Honey extraction is the central process in beekeeping

Beekeeping

Beekeeping is the maintenance of honey bee colonies, commonly in hives, by humans. A beekeeper keeps bees in order to collect honey and other products of the hive , to pollinate crops, or to produce bees for sale to other beekeepers...

 of removing honey from honeycomb

Honeycomb

A honeycomb is a mass of hexagonal waxcells built by honey bees in their nests to contain their larvae and stores of honey and pollen.Beekeepers may remove the entire honeycomb to harvest honey...

 so that it is isolated in a pure liquid form.

Normally, the honey is stored by the bees on a very regular honeycomb they build on a frame

Frame (beehive)

A frame in a beehive is the structural element that holds the honeycomb or brood comb within the hive body . The frame is a key part of the modern "movable" hive since it can be removed in order to inspect the bees for disease or to extract the excess honey.-History:One of first beehive frames was...

. The frames are typically harvested late summer, when they will be most filled with honey. On a completely filled frame, the cells will be capped by the bees for storage – that is, each cell containing honey will be sealed with a cap made of wax.

Framed hive

The first step in the extraction process is to break or remove all of the caps, this may be accomplished with an automated uncapper or with a manually operated knife (typically they must be used together); the knife is often heated to facilitate cutting action. The removed bits of wax, called uncappings, are rich in honey which can be slowly drained off with the help of some heating. Automated uncapping machines normally work by abrading the surface of the wax with moving chains or bristles and are a little messier then manual uncapping, but much less laborious.

Before uncapping, some beekeepers (especially noncommercial) will remove and store any propolis

Propolis

Propolis is a resinous mixture that honey bees collect from tree buds, sap flows, or other botanical sources. It is used as a sealant for unwanted open spaces in the hive. Propolis is used for small gaps , while larger spaces are usually filled with beeswax. Its color varies depending on its...

, normally through scraping action.

The uncapped frames are then placed in a honey extractor

Honey extractor

A honey extractor is a mechanical device used in the honey extraction. A honey extractor extracts the honey from the honey comb without destroying the comb. Extractors work by centrifugal force. A drum or container holds a frame basket which spins, flinging the honey out...

, which spins them so that most of the honey is removed by centrifugal force

Centrifugal force

Centrifugal force can generally be any force directed outward relative to some origin. More particularly, in classical mechanics, the centrifugal force is an outward force which arises when describing the motion of objects in a rotating reference frame...

. Care must be taken to ensure that all frames are the correct way round, as when in the hive the comb is angled slightly upwards to prevent the honey flowing out, this can also prevent the honey flowing out during extraction. The correct way is with lugs out. The resulting honey will contain bits of wax and must be passed through a screen so that clean liquid honey results.

Any honey that can't be harvested, which includes thin films left on the frames after extraction, can be placed outside so that it will be reclaimed by the bees. This must be done early in the morning or late in the evening as the bees will aggressively harvest such a rich source. Care must be taken so that this is done at a time when food is not scarce, or else bees from differing colonies will fight over the honey.

The extraction process is typically done inside a specialized room, mildly heated for better flow, with all of the necessary tools nearby. The room must be well sealed, as bees (and other insects) will eagerly try to enter and gather the honey.

The table below outlines the extraction process.

Honey Harvest Process steps	Method description	Alternative Method 1	Alternative Method 2
1	Remove hive outer cover from top super Honey super A honey super is a part of a commercial beehive that is used to collect honey. The most common variety is the super with a depth of 6⅝ inches in the length and width dimensions of a Langstroth hive....
2	Remove hive inner cover from top super
3	If no queen excluder Queen excluder In beekeeping, the queen excluder is a selective barrier inside the beehive that allows worker bees but not the larger queens and drones to traverse the barrier....  was used, inspect frames Frame (beehive) A frame in a beehive is the structural element that holds the honeycomb or brood comb within the hive body . The frame is a key part of the modern "movable" hive since it can be removed in order to inspect the bees for disease or to extract the excess honey.-History:One of first beehive frames was...  for brood and only remove frames that are without brood.	Remove only frames that are 80% capped and without brood	Remove all frames that have honey but no brood
4a	Add fume board to top of hive to force bees into lower parts of hive.	Remove super and use air blower to force bees from frames	Remove frames one by one and manually brush off bees
4b	Repeat steps 3 and 4a until all supers are removed
5	Transport frames in supers to honey house
6	Heat and dehumidify frames in honey house for 1– 2 days	Do nothing
7	Use refractometer Refractometer A refractometer is a laboratory or field device for the measurement of an index of refraction . The index of refraction is calculated from Snell's law and can be calculated from the composition of the material using the Gladstone-Dale relation....  to check that moisture content is below 18.5%	Do nothing
8	Remove the wax cap on capped honey manually (Uncap)	Uncap mechanically	Cut out comb honey Comb honey Comb honey is honey, intended for consumption, which still contains pieces of the hexagonal-shaped beeswax cells of the honeycomb.Before the invention of the honey extractor almost all honey produced was in the form of comb honey...
9	Load honey extractor	Load honey press	Set comb honey chunks on drip pan to drain off honey from cutting edge
10	Turn on honey extractor motor	Manually turn extractor crank
11	Run extracting process for several minutes
12	Remove extracted frames from extractor
13	Empty extractor sump: Let collected honey flow into storage container via gravity.	Empty extractor sump: Pump honey using a mechanical pump Pump A pump is a device used to move fluids, such as liquids, gases or slurries.A pump displaces a volume by physical or mechanical action. Pumps fall into three major groups: direct lift, displacement, and gravity pumps...
14	Filter honey	Let wax and other particles settle out	Run raw honey through a separator
15	Grade honey	Do nothing
16	Bottle honey	Package comb honey
17	Market and sell honey	Use honey for home consumption

Top-bar hive

Top bar hives come in horizontal (trough) and vertical (of which the Warré hive is an example). Trough hives

Top-bar hive

Top-bar hives are a style of beehive used for beekeeping. They are especially useful in areas where resources are limited, but are also increasingly popular among hobby beekeepers in industrialized nations...

 allow for continuous harvest through the season, while Warré hives (per Abbé Warré) are intended to be harvested only at the end of the season.

Step	Warré hive	Trough top bar hive
1	Remove roof and quilt	Remove cover
2	Remove boxes of comb from the top of the hive, being sure to leave sufficient stores for the colony to overwinter on.	Remove mostly full combs.

Once the combs are removed from the hive, they can be processed in several ways:

• Encase them in a cage and use a centrifugal extractor as with framed combs. This was done in the early twentieth century.
• Preserving as-is to be consumed in comb form.
• Crushing the combs, straining the honey, and processing the beeswax
  Beeswax
  Beeswax is a natural wax produced in the bee hive of honey bees of the genus Apis. It is mainly esters of fatty acids and various long chain alcohols...
  
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