How to Get Honey From a Bee Hive

Almost every beekeeper looks forward to the day when they can reap the prize from their hives – honey! One of the best aspects of setting up a beehive is the local honey produced by bees.

For beekeepers who have never extracted honey from their hives, the process may seem a bit cumbersome. However, if you follow the steps below, you should be able to have at least a few jars, if not a few gallons, of your wonderful honey in a few hours and share it with your friends, family, and neighbors. To participate!

Brood Chamber Honey

Don’t forget to leave the honey in the beehive. I never take honey out of the baby’s room. This honey is intended for bees only. If you are entering winter, bees need honey to survive. If you are harvesting in late summer, they should have time to replenish their supply.

Recommended Tools for Removing Honey From Your Beehive

• Bee escape, escape screen, or quick and smoke bee panel
• Honey extractor
• Electric hot knife
• Bucket
• Scratched covers
• candidate
• Jars and lids
• Smoker to remove tires from the hive

Use Your Smoker When Removing Frames

Don’t forget to use a smoker and wear a bee suit when removing honey frames, because the bees will not be happy with their stores being taken away.

1. Use a Bee Escape

Before removing your frames, you must remove the bees from their premium honey. This can be made easier by planning ahead. Twenty-four hours before removing the frames, place bee repellent into a hole in the inner lid of your hive, between the brood chamber and the honeycomb.

Bee escape allows bees to travel through the device in only one direction. Make sure the bee outlet is inserted correctly so that the bees are not limited to the super honey and unable to reach the brood chamber – which is the opposite of what you want to do. At dusk, bees gather to keep warm. The bees in the Super Honey will migrate to the brood chamber and will not be able to return to the Super Honey.

What Is Bee Quick?

If you don’t have 24 hours, you can use a product called B-quick that is sprayed on the smoke pad. Bees hate the smell of beeswax and flee from the smell. If you use this method, be sure to remove the fly quickly, otherwise the bees may leave the hive!

2. Remove the Frames From the Hive

Before you can start extracting honey from the hive, you need to remove the required frames. Some beekeepers decide to extract all their honey at once. Others with multiple hives split the extraction time. I borrow a honey extractor from the local beekeeper’s guild, so I extract all the honey at once.

Once the bees emerge from the honey super, remove the super and remove the enclosed frames completely. The frame containing at least three-quarters of the cover is ready to be removed from the hive and processed. Unsealed honey should not be extracted because it does not have the correct moisture content. Bees will place a wax covering on honey that has a moisture content of 17 to 18 percent. Honey with a high moisture content is more likely to ferment. If you eat this honey within a month, it will be fine, but I don’t recommend harvesting the honey until the bees have left your hive.

Remove remaining bees on your frames using a bee brush or other organic material, such as feathers, grass blades, lavender stems, etc. It’s a little more annoying. After removing the bees from the frames, place the honey frames in a plastic tub for transfer to the extractor.

Keep the Frames Indoors After Removal

After removing the frames from the hive, they should be kept indoors away from bees to prevent theft. The warmer the honey, the easier it will flow through your tires. If the room temperature is between 80-90 degrees, the honey will flow through the frames at a much faster rate. At a minimum, the honey should be at room temperature.

Honey that is stored at cooler temperatures, especially below 57 degrees, is more likely to be grainy. However, you can freeze honey if necessary. I usually place the honey next to the heater before extraction and warm up the room I will be extracting from.

3. Set Up Your Work Station

Before you start scooping, have all your ingredients ready, because they will be a little sticky when you start! I recommend making the following items easy to access:

• The extractor
• Plastic gloves (optional)
• A honey bucket
• Your heated electric knife and/or capping scratcher
• 400-600 Micron Filter
• Table
• Extra tub for wax cappings
• Jars washed and ready
• Space heater (optional)

4. Remove Wax Cappings From Frames

An electric hot knife is the easiest way to remove the wax cap from a honeycomb frame. Place the frame on the sink that will collect the wax cap. To remove the caps, start at the top of the frame, holding the frame vertically, then slowly and carefully move the knife down the frame to remove the wax caps. Of course, it’s perfect if you just remove the lid and don’t extract too much honey. Plus, you’ll want to bring back these beautiful built-in bee frames!

I prime all the frames before extracting the honey, but if you have a partner helping you, one person can remove the cap while the other works with the extractor. Most extractors require three frames to start the extraction.

5. Extract the Honey!

Place the honey bucket and filter under the extractor tap and close the tap. Make sure your tires are positioned correctly. Try placing equal weight frames opposite each other to balance the extractor. If different weight frames conflict with each other, the extractor will shake violently and make a vibration sound.

Most extractors extract honey from only one side of the frame at a time. When one side of the frame is empty, you will need to move the frame to extract the honey from the other side of the frame. Start by rotating the tires slowly, then speed them up. I recommend rotating the tires for 4 minutes, then switching between tires. Repeat this until all the honey comes out of the frame.

The speed of removing honey from frames depends on the quality and temperature of the honey. Warm honey will flow faster than cold honey. Once there is honey at the bottom of the extractor, you can open the honey door and watch the honey start to flow!

What if Don’t Have an Extractor?

If you don’t have an extractor, you can leave your uncovered tires to drip in a bucket overnight. The room temperature should be at least 80 degrees. I don’t recommend leaving your tires out in the hot sun because they run the risk of being stolen by other bees, but I’ve seen it happen. If you are a member of your local bee organization, they will likely lend you an extractor. If you’re not a member of a local bee group, I highly recommend it!

Extracting honey from treated beehives

Do not harvest honey from hives that have been treated with antibiotics or any form of mite control. If you are going to treat your hive, do so after the honey flow and when the honey is significantly depleted. I personally don’t treat hives, so this isn’t a problem.

6. Bottle Your Honey!

Most honey will have air pockets after extraction. If you let the honey sit for a few days before bottling it, air bubbles will rise to the top of the bucket. By purchasing or making a bucket with a valve at the bottom, you can pour honey from the bottom of the bucket into honey jars without air bubbles. The first time I extracted honey, I didn’t let the honey sit, and there were air bubbles all over my jars. This is no problem other than aesthetics.

7. Return Frames to Your Hive

After extracting the honey, return the frames to the bees so they can clean the “empty” wet comb thoroughly. If the honey flow stops, remove the empty, clean comb after a week.