The Association’s annual honey extraction took place on Saturday 28 August. The session started in the Portakabin with Tony, the Apiary Manager’s 10 o’clock briefing, given to an audience of seven volunteers. Next, Evan arranged equipment and spread newspapers around the extraction room while everyone else donned veils and went to remove honey supers. The bees were subdued by the cool weather conditions and most had been cleared from the honey supers, so very few made their way into the Portakabin. Volunteers tried a range of uncapping methods (see the photos below) and it wasn’t long before the five strong extraction team had the extractor spinning. The new nine-frame extractor spun and extracted the honey almost vibration free and had no desire to waltz round the room like our larger 12 frame model… so this year no need for two or three people to hold down the extractor while it spun. Very soon Tony and Andy were collecting supers of ‘wet’ frames and placing them back on the hives for subsequent cleaning by the bees. 2021 has been a poor year for honey, but despite that the volunteers extracted approximately 100lbs of honey. By 1.15pm everything was cleared away and cleaned, goodbyes and thank yous were made. Volunteers then drove off and the gates were locked. The Association would like to thank the happy gang of extractors who were: Tony H. (official extraction photographer) , Debbie C. (ticking off a bucket list item) and members: Richard R. (frame sorter), Mara H. (uncapping queen) and Paul H. (spinner supervision). Thanks of course to Secretary Andy O. (for honey super logistics), Evan R. (hiding inside) and Tony L the Apiary Manager for organizing a successful extraction.
Images below by kind permission of Tony Hayward. Click on an image for a larger version.
