Hello Bee Folk,

   I am looking for another way of getting my honey from the
frame/comb inti the bottle. I always end up with foundations
that are pretty much beat up after getting the honey from them.

   I only have two hives and the idea of an extractor is nice
but more that I can spend for the little honey I get. I will get
25-40 pounds this time around if all goes well.

  I went into the hives yesterday and found this beautiful
almost water clear honey very nice flavor. We have had a long
spell of clover here in this area of PA. Not big fields just
very large lawns that get cut after the clovers start to brown
up. It is cut and back it comes, so I want to keep as much of
this as I can and try to save the comb so it can be put directly
back once the honey is taken out.

   I dont have access to another beekeeper with an extractor,
the nearest fellow is over 100 miles away, long haul for 40 or
so pounds of honey.

   I have tried de-capping the frames and set them over night in
food grade, covered, plastic buckets but it leaves a lot of
honey behind.  So I usually end up scaping most of the wax and
honey into a double sieve with cheese clothe and procees that
way. I get my honey but there is little left of the cell
stucture. I put the frames back into the hives and the bees will
clean the frames and start to draw it out again but there is
time lost. I suppose I could use shallows for honey and not the
full deeps that I use now. At this time I only have one shallow.

   So anyone out there that has a few hives and has come up with
a better way of getting the honey out without destroying the
cells please let me know.

  Now to a different topic. Pierco snap in foundations. Anyone
using them. I have a box of 50 here all black, they are of very
rigid plastic and coated with wax. I am going to go over to them
as I think they will be better than the foundation I have been
using since I started keeping bees, or they started keeping me.
I think because the plastic frame is stamped and wax coated it
will hold up longer that the "Duragilt".

  The foundations I am using now "Duragilt, work well but after
a time the wax breaks away from the clear plastic base, the
foundation is the usless. It holds up well in the brood chambers but
for honey collecting it doesn't hold up well with the hand
process.

  While I am here... I either read it hear or saw it in a
catalog... That being frames that have only a one or two inch
strip of foundation at the top and bottom of the frames. Can
anyone comment on this? And for what purpose is this done? I can
see that it would give the bees a place to start to draw from
and perhaps provide nice comb or chunk honey.

Thank you for your time...

Gary C. Lewis
Duke Center,
Pensylvania
USA

10 miles away from Bradford Home of the "Zippo" lighter