Honey extractor

From Beekeeping Wiki

A honey extractor is a mechanical device used in the honey harvest. A honey extractor extracts the honey from the beeswax or honey comb. It typically works by centrifugal force, spinning the honey out from the honey comb. With this method the wax comb stays intact within a frame and can be reused by the bees. The extractors are either tangential or radial extractors depending on how the frames are put into the extractor basket. Large commercial extractors are radial. The amount of work during extraction is reduced in the radial type because the frames do not have to be turned over. Hobbyist extractors can be hand or electric motor powered. The smallest size of extractor holds two frames. The largest commercial extractor holds more than a hundred frames.

During the extraction process the honey is forced out of the uncapped wax cells, runs down the walls of the extractor and pools at the bottom of the extractor. A tap or honey pump allows for the removal of honey from the extractor.

Some hobbyist beekeepers and beekeepers in developing countries, especially keepers of top-bar hives, cut the whole honey comb out of the frame, and use it directly as cut comb honey. Alternatively, cut comb is put into a honey press to squeeze out the honey.

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