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    Home » Video » Bee TV

    Our First Honey Harvesting - Beekeeping 101 GF Video

    by Eric · This post may contain affiliate links, its one way we pay the bills. · 9 Comments

    Here is our first honey harvesting video where we show you how to use a comb knife and an extractor to extract the honey from the honeycomb.

    Our teacher, Jim, sent us an email after he saw our video with the following comments. Jim has strong opinions, like most beekeepers, I agree with most of what he says  here, but not all of it. Again we are beginner beekeepers, so we can and do make mistakes. my goal here is to show people that they too can raise bees. So here is Jim's take on our first honey harvesting video.

    Offered in what I hope is noticed to be a TOUNGUE-IN-CHEEK and FRIENDLY

    tone, are the following comments from your peers, as summarized by me:

     

    1) Putting an undrawn frame of foundation into a hive in September is a dead

    give-away that not only did you fell asleep in class, but you also failed to

    do the reading. Bees are very unlikely to drawn comb after the middle of

    August. Much better to simply replace the extracted frames when you are

    done extracting.

    2) The "purpose of the smoker" is not to drive the bees down in between the

    frames. That level of smoke was last used by Richard Nixon against anti-war

    protestors. The purpose of the smoker is to simply block alarm pheromones

    from alarming other bees, and can be used sparingly.

    3) When you are fully suited, veiled, and gloved, the bees can fly around

    without endangering you. There is no reason to be concerned that they take

    flight when you are brushing them off frames.

    4) Brushing should be done with the frames upside down, so that any bees

    with their heads in cells will not be bent backwards or pulled apart. Cells

    slant upwards within the frame, so brushing from bottom of frame to top (by

    bushing with the frame upside down) is much easier on you and the bees. If

    your sound effect was the actual brushing, you also need to use much shorter

    strokes, so as to avoid "rolling" bees on the frame. A fume board and some

    Bee-Quick might have made the job quicker, easier, and sting-free, but I'm

    not going to shove specific choices at anyone.

    5) "Finding the queen" should not wait until frames are hanging on the frame

    rest, as the queen might fall outside the hive. One wants to inspect frames

    as one removes them, while holding them over the hive. The odds of the

    queen being on frames of honey are small, but they are non-zero.

    what do you all think? let us know here:

    « How to make a potato cannon or potato bazooka - GF Video
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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Ryan Catlett

      October 20, 2009 at 2:43 pm

      Also if you use a queen excluder you can illiminate that problem, also if you turn your honeygate on your extractor it will leave less of a mess when time to clean up is concerned.

      Thank you for makeing the video,
      Sincerly,
      Ryan Catlett

    2. Wendy

      January 27, 2010 at 10:51 pm

      Loved the video....don't care what the others said, I could tell by the excitement in your voices that
      you love what you're doing and it made me smile. Keep it up and I hope to have my very own, very first hive
      up by this spring...wish me luck in the Ozarks.
      Wendy

    3. Tyler Allison

      March 07, 2010 at 5:12 pm

      The only thing I would have done different with #1 would have been to center the frames that were left in the super and put the empties on the outside.

    4. Marcella

      January 06, 2011 at 9:46 am

      Hi Gardenfork guys!
      Watched two of your videos and especially enjoyed them because we are bee-ginner bee-keepers ourselves and it is nice to see others starting from scratch, too. My boyfriend and I are in Vienna, Austria and have started last year with two hives and also enjoyed our first taste of own honey!
      We will bee continuing to watch out for more of your activities.
      Greetings from Europe!

    5. George Cannon

      February 26, 2011 at 10:05 am

      Super sweet video (pun intended). Did I see a swarm cell at the bottom of one of the honey frames? What do you think of doing a video on swarming and queen propagation? I'd sure like to see one. Thanks again for your work.

    6. Eric Gunnar Rochow

      February 27, 2011 at 8:24 am

      yes, there were a few queen cells there, but i averted a swarm last year, thankfully.

    Trackbacks

    1. How to Harvest honey « South Bees says:
      March 10, 2010 at 1:10 am

      [...] The video on the site of the person who made it [...]

    2. Hurricanes, Gardening, & Beekeeping GF Radio - GardenFork.TV | GardenFork.TV says:
      September 11, 2011 at 9:20 am

      [...] on garden fork and you can watch all of them by clicking here if you want to watch the video on how to harvest honey click here Then Tyler tells us about his upcoming trip to Scotland Tyler recommends the website visit [...]

    3. Harvest Honey with a Bee Escape – GF TV - GardenFork.TV | GardenFork.TV says:
      November 1, 2011 at 8:26 pm

      [...] the honey super to drive the bees out of that super, or you can use a bee escape. Watch our video  how to harvest honey using a fume board [...]

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