Harvest Time at the Red Fork Bee Ranch

[fineshooter]

very nice video, your showing the new beekeepers how too.never too old to learn.

Don

the fatbbeman

[mackavally]

how long does it take to harvest

[Redforkhippie]

@mackavally It depends on the amount, condition of the comb, viscosity, temperature, and various other factors. I usually try to allow six to eight hours for the entire process, including cleanup.

[Redforkhippie]

@Stefan799360 I'm guessing your harvests are pretty spectacular, too, given the length of your growing season. I'm assuming you're getting wildflower honey. What are the predominant plant species near your apiary?

[guitarthroat]

@Redforkhippie What's with the deep-sea diving...ummm bee suit? You scared of bees? lol...All they can do is sting you...You wear all that shit and you crush bees because you aren't as careful and they get even more pissed. Lol...It should be passed as a law "NO APICULTURIST SHALL WEAR A SUIT UNLESS IT'S A CLOUDY DAY"!!! Just giving you shit. I don't even usually wear a hood. But whatever works for you.

[Redforkhippie]

@guitarthroat Actually, I wear the suit because A.) I'm mildly allergic to bee venom (it gives me migraine headaches), and B.) the girls tend to get trapped in my hair, which is long, thick, and very curly, if I don't wear a hood while I'm in the bee yard. I usually harvest in jeans, gloves, and a jacket with a built-in hood, but I didn't own the jacket at the time this video was made.

[guitarthroat]

@Redforkhippie I was just playing...Don't take it serious. Good luck with your Apiaries!!!

[Stefan799360]

The best tasting honey is found in the caribbean, thats the honest truth hands down. Our honey has a dark golden colour and its taste is indescribably. 

[bottomgunner]

Great video. I just started bee keeping. Just installed my package of bees about 6 days ago. I think putting that package of bees in the hive was the most enjoyable thing i have ever done. I find myself sitting on side of the hive just watching them go back and forth. How much did u pay for the honey extractor? Can u get the honey out of the comb without an extractor? Thanks for your time.

[Redforkhippie]

@bottomgunner Our extractor was about $100. You can put the comb in a sieve and let it drain if you don't have an extractor, but it takes longer and doesn't work as well.

[NilsKills]

Help a newcomer out?

A)How long does a frame take to cap?

B)Whats a super?

[Redforkhippie]

@NilsKills It takes a couple of minutes to uncap a frame. You just heat the knife in boiling water, wipe it off, and slice off the caps as shown in the video. A super is a shallow box full of frames, added to the top of the hive for purposes of honey storage.

[NilsKills]

@Redforkhippie I meant to say: how long does a frame take to fill with honey? And thank you!

[Redforkhippie]

@NilsKills The time required to fill a frame depends on a number of variables: size, health, age, and temperament of the colony; weather conditions; depth of the frame; condition of the frame (drawing out new comb takes longer than filling existing comb with honey); availability and proximity of nectar sources; geographic location; etc., etc., etc. I've seen colonies take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks to fill a frame. It's nearly impossible to predict.

[MrHappyebby]

at the rate your going it might take 200 years to make any money.even then you will be eating beans out of a can.good luck though.

[Redforkhippie]

@MrHappyebby You'd be surprised. Our cost of living is remarkably low. We do not, however, eat beans out of a can if we can help it. Dried Anasazis are much cheaper and taste better in chili. :)

[mugsyjeff]

@MrHappyebby We produce most of the food we eat. There's something special about food you produce yourself. A lot of people wouldn't understand & never will, but that's ok.

[Redforkhippie]

@kenjackson1977: I think dithbmine1 was referring to the frame, but I might be mistaken....

[mugsyjeff]

Thank you for sharing your bee-keeping. Great to see your bees have enough attitude for you to have to wear a veil. I'm sorry to hear of Scouts passing. I'm a part time bee-keeper with around 40 hives, I only use a 2 frame extractor with a steam knife. When I do a small amount, I decap using a fork. That might be worth considering. I hope your bees are still doing well for you. take care. cheers from downunder.

[Redforkhippie]

@mugsyjeff Few things annoy me more than honeybees that are too docile for their own good. I know why people breed them, but I think it's a Faustian bargain. Give me a hot hive any day. The Italian queen we had the summer we shot that video was the sauciest little wench I've ever dealt with, but her colony produced amazing honey.

[mugsyjeff]

@Redforkhippie Hi there, great to receive your reply, we've had unbelievable rain here in qld., my bees are struggling , but I'm not a quitter. Keeping on top of the beetle's a bit of a trial, the afb is ever present when there's heaps of rain around. I have a new vid. camera, so watch out for my bee field trip vids. coming up. well, take care, bye for now.

[ronnoc3]

Nice, my old stomping grounds

[shafer3212003]

pretty cool!

[dithbmine1]

is that a broad??

[Redforkhippie]

@dithbmine1 I don't understand your question.

[kenjackson1977]

@dithbmine1 what gave u that idea? voice sounds womanly? tank top and cleavage? are u serious your here for bee harvesting not worried about calling someone a broad....

[RexeoBSA]

so did those 2 frames made all those bottles of honey

[Redforkhippie]

@RexeoBSA No. I believe we pulled 10 frames on that harvest.

[OGdank13]

@Redforkhippie do u guys collect the royal jelly?

[Redforkhippie]

@OGdank13 No.

[OGdank13]

@Redforkhippie why not

[Redforkhippie]

@OGdank13 1. It's not worth the effort for a small apiary. 2. I have no interest in selling snake oil. 3. I am very disinclined to meddle in the queen-rearing process, of which royal jelly is a critical component.

[audayhussain2]

the wax on the top of the cover means that you need to insert more frames

[Redforkhippie]

@audayhussain2 Not necessarily. Bees don't like empty space. They will fill up little gaps with burr comb -- especially around the opening on the inner hive cover -- even when they have plenty of empty frames. This particular hive was nearly full, which is why we harvested honey and replaced the filled frames with empty ones, but I've yet to open a hive that didn't have burr comb around the top, whether the bees had finished drawing out the frames and filling them or not.

[slacker361]

which bees are your favorite the italians or the buckfast , I have one hive of buckfast right now and they seem pretty tame

[Redforkhippie]

@slacker361 I like the Buckfasts' attitude (ours are cranky as hell, which I personally prefer), but this will be the first harvest from that colony, so the jury is still out. I've had great Italian hives and lousy Italian hives. Italians tend to be a little too docile for their own good, in my experience.

[jkonshoj]

I love the extractor that you are using! Can you please let me know the brand, size and where I can find one. Also, how many hives to you personally have and do you have any information or preference on the Langstroth hive vs: the top bar hives? Greatly appreciate your help.

[Redforkhippie]

@jkonshoj Dadant carries the plastic extractors. As far as I know, they are available in only one size. We currently have five hives, but three are very young and likely will not produce much surplus this year. I am hoping to harvest from our Italians and our older Buckfasts this year. We have never used a TBH. Equipment designed for Langstroth hives is more readily available in our area.

[Redforkhippie]

I just noticed a Terminix ad on this video. Please be aware that it is a violation of federal law to deliberately kill honeybees. If you have unwanted bees on your property, DO NOT kill them. Most hobbyist beekeepers are more than happy to remove unwanted colonies. If you can't find a beek in your area, call the local extension service, garden club, or feed store to help you find somebody.

[slacker361]

where is the 2009 honey harvest

[Redforkhippie]

@slacker361 I didn't see any need to make a video of the 2009 harvest. We used the same process. The only difference between 2008 and 2009 would have been the absence of Scout, who passed away in March 2009. Her successor does not share her enthusiasm for spot cleaning.

[Benglator1]

Thanks Redforkhippie for the reply. All the bee's have stopped coming to my backyard so not feeding any of them now. I think they were just here cause the frost we had down here killed off a lot of the flowering plants. Not sure on it but that is my speculation. Not sure if these were hived bee's or wild. Maybe one day I will start my own colony.

[death2148]

Does it matter if there is a little wax on the combs when you go to extract it? And how much does an extractor cost around about?

[Redforkhippie]

@death2148 Are you talking about the cappings? You have to slice those off to get the honey out of the comb. If a few bits fall into the honey, it doesn't matter; we just run our honey through a filter. Extractors can cost as little as $100 for the type we have (plastic, hand-cranked, big enough to do two frames at a time) to five figures for a large-scale model designed for commercial use.

[Benglator1]

I feed the bee's around me dark soda, will that make the honey darker??? Check my vids out at Benglator1

[Redforkhippie]

@Benglator1 The color of the honey depends on the bees' primary nectar source. Clover honey tends to be very light; buckwheat honey tends to be very dark. Unless your bees' diet is based primarily on dark soda, you probably won't see a significant difference in the color of the honey.

[slacker361]

do you really need that knife? can you use a serrated knife with out heating with the same results

??

thank new beekeep here, wont get my bees till april

[Redforkhippie]

You definitely need a capping knife. They are designed to allow for easy removal of the caps without damaging the comb. Self-heating knives are available, but they are fairly expensive. I just keep a stockpot of boiling water nearby and dip mine in the water to heat it, then wope it dry before removing the caps from the comb. You might be able to use a regular knife without heating it, but it would be a slow, frustrating process.

[slacker361]

where did you get the cool extractor

[Redforkhippie]

Dadant catalog. It was nice and cheap. :)

[Redforkhippie]

lilbob: Scout was the best. We lost her in March. I hadn't realized just how helpful her greedy little tongue was until this summer's harvest, when I found myself sticking to the floor (and later battling an ant infestation in my kitchen!) because a mop just can't equal the honey-removing power of a determined rat terrier with a sweet tooth.

[Xmopar01x]

I just have a questions im new to beekeeping and was wondering do you just put the frames back without doing anything to them after you extract the honey from the frames? Thanks

[Redforkhippie]

You don't have to do anything to the frames after you extract them. To minimize disruptions to the hive, we replace the filled frames with spares as we remove them. Once we're done extracting, we let the bees clean any residual honey off the frames before storing them. If you plan to store frames for a long time, you may want to fumigate them with moth crystals to prevent wax-moth damage. Just be sure to remove the crystals and air out the frames before use.

[Xmopar01x]

Thank you very much : )

[maldz]

i love honey! yumyum

[lilbob369]

thats a good puppy helping out!!!!!!

good video!

[bunnys123]

Delicious!

[respectbluder]

cant u leve the wax and every thing on there and jus eat it whole as soon as i come out the frame

[Redforkhippie]

Yes. I'm not wild about eating it that way, but there are people who will actually pay extra for comb honey.

[respectbluder]

and im 1 of thos peeps

do u sell dis or jus eat it

[Redforkhippie]

We sell some, but our harvest is usually pretty small -- 25 or 30 pounds -- as most of our hives are very young. Once our apiary is bigger and better established, we'll have more to sell. For now, it's mostly just a pleasant hobby.

[poprocz]

I have two small dogs that came already trained to clean any food off the floor.

Nice video, I enjoyed watching it.

Thank you.

[fuji576]

looks so tasty!

[bigbillyholmes]

great video

[bigbillyholmes]

great video..love it

[passtheyemen]

Do you guys not filter the honey after its extracted of of the comb? I've seen Beekeepers run the honey through cheese cloth to get any impurities out before bottling it, but is there no need for that?

[Redforkhippie]

I think the filter is shown briefly in the video. The honey is drained from the extractor after every couple of frames. It flows into a five-gallon bucket that has a removable filter in the top to strain out the cappings, which are then rendered for use in lip gloss or other projects requiring pure beeswax. We generally only filter the honey once, as it flows into the bucket, because excessive filtration is unnecessary.

[dozingKamikaze]

Thanks for taking the time to share.I am very interested in beekeeping and hope to try it someday. Great video and thanks again.

[Redforkhippie]

It's a Beemax hive. Dadant sells them. They're made of Styrofoam. We like them because they keep the bees warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer.

[Gregarious3]

Is that a plastic hive?

It looked white inside.