August and September usually mark honey harvest season for beekeepers in my area. It’s turned out for us that the harvest generally works best on Labor Day weekend. Hopefully by then my bees have had a few months to grow their hive numbers, stay healthy, and put up a good excess of honey. I take some of that excess, and leave some for the bees to eat as well. Every decision I make when pulling the honey is for the well-being of the hive. Above all else I want to keep my bees healthy and fed well going into the cold Wisconsin winters.
I’ve kept bees for several years, and one thing I’ve learned is that every beekeeper does things a little different. The way I do my harvest is based on what I learned from my original teachers, along with some wisdom gained from mentors, and my own experience along the way. Even the kind of hives I have (Langstroth), along with the style of frames I use, to the breed of bee I buy is all individual preference. Whatever works for each person is how they do it.
So, what’s involved in my harvest?
Well, it all starts with the bees. I keep a closer eye on them, and their honey production, from August into September, checking to see how their honey harvest is going. When I feel that we have enough in the hives to be able to take some off, it’s time to get to work. This involves going into the hive usually weekly or biweekly and checking how much honey is on the frames. I don’t want to harvest too late in the season, because it can get cold quickly in Wisconsin. The bees need some time after harvest to put up more of their own honey, and cold or wet days in fall make that hard for them. I also don’t want to harvest too early, as the honey comb won’t be capped with wax – meaning the honey isn’t ready to be taken yet. It can be a fine line to walk as a beekeeper!
I make sure to fully suit up for this job. The bees aren’t very happy when I’m stealing from their food supply, so it’s only prudent to protect against stings. Again, each beekeeper does their own thing. I know a someone who never suits up to work with his bees, and doesn’t seem to mind the stings. Me, I’d rather avoid pain and itching from a bee sting, so it’s suit-city for me!! I have an awesome bee suit that I bought a few years ago that allows air to pass through, but the bee stinger can’t get through it. It also has a built-in hood to protect my head and face, and full arm and leg coverings. I wear my farm work boots to protect my feet, and leather bee gloves to protect my hands.
Each hive gets a thorough check over, and what I feel is excess frames of honey I pull out of the hive and put into an extra, empty hive box on a cart. The frame I take out is replaced with a new clean frame as I go. I do this over and over, going through each hive box, and also checking on the health of the colonies while doing this. Each frame that is pulled from the hive is usually full of bees, so I use a little soft brush to just push them off the frame back into the hive. Full hive boxes are HEAVY, approximate 50-60 pounds each, so it can be a good workout to go through the hives each year when there are sometimes 6-7 boxes on each hive. In 2020 it took me 90 minutes to go through my two hives fully, pull the honey off, and do some health maintenance on each. Lots of heavy lifting and some serious sweating in my bee suit!
Once the frames are off the hives, I’m done with the part that messes with the bees. This is when I can get some more willing help, and usually Nick and Aubrey get ensnared 🙂
We bring the cart with the honey frames into the garage, away from the bee hives, and set up a honey extractor. The extractor is a large metal drum with a rotating basket inside with a crank connected to the spinning basket. It comes apart for washing and storing, so we need to connect everything together again prior to use. When used, it splats the honey out of the opened comb and onto the inside wall of the extractor. They honey runs down the inside wall of the extractor to a spigot that can be open or closed. Each frame from the hives has honey (hopefully) on each side of it. I take a knife, or sharp hive comb, and scrape off -or break open- the wax cap that seals the honey in each cell. Once that is done on each side, the frame is fitted into the extractor, 3 frames at a time, and we start cranking it to spin. We have to stop and turn over the frames to get the honey from the opposite side of the frame.
We keep repeating this process, alternating with opening the spigot to drain the extractor. I drain the honey into a 5 gallon bucket with another spigot on it. I also have a mesh net that I strain the honey through as it goes into the bucket. This pulls out any wax comb, or bees, that may be in the honey. From the bucket the honey is poured out the spigot into large containers that I can bring into my kitchen to jar everything up.
Extracting the honey is another work out. The frames are heavy, and spinning the extractor takes some muscle. I always hope for cooler weather so we don’t roast in the garage while doing this process. Uncapping, spinning, and straining the honey usually takes a few hours for all of us working together.
Jarring the honey is a longer process for me. I wash all the jars I intend on using, and make sure that I have enough lids and rings. This year I had to go to my neighbors and hope they had some extra for me to use! They did! They were saviors 🙂
Once all the jars are washed I separate them by size, and I weigh each jar individually. I keep track of all the weights and jar types, and move on to filling the jars. Each jar is filled, closed up with a lid and ring, get a Black Frog Farm sticker on the lid, and wiped clean. I then weigh each jar again to see what the “honey weight” is of each jar so I can figure out what the price will be for each. I price each jar individually based on how much honey weight there is by putting a little sticker on the glass of the jar.
I base the price per pound of my honey the same as what I see other beekeepers doing for theirs in my area. I’m not trying to undercut anyone, or overcharge anyone. My sole goal in honey sales is to help me pay for any hive losses I will have from winter into spring, and for any equipment that might need replacing.
Anyone with bees will tell you they aren’t into beekeeping for any profits. I’ve found that I enjoy working with the hives, and seeing the bees create all their comb and watching the new bee brood growing inside. I’ve also enjoyed the benefits these pollinators bring to my flower gardens each year!!
More than that, I’ve been able to enjoy honey created from my very own flowers each year. And it’s pretty darn yummy!