and hiding evidence.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

I treat honey as if it was blood when disposing of a body and hiding evidence.

Haha. Yes; I plan to "Dexterize" my garage/workshop. Thee is no way the kitchen is available after even my first frame...

(The honey's not made in China.)

Against hymenoptera as much as anything. Thereafter I'll just learn; probably use an extractor, burst a few frames I planned to crush etc.

Thanks everyone.

 

[maddydog]

Melt the cappings with a heat gun, pop the frames in the extractor spin directly into a bucket via two filters. No mess or annoyed SWMBO

 

[ratcatcher]

having just used our clubs extractor to get around 70lb of honey, I have to say it'll be the first and last time, apart from stickiness everywhere, the length of time was a ball buster too, in future it'll be crush and strain, I've already ordered a couple of large buckets to follow an idea I saw on you tube,
and I will be doing cut comb too, but will sacrifice a frame or two, to add chunks into the jars

 

[Dan Job]

Do you guys/girls who crush and strain use foundation? And do you have a use for the wax other than exchange for new foundation.? I can understand crusing the lot if you use the wax for producing creams or polish or something else but it's a fair amount of time and effort the bees put into building the wax if all it goes for is recycling.

 

[BeeJayBee]

having just used our clubs extractor to get around 70lb of honey, I have to say it'll be the first and last time, apart from stickiness everywhere, the length of time was a ball buster too, in future it'll be crush and strain, I've already ordered a couple of large buckets to follow an idea I saw on you tube,
and I will be doing cut comb too, but will sacrifice a frame or two, to add chunks into the jars

For a small amount of honey it's often quicker and easier to crush and strain using a cloth (or clean tights) over a bucket than to arrange to borrow an extractor, clean it, use it, empty it, clean it and return it - and pay for it!

 

[YorkshireBees]

So new threads are sometimes criticised for saying in more words: "I have bees; now what do I do?" Well, now the end of my season is here, that's my question, but with honey. My thinking is as messy as my kitchen is going to be, and I'm reading everything I can find (esp here, as always). But I have a specific question remaining.

It seems honey in comb is less saleable than I would have thought; a chunk (if that) in jars appears to be the way forward and keep the distinctive flavours in parts of comb for home use. So liquid honey, primarily. Some poorly-drawn combs I am happy to sacrifice; others, I would rather keep.

How many boxes/frames do people consider to make borrowing an extractor (our BKA has several) worthwhile, v crushing and draining?

<ADD>To emphasise; I have access to an extractor. <\ADD>

Honey in the comb or 'Cut comb Honey' has a big market and value if you can find the right outlets.
Having said that it also requires more expertease to produce.

I would say anything over 1 super of frames makes it worth getting the extractor out.

The big question for me is NOT over the time / mess of using an extractor vs crush & strain but the destruction of valuable drawn super comb!
Taking the usual quoted figure of 8-12lbs of honey to create 1lb of wax then you can really lower future honey yields by destroying the comb.
Also how many threads have you read on here asking when to put a super on and how to get bees to draw foundation out!? Well with drawn supers I personally believe that supering a little early does not matter as much and certainly you do not have the problem of getting frames drawn out!

At the end of the day I think it is down to personal choice and circumstances, I am not going to crush and strain the 40 supers that are on my own hives!

 

[madasafish]

Honey in the comb or 'Cut comb Honey' has a big market and value if you can find the right outlets.
Having said that it also requires more expertease to produce.

I would say anything over 1 super of frames makes it worth getting the extractor out.

The big question for me is NOT over the time / mess of using an extractor vs crush & strain but the destruction of valuable drawn super comb!
Taking the usual quoted figure of 8-12lbs of honey to create 1lb of wax then you can really lower future honey yields by destroying the comb.
Also how many threads have you read on here asking when to put a super on and how to get bees to draw foundation out!? Well with drawn supers I personally believe that supering a little early does not matter as much and certainly you do not have the problem of getting frames drawn out!

At the end of the day I think it is down to personal choice and circumstances, I am not going to crush and strain the 40 supers that are on my own hives!

Agreed.
Each to their own. If I had 40 supers, I would use an extractor. But I'm happy to be a small time hobby beekeeper. 40 supers would be c 1,000 pounds weight of honey approx 10 times more than I want!