Here are some pictures of different aspects of beekeeping and honey extraction.
Starting the kids young. Our 10-year old loves to come into the bee yard and watch what goes on in there. Our 14-year old prefers to watch from about 20 feet away. Brian in the bee yard with several very tall hives. Using a leaf blower to get the last of the bees off of the honey super before taking it inside for extraction.Comb that the bees built in a spacer. This would be called “burr comb,” which is defined as anywhere that bees build comb that is an annoyance to the beekeeper.The burr comb has to be scraped off of the bottom of the honey super before the frames can be removed to be extracted.One side of a frame of honey. The white that you see is the wax cap over each individual cell of honey. Before the frame goes into the extractor, the wax caps are cut off with a hot knife. A frame after the wax caps have been cut off. This frame has an interesting pattern of light and dark honey. Bees were busy finding different nectar sources when they filled this frame. The honey extractor, ready to begin working. First honey coming out, and falling onto the honey strainer (to strain out wax).Using a refractometer to check that the water content of the honey is low enough (it should be between 17 and 18%).
