A special lid (clearer board) is placed under the honey filled super box. It allows the bees access back down into the hive but they can’t then get back into the super. This eventually allows you to lift the super away, mostly free of bees.

We have four to eight hives, so there’s no need for a lot of fancy electric equipment. We mostly extract using elbow power.

We start by uncapping the honey. This is essentially a many pronged fork. The cappings are saved for later.

The now uncapped frame is placed into an extractor. Turning a handle on the side spins the frames and centrifugal force removes most of the honey leaving the comb behind.

Then we drain the honey from the extractor into a storage box, noting the weight, the date, and the hive that produced it.

It will stay in storage until we’re ready to jar it. During that time, it becomes more apparent if we’ve collected runny or set honey. The difference is down to natural water content and crystallisation.

We sell the honey locally in jars, but also by the container to people making sweets or alcohol. The modest income is reinvested into new equipment.