So back on the 30th May I removed my first 'super' from the hive to be able to get some honey.
It was quite an exciting thing to be doing and I also had some help from my friend Kate and my nephew James.
Kate was shocked to find that she was scared of the hives last year when I first got them but really wanted to help with the honey spinning.
James my middle nephew bless him was my muscle and carried the honey laden supers home for me to start spinning.
Now for the fun pictures to show you how it's done!!!
Frames from the supers, uncapped and ready for the spinner. |
Uncapping knife and wax cappings ready to go back to the hive to be cleaned up. |
Frames loaded into the spinner, (4 will fit in), ready to be spun. |
Then turn the handle and watch gravity do it's thing and spin the honey out of the frames and into the drum. |
Then open the tap and watch the liquid gold pour out of the tap into the filters!! |
also it is vitally important to check that the tap is sealed tightly before you start to spin as otherwise it starts pouring honey out straight away...and yes you have probably guessed right in the fact that I didn't check this so I did lose some honey on the chair and the floor, Trojan didn't seem to mind one bit though and thoroughly enjoyed trying to clean it u before me!!
As you take the cappings off you obviously get little bits of wax left behind and this ends up in the honey spinner, this is where the filtering comes in. This mean after you have done all this you then need to leave it to filter over night before you put it into your jars.
My first spinning took about four hours which I didn't think was too bad but I managed to shave an hour off this the second time round when I had more confidence, had got a knack for removing the cappings, oh and didn't have to stop to clean honey off the furniture and floors because I remembered to check the tap first!!
.