The Art of Harvesting

Hi guys! Sorry for the delay, I might have over-spent my time doing robotics and studying for exams, however I am back and am excited to post more content from here on out.

When you think of bees, there is one clear thing that instantly comes to mind: their elixir, honey. This liquid brings people across the spectrum together, from culinary masters, to herbal doctors, and even regular enjoyers. However, the process of producing honey is tantalizing, and often tedious, which is what makes it a form of art in the sense that it takes a unique skillset to produce this miracle substance. From frame to jar, I will take you through the steps needed to master the art of harvesting honey. 

It all starts with the bees, of course. I’ll save the science behind it for later, but once the bees produce and store sufficient honey in the comb (the hexagon wax structure), the honey is ready to harvest. However, one common mistake that most amateur beekeepers (including myself) make is choosing the wrong time to harvest. See, when harvesting the hive, you take a large amount of the bees food supply, so it's important to not only leave enough honey behind, but also take it at a good time where they can replenish. For that reason, most harvests happen during late spring and early summer, as the bees will have produced enough for a bountiful harvest, but also will have enough time to replace their stock for the dangerous winter times. 

The harvesting process is multifold. Though it depends on the type of hive, for regular langstroth box hives (not flow hives) you must melt the wax cap keeping the honey in the comb. There are many techniques used, but most involve heating the wax so it can be easily removed. The two ways I use the most are: 1) Using and old blow-dryer to heat the cap and use a special tool called a honey scraper to remove the wax or 2) Using a tool called the hot knife which is what it seems - A knife that heats up to high temperatures to just slice off the top layer of wax. A pro tip I have learnt over time is to not scrape off all the wax; it’s better to only take the top layer off to preserve the comb. This helps make sure that the bees don’t spend time refinishing the comb that holds the honey, rather producing the honey, allowing for faster replenishment of food and thus a healthier hive.

After the honey is exposed to the air, it is put into an extractor.

This extractor fastens the frames to the rotating centerpoint which when it spins, allows the centrifugal force to “fling” the honey to the wall, where gravity pulls it to the bottom.  At the bottom, there is a valve, which opens up to a filter, where extra bits of wax and other filtered objects are removed. Now, you have liquid gold, honey, in a bucket.

What you do now is up to you. Some people put them in huge quart-size containers. My personal preference is regular mason jars - they look nice and also work well. The process of extraction is daunting, however when tackled in a methodological way, is actually very feasible. I’ll release my top 10 tips for hive extractions soon, so make sure to stay tuned.