Extracting Honey from the Hive Box

in Animals on the Farm

In the end, extracting honey from either a bee skep, hive box, or a wild hive is much the same - although the first two are neither upsetting the delicate balance of nature nor mindless and unnecessary destruction.

Beekeepers begin by smoking the bees.

This is a widely recognized and relatively accepted safety measure for the bee keeper. And it is safe for the bees as well.

Whenever you need to manipulate a colony, you would have a lighted smoker on hand that omits cool smoke.

(recommended reading: "How to use hive smokers...")

Mind The Mood of Your Bees

Bees are sensitive to vibrations. Pry off the cover to the hive as gently as possible. Move smoothly and carefully so that you don't alarm the bees. Avoid any jolting.

Once the cover is removed, work from the back or the side of the hive and remove the frame nearest the outside.

If robbing (one colony taking other colony's honey) is not a problem (and you will intuitively know this from working previously with your bees), lean the frame against the outside of the hive to give you more room to work. If robbing could be a problem make sure to cover the hives and never leave a frame out in the open.

To remove a frame, pry it loose with the hive tool and, with a firm grip on the now loosened frame, gently lift it. Watch to be sure you do not scrape the bees on the adjoining frame.

Scraping Honey Comb from the Frame

Scrape the comb (see: "collecting honey from your skep...") and don't worry about leaving some behind in the hive or box. Work swiftly and smoothly as scraping is irritating to the bees.

If you are going to extract all the boxes, start with the lowest one. Make sure the boxes you are not examining stay covered.

Extracting Honey From A Wild Established Hive

In the old days, for wild honey gatherers, destruction of the hive was nearly always necessary. In some documented cases over fifty pounds of excellent honey could be ravished from one established hive.

Magnified honey comb.

When bees return to a hive that has been robbed and find the ground flowing with honey, they don't seem to recognize their old home.

Their first instinct is to fill themselves on the discovery then attempt to carry themselves home. They rise up slowly until they can survey the surroundings. Then, realizing that they are at the site of their old home, they are bewildered.

It has been said by the old timers to be a most pathetic sight.

This was the old-timer way of collecting wild honey - completely unnecessary practice today as you can find a great supply of wild honey without destruction or disruption here.