Honey Extraction

[MerryBee]

Two weeks ago I did my first ever extraction after the OSR finished. Already some of the supers returned to the hives have frames of honey which are more than 50% capped. Lifting heavy supers on and off for inspections is a bit of an issue for me as I do my beekeeping on my own. So I am contemplating removing frames from the supers as and when the honey is fully capped, and replacing them with frames of foundation, then storing the capped frames in the house until I have enough to be worth extracting. I dont have my own extractor, but will borrow the manual one belonging to my local association.

So my question is - will this approach cause a problem when extracting? I assume I will need to re-warm the frames to allow the honey to flow.

many thanks for your thoughts.

 

[Dishmop]

I do it.

I use a big plastic box with a lid... You can carry the replacement frames in it and put a few feet away from hive...Empty the box and give the bees something to get interested in, grab a full frame from hive, shake and brush bees off it, run around a few times to get rid of followers and put it in the box quickly and put the lid on........ then do it again.....A few bees might end up in the box but they'll die happy.

 

[enrico]

Depends what the nectar came from. Your main problem is going to be that the previous nectar was OSR. That is likely to seed this second crop and may make it set solid in the frame. In which case you may need a warming cabinet.
E

 

[Charlieanne]

run around a few times to get rid of followers and put it in the box quickly and put the lid on........ then do it again....

The mental image this has created has tickled me, must look funny to anyone watching!