Honey Room

[theengraver]

Im buikding a new honey room this winter
16ft x 10ft
I only want to spend once on this project so i need to get it right the first time
It will have to cope with between 100 to 200 hives worth of honey
any tips on what sort of equiptment to invest in Budget will be up to 5k
but change would be nice

 

[VEG]

What do you use now? With an average of 3 supers per hive you will be looking at 600+ supers on their own would fill a lot/all of that space.

 

[jezd]

Ditto, your profile says you already have 400 (plus 200 nucs) colonies which suggests 1200 supers - confused dot com here.

A room 16ft by 10ft is tiny!!!

 

[theengraver]

This ones not for me its for my brother the space is all we have is the only room he has for the honey room

 

[Tom Bick]

What do you operate with now?

I think you are more qualified to answer this question than most on this forum, although we do have one or two beefarmers with more hives than you but not many.

 

[theengraver]

I produce very little honey
I produce Nuc and mated Queens

 

[Chris B]

Heather honey or not? Makes a big difference.

Are you talking bottling or just extracting?

Is it already food grade room with sink and water supply?

Have you got separate storage for extracted honey?

Is it bee proof?

I think you need to be clear in your own mind about the objectives for this project. The extractor isn't the only significant expense.

 

[theengraver]

the room is tiled floor to celing has hot + cold water stainless steel tables
would be no heather honey to speak of. no other equiptment in there at the moment
would be extraction all the way to bottleing

 

[VEG]

find it hard to believe with the number of hives you have that you dont know what is needed, you must have extracted honey at some stage with that lot. Sorry to ask but are you on the wind up or genuinly dont know?

 

[itma]

Im buikding a new honey room this winter
16ft x 10ft
I only want to spend once on this project so i need to get it right the first time
It will have to cope with between 100 to 200 hives worth of honey
any tips on what sort of equiptment to invest in Budget will be up to 5k
but change would be nice

This ones not for me its for my brother the space is all we have is the only room he has for the honey room

What level is your brother scaling up from?

 

[Poly Hive]

I had a similar sized room as my honey house (21 x 7) and it was just fit for 60-80 hives.

I find it odd to be honest that you are planning a large unit in Scotland and are not planning on a heather crop, I find that astonishing. It also makes no financial sense to not go to the heather: the most valuable crop in the UK.

Sorry to say but tiling the walls is not the best way to go, I lined mine with insulated washable panels. A good honey house needs to be warm, and warmth obviously costs, so insulation is cost effective.

Some new thinking is needed I would suggest.

PH

 

[Chris B]

Given you have virtually no space have you considered the "Tetra Plus" from National Bee Supplies? I think it's about £3k. But it's a compact unit incorporating 20 frame extractor and uncapping tank. It looks like it would spin cappings but I'm not sure. There are probably much cheaper ways to do what you need but you'd never fit it all in your available space.

 

[DanBee]

What value is the annual crop that this facility would have to process? Does that have an impact on your budgeting? Can you plan to invest in progressively more kit over a number of years, so effectively blow most of the budget on one or two good bits now and make do until you can fill in the gaps? You will need to be very lucky to find 2nd hand commercial equipment at cheap prices, it tends to sell quickly and through word of mouth in my experience. Are you a member of the Bee Farmers (BFA)? Obvious place to start asking about decent 2nd hand kit for sale.

Chris is right that the Tetra all-in unit might fit the bill; they look good at Stoneleigh but I have not seen one used in anger, nor do I know anyone who uses one so cannot quote experience. Thomas' kit is good - we still have our 1981 20 frame Thomas extractor as standby. Again the BFA is a good source of advice & experience, and even visits to see other people's set-up to help crystallise your thoughts.

The Hive and the Honey Bee (Dadant) has a chapter on honey house design and equipping. Worth a read. You don't have to invest huge amounts or build massive but you do need space to swing a cat, and you do need to think about workflow. Bear in mind the cheaper equipment will generally be smaller and hence require more manual processing or intervention.

Are you aware that Andrew Scarlett has a professional contract honey bottling facility in Perthshire?

 

[theengraver]

a few more facts
1 this one is not based in scotland
2 the room is the only space he has
3 due to the space thats why im asking the question here
4 im paying for this as a gift so i dont want to get it wrong and have to dip my hand in my pocket again!

 

[jakethedog]

the immediate thought to cross my mind (based on size of room) is has it got a suitable door -in the sense of width to make for easy access? If not is it possible to put in a double door? Eats into the budget but got to be worth it in the long run. The other thing is, are the electrics fit for purpose? Again, if you need only a small amount of re-wiring it's going to make another dent in your finances but has got to be a sensible investment up front.

 

[theengraver]

the room has large double door
the electrics are up to scratch
so all i need is some information for kitting it out with quality equiptment
that is compact easy to clean and will do the job

 

[jakethedog]

the room has large double door
the electrics are up to scratch
so all i need is some information for kitting it out with quality equiptment
that is compact easy to clean and will do the job[/QUOTE



might be best just to ask your brother because he's the one who's going to have to use it for several years, and lets be honest, if he doesn't already know what he needs then he's out of his depth.

 

[chickendave]

the room has large double door
the electrics are up to scratch
so all i need is some information for kitting it out with quality equiptment
that is compact easy to clean and will do the job[/QUOTE



might be best just to ask your brother because he's the one who's going to have to use it for several years, and lets be honest, if he doesn't already know what he needs then he's out of his depth.

 

[Heather]

Only for extraction but...
My lovely chap is, at this moment, converting a quarter of the garage into a bee proof extraction room. Will be 10x8' have running water, electricity a window and a light... heaven.

When I went to the bee husbandry day and I asked about extracting conditions- apparent if I want to do the exam they check the area - and where I did it was clean -but not pristine enough to pass (garage stuff on shelves etc)- so have to do this if I want to continue this bee journey (in more ways than one! )