Honey Extraction

patoinsf

Has any of ye used those little two frame plastic honey extractors. I only have a couple of hives and don't expect a lot of supers so didn't want to buy an expensive setup. Any thoughts would be appreciated

brianmc

patoinsf wrote: »

Has any of ye used those little two frame plastic honey extractors. I only have a couple of hives and don't expect a lot of supers so didn't want to buy an expensive setup. Any thoughts would be appreciated

Personally I'm not a fan of the manual extractors but then I'm perhaps just not a fan of time consuming hard work! :P

Seriously, what I'd suggest is to try and borrow an extractor, maybe from your local association for your first season and make your mind up from there.

If you are borrowing an extractor, be sure to give it a seriously good clean before you start and again as a courtesy when you finish. I've heard it suggested that association extractors could be contributing to the spread of diseases such as AFB and EFB in particular. It makes sense. With good attention to hygiene though, it shouldn't be a worry for yourself at least.

patoinsf

Thanks for that. I want to avoid using my association extractor for two reasons one is as you say hygiene the other is everybody wants it at the same time. I am going to go ahead and buy the little manuel one and if it doesn't work it's not the end of the world.

Boardnashea

How did the small extractor work out? Can you give a link to the one you used? Thanks

patoinsf

After looking around and reading about them I decided not to get one. Everywhere I read said they were flimsy and really needed to be minded. I ended up giving the association one a really good clean instead.