How to Extract Honey, with no Extractor!

This was our first messy attempt at extracting honey! We only had one frame so haven't built our own extractor as yet, and only took it at this time of year due to it breaking as we lifted it out (and the bees were left with plenty for winter, plus some half-frames still in storage).

Feel free to check out my other videos for recipes, budgeting tips, DIY projects, restorations and work we do on our lifestyle block in New Zealand such as beekeeping and chickens etc.

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[MrBeachbums]

You have a beautiful family! Thank you for sharing!

[calebthomson]

Awesome video i have just brought some equipment and cant wait to get a Nuc or swarm to start my journey (would love to see some inspections and more vids on bees)

[yvonnebroughtonhalfacreliv]

Will it stay runny Honey or harden in the jar

[ken]

have seen honey horror stories... IN YOUR LOUNGE!!!

Lesson.. before you start this get a pile of old newspapers and spread them about and have some more on hand, and put a big tarp on the floor first.

simplest way to harvest honey for small beekeeping 1 to 5 hives.
Use a plastic bin, big enough so bits dont fall outside of it, a piece of wood secured across the top (to rest a heavy honey frame on) and run a knife (sharp serrated, no need for hot) around edges against the wood, avoiding the wires ( i dont wire my honey frames above excluder) and do that for a bunch of frames. Till your bin is getting too full or too heavy to lift.

Then take a clean piece of untreated wood about 30mm diameter about the length of your arm, and use it to smash and crush all the comb. Giant wooden spoon! Its hard work. (wash your bare arm and plunge in if you want, find all those chunks uncrushed and squeeze them, its so satisfying LOL)
Have honey buckets ready and make a big sieve out of something before you start ( i use a huge industrial metal light shade with a round sieve in bottom, suspended on 3 chains from shed rafters. slip buckets under it) pour your crush into the sieve and go on stripping and crushing.

A big tube of mutton bag, cheesecloth etc with a knot in end does same job, even the legs of old woollen longjohns!

after an overnight draining the pudding of sticky crushed wax into a clean bucket, and wash it in clean cold water, just enough to cover the pudding by about half its size again.
Then strain again in another cheesecloth bag. This honey water can be fed back into a hive, but i use it to first pasturize it then yeast and.... honey mead!

This sounds messy but its actually easier than washing up all that extracting machine at end of job. For a single hive or two there is no need for an extractor, been there.

[moppenaltwire]

what a mess :P but it looks like you had some fun :)

[wclearwater]

Beautiful looking honey... bet it tasted good too ?, think we have all done that, I certainly do with any excess under the lids,  only thing I do is let it drain by itself for a day or so, saves a lot of work, give it a stir now and again, and nice and warm by the fire...

[StupidRobotFightingLeague]

When I processed my honey I had tons of bees trying to get into my house.

[knotabot]

I’m freaking out thinking the knife is gonna slip, and slice somebody’s fingers off.

[darlenasturgis]

No need to uncap it if you're going to scrape it.