Extractor?

[Fishing-Nut]

I purchased some bee keeping equipment yesterday, and included in the deal was a new extractor. So far we've only been crushing and straining the little honey that we've harvested. I'm all about the idea of giving there wax back to them without completely destroying it. My question is do y'all use one? And is it worth it? It seems to me like giving them the wax back would save them a lot of time and energy.

[Acebird]

It will increase your honey yield.

[cao]

My question is do y'all use one? And is it worth it?

Yes and Yes.
If you are extracting more than a box full of honey than I believe it is well worth the time using the extractor.  Crushing and straining if fine for a few frames. 

[Van, Arkansas, USA]

Fish, to a honey bee, making wax is the most energy consuming process they do.  It take 5 pounds of honey to produce one pound of wax.  Simple math: fructose or glucose (honey) made of 6 carbon atoms,,,, wax 28-32 carbon atoms.  I did not count other atoms or the functional group on wax.  Keep it simple.

The point is wax is chemically expensive to a honey bee, 5 times more than honey.  You will save the bees a lot of energy if you return the wax.

[paus]

Do the bees use crushed wax or do you have to make foundation for them?

[eltalia]

(edit)
I'm all about the idea of giving there wax back to them without completely destroying it. My question is do y'all use one? And is it worth it? It seems to me like giving them the wax back would save them a lot of time and energy.

I concluded long ago the prime reason new BK used crush and strain only from the cost
of an extractor -  plus all the bits and pieces that come with going that path -  versus the
price of a pound of honey. An extractor made it an expensive pound.
Yet you bring up the crux of why I have always steered away from the C&S extraction
process -  the waste, for bees. I did plenty of it with my Father when 'robbing' wild hives to
know it is also very messy and time consuming for the human/s.

Today many communal extractors can be utilised in semi-rural areas and some apiaries
have hire schemes going. So if it can be done, extracting from Day01 is the only option. IMHO
For the amount (little) of frame extraction I do these days I have reverted back to my old
and trusty broomstick extractor. For the cutouts I use a combination of solar and billy-boil
to extract wax and honey from retrieved combs.

Some extractors were/are not well designed but being such simple machines it
can be an  adventure modifying or retrofitting components to have them work for you.
My very first 4fr.reverseable was a hand crank. All of us soon hot tired of that.
So I fitted a 12VDC old generator to it and all was well. Likewise when the first 240VAC
machine was purchased to be used in shed and in field. After thefirst time the genset crapped
out I fitted a soft start motor to it connected to the truck batteries via an inverter.
All relative when you weigh up the cost of producing that pound of honey... or 2.2 kilograms
now, in my Country

Cheers.

Bill

[Acebird]

Do the bees use crushed wax or do you have to make foundation for them?

They can recycle a very small portion of wax.  If you give your cappings to the bees they will wipe it clean of honey and leave the wax.

[Acebird]

So I fitted a 12VDC old generator to it and all was well. Likewise when the first 240VAC
machine was purchased to be used in shed and in field. After thefirst time the genset crapped
out I fitted a soft start motor to it connected to the truck batteries via an inverter.

A small weed eater motor would be my choice for the field.

[cao]

Do the bees use crushed wax or do you have to make foundation for them?

I melt it and either dip plastic foundation or use a paint brush to add a second coat of wax to it.  It really helps them to accept the plastic foundation. 

[BeeMaster2]

Bees reuse wax in the hive but I don't think they bring in wax from the field.
Notice sometimes capped brood has a light colored capping, that is newly made wax. Other brood callings may be dark. That is reused wax.
Jim

[Eric Bosworth]

Just a thought... At what price of bees wax does it start to make the extractor less worthwhile? If you sell the wax, you will sell less if you keep giving it back. I think the science behind energy usage of bees might be a little flawed. When a good flow is on they will make wax quite quickly if they need it. I think I would rather collect the frames, sort them by beautiful comb honey or not, cut out and package the
comb honey and with the rest, grind the comb, press the honey out of it, grind the wax again and let the bees rob what honey is left. Then I can get top dollar for comb honey, and then jar the rest, melt and filter the wax and sell it and use the same press I use for apple cider for honey. I might add it is a homemade press that I made with the drum from my old washing machine. My father used an extractor. It worked great... But he sold it when he got out of the bee business. I can't justify the expence of buying one when crush and strain works quicker, is free and when I sell comb honey I get more money for even less work. I suppose you can do the comb honey even with the extractor it just makes it even more expensive/pound. I would also add that my father had a friend who kept bees and they shared equipment. If that is an option then go for it. Otherwise unless you have a pretty big operation it will take a long time to pay for itself.

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[tjc1]

For a little more than $100 you can buy a hand-cranked two-frame extractor which works great for someone with 2-4 hives. Saves a lot of time, saves the comb, makes a messy process much tidier. Considering the time and effort and mess it saves, it is well worth the fairly low cost. Check Ebay to look at one.

[Michael Bush]

You are not being mean to the bees when you take the wax and they have to make more.  It's you who pays the price in honey.  They can make more honey when the flow hits and there is somewhere to store it.