Extracting Newly Drawn Comb

Just a few insights...

Pretty, pretty...

If you have ever done a cut out from a recent swarm you've experienced how very soft and fragile that beautiful, white-white beeswax they started building can be. The same holds true for wax drawn by the young bees on new foundation.

Everyone is talking honey harvest this summer, even the 1st season beekeepers. Normally we advise not to pull honey the 1st season. Up here in our northern climate the blooms stop in early October, then nothing happens until late May, but this year in late July we still have the fall nectar flow to look forward to and the hives are bursting. 

Remember that adding "space" means adding drawn comb. One excellent way to do this or at least to encourage bees up into a new super of foundation is to spin out some honey and add those frames back into the new super. I'll usually space new foundation every other one around the spun out honey combs.

Top: 1st season comb...

If you only have newly drawn comb this poses some challenges. The wax is so very soft that even wired foundation can blow out in a hand extractor. The honey is just too heavy to be moved around, 1st from hive to work area, then uncapping procedure, and finally lifted and placed into the extractor. 

By the time the spinning begins the comb can easily fall apart.

 


So choose second season frames if you can. They almost never fall apart. For the new wax I have found rubber-banding them works very well.

If you need help extracting honey and are local to Center Ossipee, follow this link or come by the shop to talk about it.