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Subject:
From:
Ted Fischer <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Discussion of Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sat, 1 Nov 1997 21:53:01 -0500
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Let me add my two cents worth on this topic as well.  I run 85 -100
colonies and have found a method that works very well for such an
operation.  I run honey from the extractor into a shallow "stock" tank
containing tubes of circulating water heated to exactly 100F degrees.
This is only slightly warmer than the hives themselves (96F) but allows
the wax to float to the top and clear the honey in about 4 hours.  One
tank full holds two extractor loads along with all their capping
drippings.
 
So I do a batch in the morning, let it settle and then pump it into a
holding tank, straining it through fiberglass window screening
material.  I do another batch in the evening, and in this way get
through 4 extractor loads (40 frames each) or 20 supers per day.
Obviously, this would not be fast enough for a large operation, but it
works for me, and allows me to extract about 10,000 lbs of honey in
about three weeks.
 
The honey clears nicely at the time I pump it and very few wax particles
come up to the strainer.  The foam I let come to the top of the holding
tank and don't even bother about skimming it off until the end of the
season.  It just sits there and I tap off perfectly clear honey from the
bottom of the tank.
 
Ted Fischer
Dexter, Michigan USA

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