HONEY!!
This is the year when we actually took some honey out of the hives!!
Pete goes into his hives usually once a month to make sure the
bees are still healthy and thriving! This time, he took out some
of the frames to extract the honey!
ALWAYS careful not to make the bees angry and donning the
appropriate clothing just in case, they are using a smoker to
keep the bees subdued.
This 'triangle escape board' is put in 1 day before taking the
honey out. It is suppose to confuse the bees and create a maze
so the majority of bees aren't up in the honey frames that you want
to take out! If you leave it in too long (a few days) the bees
figure the maze out and you'll find a lot more bees in that area!
Checking to see if the frames are capped.
A couple of days later... now using the uncapping knife to remove
the cappings (the wax over the honey to keep it preserved).
Another uncapping tool to scrape off more of the wax.
The frames are then put into the extractor 6 frames at a time!
The cover is placed back on the top and then it's time to
turn the handle on top! You really need to turn the handle
fast for a while to get it spinning fast enough.
(Thankfully, there were 3 of us at home to help!)
The centrifugal force forces the honey out from the frames
and it all pools at the bottom of the extractor!
You can see how clean the frame is now AND how much yummy
honey is on the bottom waiting to be bottled!
Running the honey our and into the double
sieve to remove any of the wax that may have
spun out with the honey....
and the final step is bottling!!
Aren't bees amazing?!
I thought you might enjoy a closer look!!
You can see the lace in their wings!
Such intricate little creatures....
(Thanks Austin, for the last three pictures!)
