Washington Co. Beekeepers honey extracting workshop Saturday, June 23

NC GAZETTE / WBRT RADIO
Agriculture News

Tuesday, June 19, 2018 — A major reward for beekeepers is the bee colony making so much honey that the surplus can be extracted and enjoyed. Healthy bee colonies will produce and store excess honey in wax cells they build on frames of foundation in supers (boxes) added to the beehive by beekeepers. The number of supers is determined by how many frames of honey the colony produces and can vary from none to one to several.

Honey ready for extraction is sealed in beeswax cells which has been capped with pure white beeswax by the bees once they determine it has the proper water content (about 17% – 18%).

Beekeepers carefully monitor the amount of capped honey present in the beehive by carefully inspecting them on a periodic basis. Once enough frames of honey are ready for extracting, they are removed from the beehive and moved to the extraction room where the capped honey cells are carefully uncapped and the honey cab be “spun out” using a powered extractor (which is essentially, a large centrifuge that use centrifugal force to remove the honey from the cells).

If you are a beekeeper who has not extracted honey or are just interested in how raw honey is extracted and bottled, this is your opportunity to participate with experienced local beekeepers as they move honey from the honeycomb to the bottling tank at the Washington County Extension Office 2 (45 Corporate Drive in the Springfield Industrial Park) from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. (or when the extracting is finished) on Saturday, June 23rd.

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