# honey extracting



## LEAD PIPE (May 22, 2005)

Hello, this is my first year and I have 1 hive. I don't have an extractor and was thinking of ways to get the honey without one.

What if I removed the staples to the side of the frame, took off the side, and used a hot knife to cut along the foundation (plastic). Then do the same to the other side. This would give me 2 halves of comb honey. I could either put the 2 halves back together or keep it upside down so the honey wouldn't run out of it. I would then just staple the frame back together.

Do you think this will work?

Thanks


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## Barry Digman (May 21, 2003)

If you're using plastic foundation you're not going to get comb honey per se. Just scrape the comb, honey and all, off of the foundation using a teflon coated spatula to minimize damaging the wax coating on the foundation. You can then crush and strain the honey out of the wax. If you want some comb, you'll be able to salvage a little of it after the scraping process, but it won't be the same as real comb honey as far as looks.


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## LEAD PIPE (May 22, 2005)

I was hoping to avoid the whole crush and strain mess. I'm not too worried about looks just taste and keeping things as easy as possible. I was hoping that by talking the frame apart I would wind up with 2 large peaces that could be put on top of each other, not true comb honey but somewhat similar. I would then need to come up with a way to store it.


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## power napper (Apr 2, 2005)

Hey Lead Pipe--Why don't you buy yourself a square honey dish with a lid on ebay--the dish is just the right size for a comb of honey. You could put the two cut off halves of comb into the dish and let the dish on the kitchen table always ready to please your palate. Then place the rest of your bounty with the sealed side down individually wrapped in plastic wrap into the freezer maintaining the sealed side down. This is the best way i know to keep comb honey. Hope this helps.


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## dcross (Jan 20, 2003)

I don't think you'll end up with two pieces, it's new comb and it's going to be very fragile.

The least messy way to do it is just to scrape it into a dish, and eat the wax and all.


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## LEAD PIPE (May 22, 2005)

Thanks for responding

Is the best way to keep it to freeze it? Wont it get all cristally that way?


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## dcross (Jan 20, 2003)

<<Is the best way to keep it to freeze it? >>

It's not necessary, just keep it in a sealed container. Being your first harvest, I doubt it will last very long


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