Extract honey from a bee hive

“The extraction process was pretty straightforward. First, I used the uncapping scratcher to scratch away most of the honey caps. [...] We watched as the first thick drip appeared. “Quick!” Jim said. “Get something to grab that first taste!” The something was my less than clean finger. I captured the first drip and sucked it off my finger. It was heavenly. (Honestly, if you haven’t tasted fresh, raw honey you’re missing quite an experience. Warning: You probably won’t ever eat mass-produced, supermarket honey again.)”

“I uncapped the capped cells with a serrated knife and placed the four frames in the extractor and turned the wheel. This extracted the unripe honey. As I got increasingly desperate to extract the ripe honey I first tried a hairdryer to soften it up (this had no effect) and then I used a knife and scraped it into a jar. I must admit this this lustful frenzy of “harvesting” felt more like robbing. Was I really stealing the bees winter lifeline for the sake of some sweet porridge in the morning and my beekeeper ego?”

“I decided to remove a couple of frames of honey from the supers as a small reward but as I got them in the house without too many bees following me I thought, “what the heck”, and went back for the whole super. I just shook the bees off into the hive. No smoke was used. No clearer boards. No stings were received. It was easier than I had expected. Too easy …”