crush and strain 2021

Here's my crush and strain experience so far this year:

bee yard activities:

• inserted a triangular bee escape beneath a deep box and next day removed 8 fat deep frames 
• halfway (8 steps) between hive and Storage Tote brushed small number of bees from the frame
• one deep frame donated to "May 10th" swarm and remaining frames taken indoors
  

 kitchen activities:

• attached (with blue painter's tape) brown paper on floor and cabinets
• placed food safe 5 gallon bucket on brown paper and attached combcapper
  
• plugged frame into combcapper and cut capped comb from frames with paring knife
• crushed comb with 2 inch Plastic Joint Knife attached to a pole
  
• filtered crushed comb with small mesh fabric strainer and bottler stack - yielded 3.4 gallons (12.9 liters) of honey 
• in 3 cycles, I used 1 cup of water, coarse cotton fabric and a 5qt round slow cooker set on high for 1.75 hours to catch wax impurities which resulted in 1.54 lbs (700 gm) of wax

harvest 2020

 

Notice the thin stripe above the 3rd box (count from the bottom), it's the triangular bee escape. 24 hours prior, I added the escape so that I can harvest frames above the escape without disturbing the vast majority of bees. I found more bees than expected during harvest and the reason can be seen in the third photo, a frame of brood.

I brushed off bees from harvested frames halfway between the hive and the plastic tub (2nd photo) - which is twenty steps away from the hive. 

I've not shown the crush and strain harvest of 5 fat frames which yielded 1.4 gallons of honey.

crush and strain 2019

We worked in the middle of the kitchen floor to contain the sticky clean-up.  Imagine a compact vertical stack - from the bottom up: 

• brown paper
• food safe 5 gallon bucket
• combcapper
• medium frame of capped honey. 

Sagar and Quin (co-workers) cut comb with a paring knife from foundationless frames. Comb was crushed in the bucket using a 2 inch Plastic Joint Knife attached to a pole.

Crushed comb was poured into the strainer bottler and left to sit for a few days so that foam (tiny air bubbles) can rise before bottling.

After cutting away honey comb, frames are returned to the Storage Tote. Over-night, honey dripped into the Tote and were captured too. Sticky frames were stacked outside in a location away from the hives.  Bees assisted with the final honey clean-up of sticky frames - a circle of life scene which reminds me of sky burial.

In the 3rd photo, I used a slow shutter iPhone app.  Crawling bee behavior looks like white dots while flying behavior looks like brown lines (classic multiple exposure).

harvest 2019

Click on the first photo and notice the thin stripe above the 3rd box (count up from the botttom), it's the triangular bee escape. 24 hours prior, I added the escape so that I can inspect frames above the escape without disturbing the vast majority of bees. I placed a plastic tub twenty steps away from the hive and a few remaining bees were brushed from the frame halfway between the hive and the plastic tub. Harvesting frames went so smoothly that I began to doubt why did I wear a hoodie.

Click on the second photo, this is a stunning example of comb building using foundation-less frames.  What I found unusual is that all the honey cells are completely capped.

Most likely my honey surplus will be considerably smaller than last year. In the third photo, frames are blue tape sealed inside the plastic tub and ready for the next step which is to cut out the comb.  More about this in the next blog post.

crush and strain simplified

It's called crush and strain, but there are surrounding steps to this simple slogan.  My honey harvest starts with the bee escape and ends with bottling.  So that foam can rise before bottling, strained honey is left to sit for a few days. With just one 5 gallon bottler, lots of honey and a busy day job, I had to modify my sequential honey harvest process.

Lucky for me, Home Depot sells food safe 5 gallon buckets - I bought two buckets to store crushed comb (wax and honey).  When the bottler becomes available, then I pour crushed comb into the strainer bottler. 

I'm trying to avoid making a large horizontal sticky mess in the kitchen.   So, I work in the middle of the kitchen floor.  Imagine a compact vertical stack - from the bottom up: brown paper, 5 gallon bucket, combcapper and medium foundationless frame of capped honey. In under an hour, Melissa and Dillon help cut comb from 14 frames with a paring knife.  Comb is crushed in the bucket using 2 inch Plastic Joint Knife attached to a pole.

triangular bee escape

Puzzled why I did not use this triangular bee escape sooner, but after many years in storage, I gave it a try.  The picture shows the interesting triangular side of the bee escape, but remember that this side faces downwards.  I added the bee escape beneath an 8 frame deep super with capped honey.  Above the deep super, I closed the small vent notch of the inner cover.

After twenty four hours most of the bees cleared the deep super except for a small patch of bees beneath the inner cover hole and another small patch associated with drone brood. After removing the bee escape, I found that bee escape exit passages were not blocked by drones--which I heard was a problem with other bee escape designs.