francois f swanepoel:
honey harvesting, getting ready
francois f swanepoel:
honey harvesting
francois f swanepoel:
honey harvesting, before donning protective gloves
francois f swanepoel:
IMG_5101
francois f swanepoel:
IMG_5104
francois f swanepoel:
IMG_5112
francois f swanepoel:
IMG_5110
francois f swanepoel:
honey harvesting
francois f swanepoel:
honey harvesting, getting ready
francois f swanepoel:
honey harvesting, vuma the wire fox terrier wants to help too
francois f swanepoel:
IMG_8579 4x "supers", each with 9 frames heavily loaded with honey cells. vigilant/considerate beekeepers place 9 instead of 10 frames in a super to allow more space for the bees to move around.
francois f swanepoel:
IMG_8582 decapping the wax ends from sealed honey cells with a special comb. now the honey can be spun out with a centrifuge.
francois f swanepoel:
IMG_8593 honeycomb and wax
francois f swanepoel:
IMG_8589 small manual centrifuge with frames of honey
francois f swanepoel:
IMG_8587
francois f swanepoel:
IMG_5169
francois f swanepoel:
honey harvesting, sticky fingers. unstrained raw honey that contains bits of wax
francois f swanepoel:
honey harvesting, "honey comb" with honey. older dark comb on right
francois f swanepoel:
honey harvesting, randomly constructed wax patterns
francois f swanepoel:
honey harvesting, larvae of wax moth in an empty hive. these need to be destroyed and the hive cleaned out before a new swarm can be accommodated
francois f swanepoel:
larvae of wax moth in an empty hive. these need to be destroyed and the hive cleaned out before a new swarm can be accommodated
francois f swanepoel:
IMG_8553 wax sheets in position in frames
francois f swanepoel:
IMG_8554
francois f swanepoel:
honey harvesting, old deserted hive to be serviced and cleaned
francois f swanepoel:
top view of a"super" with 9 frames. the frames have been harvested for honey and the super is ready to be placed back onto the bee hive. each frame yields about 800 grammes of honey.
francois f swanepoel:
honey harvesting, some bee stings not entertained.