Huge Record Setting Honey Harvest (Part 2) Extraction

We had a great time as we extracted honey for our huge record setting honey harvest! Great friends came from as far away as northern Utah to help spin out this beautiful liquid gold. We used the old and refurbished Cowan Uncapper as well as two brand new Hillco Megamax extractors and we were finally able to get the job done after a long day. It was so much fun and very satisfying. I simply could not do this beekeeping thing at this level without great friends who are not afraid to work. There is nothing quite like the beekeeping community. The bees truly are the conduit to the people!
Here are the other two video links for this 3 part series:
Part 1 (Pulling Honey): • Huge Record Setting Ho...
Part 3 (Storing Comb and Honey): • Huge Record Setting Ho...
#brucesbees #honey #honeyharvest

[@markespich8574]

It’s great to see so many people getting into the bee movement. God bless you all.

[@brucesbees]

Yes! Good times!!

[@MinnesotaBeekeeper]

"Smoke, mirrors and magic", lol, spot on. Over 100 buckets, great crew sir!

[@brucesbees]

Yes haha. It was a great day!

[@Danielseven-ir2mq]

Nice team work. Country living at its finest.

[@brucesbees]

Absolutely. I love it! Great folks who aren’t afraid to work. There is no better fellowship than working hard together to accomplish a goal.

[@RePetesBees]

Look at all those buckets of honey! About a bucket every 2 boxes. Awesome teamwork!

[@brucesbees]

Yes that’s about what we average it seems. Good times…

[@gingerbrimer8486]

Enjoy watching all of y’all work so hard. It’s good to have help. Poor ole Bracken and the humidity. It’s good he is young.

[@barkersbees]

Haha it kicked my butt a little for sure!

[@brucesbees]

Yeah that guy is amazing. What a fun time we had though!

[@rafaelgil8348]

Love watching these videos!!!

[@brucesbees]

Yessir. So much fun. I love it! Thanks for checking in Rafael. We will have to get you down there for one of these sometime!🍯😎

[@keithspillman]

"Cleanse your pores"???? What a nice southern way to say you're sweating your tails off!!! 🤣GREAT crew and GREAT harvest!!!! Looks like your new process was a huge success. Congratulations!!!

[@barkersbees]

The old Alabama detox!

[@brucesbees]

Yes! What a day! Thanks for checking in Keith!

[@Ambees_Honey_Farm]

That, to me is fellowship! I love seeing this, Bruce should host helpers for future honey harvests. "Come work your butts off extracting honey!!" My brother is coming over and that is what we have planned for today, lots of work!

[@brucesbees]

Absolutely. Haha. It’s basically what I do. And we have such a good time!

[@gallowaylights]

Sweet crew😂 You all should make it a tour and visit others extracting 😂

[@brucesbees]

Haha. I hear ya. You’re right. Great crew! I am truly blessed to have such great friends!

[@gallowaylights]

@@brucesbees * Thanks for showing us how honey can bring people together ❤️

[@brucesbees]

I truly am blessed!

[@BrownAndDaughters]

Congratulations on the amazing haul this year!

[@brucesbees]

We had a blast. We need to get you down here one of these days Conner!

[@BrownAndDaughters]

@@brucesbees I would love to come visit. I need to find a few days and take off.

[@brucesbees]

@BrownAndDaughters you are welcome any time my friend. I am usually around.

[@kennith.]

Great job guys.

[@brucesbees]

Good times!

[@spencercox8972]

Awesome operation Bruce!

[@brucesbees]

Yes it has been a major upgrade! It’s till hard work but not nearly and physically taxing as it was in the past.

[@Manuherikiabeekeeping]

Brilliant 👍 great helpers and great success. Fantastic 👍 hi from central Otago southern New Zealand 👋

[@barkersbees]

Wow New Zealand that is awesome

[@brucesbees]

Thanks so much for checking in from the other side of the world!

[@Manuherikiabeekeeping]

@@barkersbees it's winter here it ain't that awesome at the moment 🥶😅

[@Manuherikiabeekeeping]

@@brucesbees cool. Always interesting to watch north american beekeepers doing stuff we'd like to be doing right now😄 except it's our winter 🥶 so I'm making boxes, frames and clearing wild rose by hand out of a new remote apairy site for spring 😂👋

[@brucesbees]

@Manuherikiabeekeeping no doubt. We are burning up here. Hot and humid!

[@iantheghost]

Great Job! I got the Hillco Mini Max this year… talk about a game changer

[@brucesbees]

Yes! I am sold on Hillco!

[@jamestownsendjrtbees3226]

Wow Bruce, that was some hard work! Congrats on the harvest.

[@brucesbees]

It sure was but I love it. And I think the crew had a great time as well. Very satisfying!

[@aaronparis4714]

Keeps that bearing greased good it will keep your machine working for many years

[@brucesbees]

Oh yeah. We estimate this uncapper is around 50 years old and I’m sure the extractors will also last for years to come!

[@hamburghoney]

Looks like a well oiled machine Bruce!

[@brucesbees]

It went well and gets a little more efficient each time. Lots of work. Lots of fun!

[@SylantBill]

Just pulled my honey supers for the second time this year. I have to extract 13 8 frame supers. Man I love this stuff.

[@brucesbees]

Sounds like a nice pull. It’s so satisfying to see what the bees can do.

[@duanevonbargen7516]

Awesome Bruce and crew.

[@brucesbees]

It was a great day. Thanks for checking in!

[@willweiser5441]

wish I was there with you''all

[@brucesbees]

We certainly had a great time! Thanks for checking in!

[@donbearden1953]

Congradulations Bruce!

[@brucesbees]

Thanks Don. Good times!

[@terrydeese157]

Looking good

[@brucesbees]

Thank you. Good times!

[@markespich8574]

Nectar of the Gods. Man that’s beautiful honey.

[@brucesbees]

Yes. It is amazing!

[@taylorboysoutdoors]

I believe the hillco extractor is gonna be my next big investment. We ran 2, 9 frame SAFs this year. I thought I had a load with 20 plus buckets 😅😅😅

[@brucesbees]

We really liked the Hillco extractors. I am going to try to get a review out soon. I have grown to the point where it is a little crazy. But I love it!

[@taddrienstra7247]

Did the trailer tarp work for ya? Recommend pulling the spinners to almost touching the corner of the uncapper drain tank. Keeps more honey off the floor and lets the loader be only 1 person per side. Great season! Love it.

[@brucesbees]

Yeah the tarp worked well to keep the cappings off the trailer bed. I hear ya on the extractor locations but it just seems to work better this way. As people are always moving through the honey house. We are always trying to improve so thanks for the tip. I have thought doing something like that but if too close to the uncapper it would get too congested I think.🤔

[@autumnhillbees]

Great video!! I looked forward to seeing this years extraction!! Things looked a lot smoother than last year!!

[@brucesbees]

Yes it has been a wonderful year so far! We ended up with a total of 9300 pounds for the year! A record for me!

[@autumnhillbees]

@@brucesbees 9300 WOW!! That’s amazing!! Congrats!! How do you top that for 2025

[@brucesbees]

@autumnhillbees not sure if I want to lol. Will see if I am able to get rid of it. That’s a lot of honey to sell😅

[@noahG82]

Great video congrats on an amazing harvest!! I am in process of setting up my honey processing room now. I got everything Hillco had to offer for the most part. I got 2-3 weeks for extraction. I can't wait to put all this equipment to use!

[@brucesbees]

I think you will be satisfied with the Hillco products. I have been impressed with their customer service and products for sure.

[@billchriswell2925]

Love my Hillco... much smaller than yours😉

[@brucesbees]

Quality product for sure. We are pleased!

[@628DirtRooster]

I recognized Grammy's voice right off the bat.

[@628DirtRooster]

Good to see Richard too.

[@brucesbees]

Grammy is awesome and definitely has a recognizable voice. We had such a fun and hardworking crew! It was fun!

[@aaronparis4714]

You need to get rusty on one of your streams he is good hearted

[@brucesbees]

Yes that would be cool. Not sure he has time. But I might ask him. I know he is a devout Baptist and I think they have church in most Wednesday nights. But would be fun to pull it off sometime.

[@brianbennett4374]

Hello All. Happy 4th

[@BrianCooper901]

Very nice and efficient! Did you find any more bottle necks or do you think you got it optimized? Thanks for sharing.

[@brucesbees]

I think we are finally getting it optimized. The next step will have to be pumps and drums. A whole different level. I think we are going about as fast as we can with the current setup. The only thing that might speed it up a bit is if we had one more extractor. But everything would have to be clicking for that to be an advantage and it would require the absolutely perfect crew. And we had a really good one.

[@GeorgeCMcRae]

So satisfying!!! After this, do you bottle?

[@brucesbees]

Absolutely satisfying! We store the buckets and bottle it up a little at a time as needed.

[@GeorgeCMcRae]

@@brucesbees Honey on tap.

[@brucesbees]

Yep. That way we can make sure it is de crystallized and bottle up what we need as we need it.

[@tritonewr4054]

How did the hops spider work? Was it a pain to clean?

[@brucesbees]

They worked great. Easy to clean. Flip them upside down and spray the out. We cleaned and changed them out several times during the harvest as they do eventually get clogged with particles. But they were awesome! It was good to have 2 of them to rotate.

[@tritonewr4054]

@@brucesbees that’s great to hear. I just ordered one. It’s coming from Canada. Where did you source yours from? Thanks.

[@brucesbees]

@tritonewr4054 probably the same place. Ours came from Canada.

[@brucesbees]

brewhaequipment.com I believe.

[@tritonewr4054]

@@brucesbees yep same place. Thanks Bruce.

[@MFB7000]

That’s a lot to bottle, congratulations

[@brucesbees]

Yep we will be bottling for months now haha. I bottle it up on an “as needed” basis typically.

[@robertmiller1403]

First of all thanks for showing your process, this helps all of us in improving our process of getting the honey from the frame to buckets. I especially liked the way you filtered your honey, never seen that approach before. Question, did you have to clean those spider filters every so often? Were they able to keep up with 2 extractors? Also I have used the Simple Farms decapper, but found out it added too much time to my extractor trying to get honey out of those small slits and it seems I always leave some honey behind in the frames. Do you have any of those issues using that decapper on your deep frames? Again thanks for sharing, very much appreciated!!!!!

[@brucesbees]

Over time the hops spiders do tend to get clogged so we did have to clean them very once in a while. We used the SHF uncappers for years. We always have some pin rollers or scratchers available to help get excess wax off and to make sure the cells are open.

[@Drewjober]

Great job happy Independence Day god bless !

[@brucesbees]

Good times…

[@aaronparis4714]

Did I see a drone comb in that honey super 😂

[@brucesbees]

Maybe. Not sure. Every once in a while it happens … but very rarely. I am pretty careful.

[@aaronparis4714]

@@brucesbees it’s not a bad thing if they draw them out and put honey in them I bet it could get to be a fat honey frame

[@brucesbees]

@aaronparis4714 oh yeah for sure. Don’t care the size of the cell if they are full of honey. Every once in a a while we actually get brood in the frames and that is not desirable.

[@aaronparis4714]

@@brucesbees I don’t use excluders it happens all the time to me I extracted them separate one time and there is no diff I don’t think there is anyway my second brood box is always that way

[@brucesbees]

Yeah it’s not a big deal. No difference if they pack honey in drone cells. It’s just the brood I don’t want to see when I get back to the honey house.

[@metalstorm9737]

Get a fan in there 😅

[@barkersbees]

Oh we had some!

[@brucesbees]

There was a fan in there! Just very humid.

[@mkirkland616]

Dang, my wimpy 17 buckets over here.... Lol

[@brucesbees]

I hear ya lol. That sounds like a nice pull though. Depending on your goals. It is possible at times to get too much!

[@kathyhathaway8823]

What a HAPPY GROUP an DEDICATION you see in EVERYONE WORKING TOGETHER AS ONE BEE FAMILY. Bruce I think you have sure got you choke points worked out . The filtering tank sure works great . Great job for you all . Thanks

[@brucesbees]

We are getting it figured out. And it’s so much fun. I love the fellowship of people working together to accomplish a goal. Nothing better than that. I truly am blessed with great friends!

[@aaronparis4714]

You have a nice place of land is that your home ?

[@brucesbees]

It is my friend Rusty’s place.

[@burleybeeyard]

How big is that room?

[@brucesbees]

Around 750 sq feet

[@jayphillips2582]

How does the hillco compare to the lyson?

[@brucesbees]

Much preferred. Heavier duty. I think Rusty really liked the Lyson but as soon as he saw my Hillco he ordered one for himself. We sold our other two extractors.

[@jayphillips2582]

@@brucesbeesnice, the lyson has treated me very well over the last two years but I have noticed hillco has really come out and on fire with products. I have the hillco bottling tank, uncapping tank and auto bottle filler. Seriously considering adding a second extractor and may lean that direction VS a second lyson.

[@brucesbees]

Oh yeah. Rusty loves his Lyson. But is sold completely on the Hillco. I would recommend it for sure. I don’t think you will be disappointed.

[@kentcostello5286]

Hay there's no way that was you wife . You got 2 daughters. Awesome job and video tho .

[@brucesbees]

Yes she is beautiful and willing to put up with me. She’s a keeper!

[@kentcostello5286]

@@brucesbees my wife wants to throw me back because I'm never home when I am home hunting fishing or out gardening or in the messing with my honeybees.

[@brucesbees]

@kentcostello5286 mine is good to help with extraction, bottling etc but doesn’t get in the bees. She is very supportive though and for that I am grateful!

[@sonofthunder.]

Amazing haul great hard working crew,nice equipment too,so whats that 500 gallons

[@brucesbees]

Yes a little over 500 gallons that day. 775 for the year. Or 9300 pounds.

[@jimallen1176]

Good harvest. What kind of machine is that, he's putting the wax cappings in?

[@brucesbees]

A wax spinner. Not sure of the brand. I bought it with the uncapper.

[@jimallen1176]

I'd like to see a video on the wax spinner. I've got a chain uncapper. I'm trying to figure out a better solution for my wax.

[@brucesbees]

I hear ya. Probably won’t happen until next year as we are done for the year. It is an old spinner but effective. Was included in the deal with the uncapper. The new ones are crazy expensive but it is a good solution to help get honey out of the wax.

[@benjamindejonge3624]

Why the motor is on top and not under like some European models

[@brucesbees]

Not sure. It’s just the design. And we like it just fine.