Honey Extraction (Flow & Process)

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duckriverhoney... I’m planning improvements to my extraction process for next year, the most important of which is to be done with my honey house. It’s hard to use a building while you’re still building it.
I also would like a second extractor, and some changes to my uncapping flow, and to build a jig to strain bags for me.
Link to my Amazon Store, with books and products I like:
www.amazon.com...
Note: if you purchase from my Amazon store, a tiny amount of money will come out of Amazon's pocket and go into mine. The price to you is the same. They have deep pockets and I don't, so your support is appreciated.

[@bobfanning6816]

Hey Nathan, on a few boxes, next year, try placing a drawn comb in the first and ninth frame position and foundation frames between, equally spaced for a total of nine frames. For me, that has worked very well for the last 40 years. I sure enjoy your videos. Best of luck on your new business, not that you need luck as you seem to be doing everything right so far.

[@ZelmaBees]

Great system you having going, Nathan. One of the gifts God gives is enjoyment from hard work (Eccl. 5:18). Thanks for posting!

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Thanks Ms Zelma!

[@PinkettsHoney]

👍Thanks for sharing this it is always good to see what other beekeepers do as there are many ways to do things. I feel there are always little improvement to be made here and there and you have given me a couple!!

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Thanks, I’m already planning to make some improvements for next year.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Here is a link to the Simple Harmony Farms Uncapper I use. simpleharmonyfarms.com/uncapper

[@Tr1t0H]

Отличная работа! Вы и ваши пчелы поработали очень хорошо. Теперь надо подготовить ульи к зимовке и хорошо перезимовать. Огромный пчеловодный привет из России. Great job! You and your bees have done very well. Now we need to prepare the hives for wintering and overwinter well. Huge beekeeping greetings from Russia.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Thanks

[@wayne8873]

I love that uncapper and the roller. If you made 5mins of slow motion uncapping close up and just posted that on some ASMR KZbin spot. people would love it. Very satisfying to watch.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Thanks

[@dcsblessedbees]

This is your first season with the new set up, ya will get the little kinks worked out and situated around. Ty for sharing, Blessed Days...

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Thanks, I’m already planning on welding up some helpers this winter.

[@DialedN_07]

I really think you should put your lids on your extractor machine. We have found that without lids the air inside the extractor will vortex up and out of the machine. While it does this, those fine wisps of honey are taken with it. Everything within a few feet of the extractor becomes covered in the finest mist of honey and becomes sticky. The covers are actually very beneficial, especially if you don't really need to be standing there watching it.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

👍

[@GEEZBEEZ]

Very nice honey house. Lots of light and electric plugs. Good idea on the door with window to attract bees out. Looks like lots of honey. Thanks for sharing. Take care.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

It's working pretty well so far, just need floor / wall / ceiling coverings, and then get some storage shelves put in. It's a tight space, but I think I can make it work ok.

[@PeabodysApiary]

Is the fan blowing down or up?

[@scottgibler6675]

Can you do a review on your Maxant 20-frame extractor.....likes and dislikes. Why did you choose that over others?

[@DuckRiverHoney]

I don’t know that I will do a review. I found mine used. Would have also bought a used Dadant. The Maxant is a good machine. Well built, simple mechanics, can be repaired with hardware store parts. You do have to increase speed manually during extraction cycles.

[@larimorefarms]

I thank you for letting us in on a part of your adventure. I'm a first year beekeeper and drawn comb is harder than people would think. Great looking harvest. May you be blessed and prosper brother.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Thanks, I appreciate it.

[@coisasdocerradomineiro2805]

São africanizadas, muito defensivas.

[@thanosrevenisios]

Very nice videos....i'm beekeeper from Greece and I have Chanel in youtube

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Thanks Thanos, very nice to hear from you.

[@AdmiringApron-eb2nu]

How do you sanitize your buckets ?

[@DialedN_07]

What do you mean when you say your supers are "on stickers" Is that something do do with bugs and ants?

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Stickers are the thin strips that allow airflow through stacks of lumber. They get the supers off the ground so air can move through the stacks.

[@davidcassity6593]

Do you have issues with small hive beetle larvae on your super you are drying? I’ve been told to extract supers in 1-2 days after removal from hive

[@DuckRiverHoney]

I have not. I have adult beetles but no larvae. I have heard that very low humidity and lots of airflow will dry out the eggs and larvae and kill them.

[@boldger13]

Thank you for presenting at the FSBA a couple of weeks ago. My daughter and I enjoyed it. Thank you for signing my Master Continuing Education hours form. Subscribed.

[@joshgriffin2418]

@DuckRiverHoney learn from my misfortune of running 9 frame boxes at first. IF you are starting with drawn comb you can go straight to 9 frames or checkerboard them. However, if the foundation is not drawn out it needs to be 10 frames to allow for proper "bee space" ...bees will NOT draw the comb out correctly if you go 9 frame without drawn comb. Trust me it is a headache. What I ended up doing was running 10 frame supers until it was drawn, and then removed a frame. Starting out with 9 empty foundation frames was a major setback for me and my bees....

[@benjamindejonge3624]

Probably your more interested in a chain uncapping machine like Jeff.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

No he’s got a Dakota Gunness which really needs more than one person to run efficiently.

[@BryanBurnsBees]

Thanks for sharing. New keeper here. Appreciate the information.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Thanks

[@ederrw]

Hi,... how do you call that uncap equipment at 4:46? Where can I buy one?

[@DuckRiverHoney]

It's the Simple Harmony Farms Uncapper. I pinned a link to it at the top of the comments.

[@nickymoss8795]

Enjoyed the video - I am planning to by the drs uncapper and using the technique when it does not uncap.

[@taylorboysoutdoors]

Yep I ran into super fat and skinny frames trying to alternate foundations between drawn comb. I think in a year or 2 we'll get them equalized

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Some are so fat you can't take the frames out without tearing honey open. It's annoying.

[@allsmilz7234]

Good fun video thanks for sharing

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Thanks

[@bkiesz]

1st year bee keeper here. When moving your supers to your warming room (or could be the honey house), from the field, how do you minimize the number of bees in the supers. We used the fume boards to knock them down into the brood boxes, but we getting a ton of bees hitching a ride out of the bee yard. Example.. we had 6 supers on 2 deep brood boxes. We would fume the top for about 3-5 minutes, pull a couple of boxes, fume again, etc...... any ideas would be appreciated... Love the channel!! keep up the great work!!

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Answered in QA for #25!

[@seankearney1113]

Regarding your plans for getting new foundations drawn in a box with previously drawn frames. I stole Kamen Reynolds strategy and it works pretty well. Use 9 frames, but put two virgins in the center. Make sure they are touching so they are drawn evenly. Cheat over the surrounding frames so they aren’t quite touching but close enough to encourage even draw.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

I believe I’ll just go from drawn to 9 foundations with a bait frame. When those get drawn it’s all even and nice.

[@michaeljoncour4903]

hi nathan yes it is fun, i used to run 350 hives , now 72yrs with 12 hives still fun, love seeing new comb,lots of well fed larvae, the queen, i occasionally wonder is this normal to feel this way. i use a steam knife, same one i bought when i was 15. when i'm extracting i work as fast as i can, i learned this when i left school and worked for beekeeper with 1,000 hives, i load extractor 2 frames at a time, you might be able to do more. i see you are alyways looking for ways to improve . i commented on your box lifter, you could design a method to move the supers on to the trailer. designing and making is also fun. i bought a brand new ride on mower, it turned out to be a piece of crap, since i wasn't rolling in money i designed and built a zero turn with 54'' deck for a quarter of the price ..you could make a micro version of one of those boom loaders to go from hive to trailer...and it would be very cheap...

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Thanks Michael. I like to tinker and I can weld a little, but I’m no fabricator or welder. I’ll probably build a couple contraptions for next year to make things better. I’ve thought about having my local fab shop make me a 12’ deckover trailer so I could just load supers on the sides. It’d be handy, and a lot cheaper than a flatbed truck.

[@graemediesel2936]

Thanks for giving us a look at your honey house. I’m a little envious of you setup. For ergonomics it would be nice if your uncapping tank was a little higher - about the height of your uncapper. Is there a way to mount the uncapper lower so that it wouldn’t end up too high if you extend the legs of the tank? Last year i was actively checker-boarding my frames to try to get foundation drawn out faster. I don’t think I have had a single frame of foundation drawn out properly that way. If I was lucky they drew out a skinny frame, but more often they drew it out really strangely. This summer i mostly used boxes of straight foundation and I’ve had much better luck. Do you have a wax melter?

[@DuckRiverHoney]

If I get a second extractor I already have plans of using half the uncapping tank as a box breaker and scraping station, then going to the uncapper, then to the extractor. The flow works really well in my head, don't know how it'll pan out in real life. I'm melting wax in a turkey roaster for now. Not making a ton of wax so I'll limp along like this till I get a small wax melter.

[@Kiwalabyetimothyshsh]

Wonderful Me and friends are getting into the bee business here in Uganda. Extremely impressed and would like to connect more with you.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

👍

[@Volodyadvm]

0:56 Hello. Are these fans designed specifically for beekeeping?

[@DuckRiverHoney]

No, they're window box fans commonly available.

[@Volodyadvm]

@@DuckRiverHoney Thanks for the answer.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

No worries

[@woodlandharvesthoneycompanyllc]

Very good video Nathan. Like I told you before I have the Simple Harmony Farms Uncapper as well. It has some drawbacks and limitations but it is a great tool for a beginning beekeeper and it doesn't break the bank. Hopefully I can move up to Silver Queen down the road. I'm trying to build up at the speed that my bee yard will grow and let the bees pay for what is needed as they grow. Also do you strain your honey through the paint strainers only? I use the paint strainers like you then pour the honey in a clarification tank and then run it thru a 400 micron screen into another 5 gal bucket. Do think that is over kill? Maybe the paint strainer is enough. ???

[@DuckRiverHoney]

I just use the strainer bag, then lid the bucket. Buckets go into a 42 gallon bottling tank and settle for at least a day before bottling. Settling in the bottling tank floats out all the fine wax, and anything heavy that the strainer bag missed would sink to the bottom. I get very clear honey doing this.

[@dimka6792]

Good day, tell me what kind of rollers are they unpacking the frames, you can link to the store, thank you!

[@DuckRiverHoney]

It’s an uncapper made by Simple Harmony Farms.

[@Gawonii1Austencao]

If you pre-wax your foundations, its easier for the bees to draw out the comb.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

All my foundations are pre waxed. But if they stay in the hive a while and the bees don’t draw them they’ll pick the wax off and they need to be waxed again.

[@scottgibler6675]

how long on your spin cycle?

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Usually 10-15 minutes

[@burns375]

Hey Man, orient the box fans to suck air thru the sack. They are more efficient this way and will dry down the honey faster.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

I put painters plastic underneath, so I blow down so the plastic doesn’t get sucked up.

[@peterlemoine6114]

Very nice..... I love the fact that you keep things neat and clean. Good clean equipment, Good techniques. Alot of attention paid to taking care of your girls. You owe it to your bees to give them possible care you can give them.....and the products they give to you. Excellent work . P.S. I said a little prayer for your mom today. Keep on, keeping on....Pete

[@DuckRiverHoney]

I really appreciate that Peter, very kind of you.

[@nancynolton6079]

This year, after honey harvest in late June early July, I left full boxes of capped honey on the hives for the dearth. But I noticed a lot of bees bearding outside the hive so I decided to give them more "room" by taking that full box of honey and adding a second box to checkerboard foundation frames between frames of fully capped honey. This gave the bees more "space" but ironically the bees also decided to draw out those foundation frames. Each time they got them a good ways drawn out I pulled the frames and dropped in another frame of foundation... I've managed to get over 142 frames of new comb drawn (some fully and some with the beginnings of comb). Some hives were drawing out the frames in 2-4 days while others took 5-6. Still have 7 hives to pull more foundation frames from and when I do pull the newly drawn frames out for the last time I then reduce the hive down by a box again. I believe the "flow" to make this drawing comb possible, during our normal dearth period, came from spotted lanternfly honeydew. Glad I did it otherwise all that lanternfly honeydew would have ended up backfilling the brood chamber. This may be a new management technique in the future to deal with spotted lanternfly honeydew. There have been several frames of drawn comb that even had spotted lantern fly honeydew nectar filling the frames but I took those frames and put them in my "robbing spot" and the bees cleaned nectar out of them so they are clean and dry and ready for storage in a honey super box for next year.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Very interesting Nancy. I’ve read about the spotted lantern fly a bit and the honey seems unique, if earthy tasting. Some folks report a lot of them for a few years, then the population declines. Personally I’m wearied by all the damage nonnative invasives have done.

[@R_an_D]

Given your extraction temperature and honey moisture content, what is your spinner cycle duration?

[@DuckRiverHoney]

As long as it takes to get 20 more uncapped! LOL. A downside of the SHF is it takes more time and more speed to get the same percentage of honey out of the frames, so I let it run probably 12-15 minutes per cycle.

[@DaveJordan-u6l]

How do you treat your bees?

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Pretty well I think. Free housing and healthcare. And I talk nice to them. They don’t complain.

[@3Beehivesto300]

Under super a 3/4 full box with foundation. Best way to get it done ✅

[@DuckRiverHoney]

That’s a common method for getting some cut comb honey too. I may try for some next year.

[@lindafox4065]

great video. great suggestion on the drawing combs with foundation frames of 9 and not checkerboarding.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Thanks Linda

[@oneshoo]

Great video Nathan! How many hives are you running now?? Hope you had a good harvest 👍👍

[@DuckRiverHoney]

I started the year with 23 and right now I think I have 44. I made some splits with mated queens last week, not sure if they'll all take yet or not. I'd like to come out next spring with 40ish.

[@kentmeredith2945]

I am really impressed with your focus on efficiency! What buckets do you use for honey, and where do you get them?

[@DuckRiverHoney]

I get the thick food grade buckets from epackage supply. You can also find them in my Amazon store. In larger quantities it’s cheaper to buy them direct. Thanks!

[@joejackson9214]

I had the same issue with adding a couple of frames of foundation with all others drawn. I had better luck with a bait frame and the rest foundation also. Thanks for the videos

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Thanks Joe!

[@joaochaparro7785]

Where you here located? Wonderful your job whit bee's

[@DuckRiverHoney]

I’m in Middle Tennessee. Thanks!

[@benjamindejonge3624]

I did had the same problem now I do 8 frames and yes ergonomic is the most important thing

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Thanks

[@zekiakcali6480]

Waa thata a cockroach running arouns the super? 5:59 -6:04

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Possibly, I see cockroaches in hives more often than you would think.

[@zekiakcali6480]

I would advise you to watch Bob Binnie. They have metal plates whixh go under the hives. The sides are somewhat benr and they apply liberal amount of grease underneath. No pests crawling in the colony.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

I consider Bob a friend. I’ve learned a lot from him, and was fortunate to interview him for a series of videos on his honey operation.

[@coisasdocerradomineiro2805]

Parabéns, muito organizado,sou um pequeno apicultor aqui no Brasil.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Thanks, how are your bees? I'm guessing they are Africanized?

[@michaelfike7542]

Appreciate all the information you have given everyone and i hope you reached your goal of honey harvested. ❤️🐝

[@DuckRiverHoney]

I actually ended up right about where I wanted to be. Drawing as much foundation as I am I have to be a little realistic on how much they can average.

[@srae1503]

Is your honey house a 20' shipping container?

[@DuckRiverHoney]

It's a 40' high cube, so 9'6" tall instead of 8'. I've also got a 20', but it's used for storage now.

[@norautotrading7217]

Hello. where do u buy the fan u use for blowing air in for dry honey

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Any hardware store will have them.

[@beansauce1258]

woah

[@susanrowland8915]

Appreciate your sharing of lessons learned, and your emphasis on efficiency in effort. Hard lessons to learn sometimes.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Thanks Susan

[@originalwoolydragon8387]

Hive tool doubles as a fly swatter? 😆🐝

[@DuckRiverHoney]

More of a bee getter away from my face tool!

[@BeeGeeTheImp]

I love it when a plan comes together. :thumbsup:

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Thanks Barry!

[@sonofthunder.]

the shipping containers is working good,keep at it

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Thanks!

[@ИванИванов-ж9б6ф]

Приветствую вас! Хорошего урожая мёда🍯

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Благодарю вас!

[@myron2386]

What a great extraction set up! You're doing it right.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Thanks!

[@drjmarkrodgers1428]

Always informative

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Thanks!

[@michaelpariera4328]

Looking like you are having a great harvest.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

It was a good spring, I can't complain.

[@aidanquick3151]

Looks like a great set up mate 👌

[@DuckRiverHoney]

It’s getting there, lot of work still to go.

[@honeyandthecoop803]

Good stuff Nathan!

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Thanks!

[@kellymoore4517]

Great show Nathan!

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Thanks!

[@dougmclelland572]

Great video!

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Thanks!

[@russk3931]

Great video again Nathan. May I suggest two points? Put a layer of cardboard down on the floor and tape all the seams. Cardboard doesn't absorb dry honey. I wipe spilt honey off the cardboard with a damp rag. Throw away cardboard when done. Second, I also have been trying to get more drawn comb for honey. I felt the best method was 9 total frames with the middle two plastic foundation. Got to keep the frames together on the new fdn for a while. If you check the supers and they have got a good start on drawing it out I separate them a bit. I would think just one new fdn. would work even better.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

I've even thought of running 8 drawn frames with 2 foundations in the middle and then swapping it over to a 9 frame box when they start drawing the foundations. That really requires precise timing though, and I'm afraid I'd miss something in the spring chaos.