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When I read "scrape and drain" I assumed you meant using a heated knife on just the caps and let it drain into a tray 😅 yea that is a weird term for scraping the whole thing (essentially what I did).

I did buy a shitty Chinese extractor that .. did not turn on and shocked me when I started to look under the control box because I forgot to unplug it. After some eBay fighting I got like .. half a refund and sold it to someone on Craigslist list because I really didn't feel like trying to fix it.

So yea, I know it's way better if you can leave the combs since the bees will build into them next season. This is just my second year though.

Next year I'll probably get a long container with a honey spout and a heated knife. I should be able to do what you said: just scrape off the caps and let the frame drain .. will probably take a while one frame at a time .. on both sides.

I just have the one hive right now and don't think I'll add any. If I ever get up to three+ hives, I'll probably get a quality extractor.

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Charles Zi Britannia (czb@eientei.org)'s status on Sunday, 08-Sep-2024 13:42:00 JST

Charles Zi Britannia

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@djsumdog @eemmaa @icedquinn @mischievoustomato oh shit, so scrape and drain method is refering to scraping comb off of foundation, not what I thought when I heard it mentioned... I guess an extractor would be needed to spin the honey out.

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Charles Zi Britannia (czb@eientei.org)'s status on Sunday, 08-Sep-2024 13:42:01 JST

Charles Zi Britannia

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@djsumdog @icedquinn @mischievoustomato @eemmaa might try scrape and drain method next year, takes 8 pounds of honey to make a pound of wax. Having empty honey comb to let them refill is extremely valuable. That 2-3lbs of comb saved could end up being a couple gallons of more honey the following year and even more the next year.

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djsumdog (djsumdog@djsumdog.com)'s status on Sunday, 08-Sep-2024 13:45:10 JST

djsumdog

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