For first year beekeepers, we at PerfectBee do not recommend harvesting honey from a colony that has not overwintered. It is tempting, but it is better to wait for your colony to overwinter at least once before harvesting from them.
When extracting from frames you want to be mindful of the size and limitations of your extractor. It needs to be balanced to allow the frames to properly spin. Depending on how many frames you’re extracting from and the size of your extractor, you might have to play around with the configuration of the frames or run the extractor multiple times. If an extractor is unbalanced, you’ll have to hold on to it or go very slowly (whether motorized or not). The unbalanced weight will cause it to be unsteady and shaky, potentially leading to your extractor falling over or getting damaged.
A clean extraction is also dependent on how your frames are prepared and what you want from your frames. Preparing your frames for a clean extraction comes from a little bit of preplanning. Having thoroughly waxed plastic foundation will make for easier extraction. A well waxed foundation will be easier for bees to build comb on. Without that, some bees will be finnicky and won’t want to build off the plastic foundation. That can cause some bees to build away from the foundation, often along the side of the frames. Putting a frame like this into an extractor will lead to a blow out. Like it sounds, a honey frame blow out is very messy and not what you want. It is when a frame bursts open while spinning. This causes the wax to go everywhere, leading to a messier cleanup. The method of extractions available will be dependent on the foundation used.
Using the winter months to prepare for next year’s honey harvest is the best way to ensure a cleaner extraction next time. It saves you time during your busiest season and makes the process smoother.
