Washington County Beekeepers honey extracting demo set for Saturday, Sept. 29
A wooden frame is ready to have the cells uncapped and the honey extracted.
NC GAZETTE / WBRT RADIO
Agricultural News
Friday, Sept. 21, 2018 — A major reward for beekeepers is the bee colony making so much honey that the surplus can be extracted and enjoyed.
Those interested in beekeeping and local honey production are invited to meet with local beekeepers on Saturday, Sept. 29, 2018, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. as they extract honey from honeycomb to the bottling tank at the Washington County Extension Office, 245 Corporate Drive in the Springfield Industrial Park.
A beekeeper helps stabilize the honey extractor as it spins to remove honey from the wax cells.
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 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 (245 Corporate Drive in the Springfield Industrial Park) on Saturday, Sep 29, 2018 from 10:00 am until about 3:00 pm or when the extracting is finished.
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