The best bit... first jars of 2019.
Will do more over the weekend.
Will do more over the weekend.
Honey, I’m home!
- Thread starter Dalek
- Start date
I uncovered by accident a bee colony in my lawn edge, guess they're Carder bees. I've left them alone as I believe they will move on in the autumn. They are living literally under a pile of grass.
I will only do it if we can try it out on Sean D’s car...
Can you explain the pictures please?...Thanks...............Frankie
Pictures 1,2 and 3 show the wax and honey taken from the frames in a sieve which allows the filtered honey to drain down into the tub, leaving the wax behind. As you can see in pic 1, we got just over 5 litres of honey from just the 9 frames you can see to the left in pic 2. The final picture obviously shows the filtered honey in the jars.
We then take the wax from the sieve and melt it down to make candles, polish, lip balm etc.
Hope that explains it OK.
You can sod off
Thats really impressive, I've just shown it to the family and we are all getting quite excited about being future bee keepers, just lots more research to be done and hopefully get my first colony next spring
Can’t see what the problem is. The colour is about right.You can sod off
I seem to remember a bees wax car polish from many years agoCan’t see what the problem is. The colour is about right.
Just spoke to a friend and she is putting me in contact with a couple of local bee keepers
Great news. Good luck with putting your first hive together.
Not sure about that but I have heard of Turtle Wax though.
When you remove the honey comb from the frame, do you break up the comb by hand? Do you have to make sure each cell is broken to release the honey, then allow it to filter through the sieve? What about centrifuge? Is this only for larger operations? Is unfiltered honey better to consume? What exactly if filtered other that the wax? Do you process the wax any further yourself or sell it to a processor? Sorry for all the questions. Now that I'm retired, I was thinking about getting into this for two reasons, one for a good hobby that has some benefits and two for the environment. Is this silly thinking?.................Thanks for the answers............Frankie.
No problem with the questions.
The frames are simply lifted from the hive and using a long bladed knife you simply scrape the wax coating off. Then place the frames into the centrifuge. If you do not have a centrifuge you can put the frames upright in a tray or bucket and the honey will simply drain out, but this takes quite a while to happen.
You end up with a mass of scrapped off wax mixed with honey and a load of clear honey at the bottom of your container.
We then put the wax/honey mixture on a low heat which melts the wax. As wax is lighter than honey, it then comes to the top and sets hard as it cools. You simply lift it out and you are left with more honey to add to your pot.
We then just pour the honey through a fine sieve to remove any left over wax and put it into sterilised glass jars. The honey is not treated in any way, it is as it comes from the hive.
Now you have the frames which came from the hive. They still have some wax and honey left in them so we simply place them on top of the beehive and the bees will come and take the honey from them and return it to their hive. Once they have done that we can repair any frames that are damaged and reuse them.
As for the wax itself, you can buy cheap silicon moulds of all sorts of shapes and sizes and we met it down by placing it in boiling water. The wax will once again rise to the top, allowing you to remove any impurities. We then put the clean wax in a pan, heat up to melt it and place it in the moulds. There is no processing with the wax either. Like the honey, it is exactly as it came out of the hive.
Hope that helps.
@Dalek have you seen the flow hive? https://eu.honeyflow.com/?gclid=Cj0...-7vrVdKNo5EOML_Tc8GYe01zdFvf2F1IaAl1REALw_wcB don't know how practical and effective it actually is but heard about them a few years ago
Thank you for the your time and the excellent explanations of the processes. I felt as if I were reading them from a book. I might ask my last question again about what you thought of my reasons for getting into it....................Frankie
Both the reasons you give are the same ones I have. Bee keeping is a really satisfying hobby in so many ways. You are dealing with animals in a mutually beneficial way. They get a great place to live which you help to protect and you get honey and wax. You also get to work outdoors, and in my case, in a very peaceful location which is an added bonus.
On top of all that, we all know bee populations are under threat and anything we can do to help has got to be worth it.
I hope you do give it a go, but if you are still not sure, why not contact a local bee keeper to you and ask to join them the next time they check out their hives? That is what I did and the first time I tried it I was hooked. Most of my equipment is second hand, bought from local bee keepers and ebay. That helps to keep the cost down.
Thanks for all the detailed replies, as a starter, how many hives would be feasable, I was thinking just the one but may go for 2
I'll start to look into it. Thanks..............Frankie