Honey Extraction

It seems I wrote this last week but forgot to post it so here we go:

Earlier in the week I had the opportunity to observe some fellow beekeepers pull honey filled frames and extract the honey.  I don't anticipate having to do this myself this year.  But just in case I thought it was important to start to learn how. 

Pulling frames off the hive and removing the bees.

 Using a warm electrical knife the cappings were cut off to expose the honey.

This bucket system is used to collect cappings.  The frame is rested on the board to cut off the cappings.  They fall into the top bucket which has screens in the bottom to drain any honey that was cut off with the wax into the bucket below.

Uncapped frames are stored in this container to collect any honey that drips off while waiting to go into the extraction equipment on the right.  The frames go inside and are spun to remove the honey.  The honey falls to the bottom of the cylinder and drains out the yellow spigot into the filter that removes any remaining wax and makes its way into the storage bucket.