Crush and strain question

Okay, this may be a stupid question, but I’m new! With the crush and strain method, do you use a heated knife to uncap the comb first, or do you leave it all intact to crush it? Thanks for your help and patience!

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There are NO stupid questions on this forum! :wink: We all learn from each other, even on seemingly simple things, so thank you for asking.

For crush and strain, you don’t need to uncap. You just mash everything with something like a potato masher, while repeatedly chanting the name of your boss/workplace bully/difficult neighbor… :imp: It helps to have a nice double bucket setup like this one from www.beethinking.com:
http://www.beethinking.com/collections/tools-and-equipment/products/bucket-strainer-system

Keep asking questions, please! :smile:

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Thanks, Dawn! Really helpful!

Don’t crush and strain frames that have had brood in them at any time. Bee larvae do not defecate until just before they pupate. The faeces get entombed between the pupal cocoon and the wall of the cell when the bee emerges. As such it cannot be cleaned out by housekeeping bees but it will be liberated if you crush and strain…into your honey :frowning:

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Good point. I wouldn’t do that any way - I use a queen excluder, and brood frames stay in the brood box. I have to admit, I never thought about bee poo in honey… :scream:

I do spin super frames that have been brooded in. I have a few from when I tried running without an excluder…

Makes you wonder about honey from Warre hives.

Yip ! I’m staying with the Lang method for beekeeping ! Maybe not perfect but seems to be proven over the years as quute acceptable ! I even used QS’s back in 1950’s n 60’s. It worked for me then n guessing it will now as well.

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Even if you use brood frames for honey at a later date…there won’t be any bee poo in the honey as it gets sealed in by the cocoon. Prior to using for honey…the bees clean the cells. They are good little housekeepers,

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You miss the point. If you simply spin the brooded frames then you are OK. If you crush them (as you would in a Warre) you are introducing faeces into your honey.

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I learned something new today:) that’s interesting. I’m sure previous generations consumed bee faeces in their honey via the crush & strain method. Mr Warre probably didn’t even think about bee faeces.

The bee faeces may contribute something to the strong odor of brood frames.

I can’t stop thinking about this… My husband has an obsession with waste disposal, I guess it is part of his intellect as a Pathologist, so I blame him! :smile:

But thinking about it totally logically, what do bee larvae eat? They eat adult bee vomit (honey), mixed with pollen and a few other little bits and pieces. Sounds gross, but it is pretty much what honey is made of, but with a bit more protein. So what do they poo? Pollen residues, shed bee cells, probably some nitrogenous waste, a few bacteria/viruses/fungi (many symbiotic and harmless, others maybe not). So really, truly, apart from our squeamishness, is there a lot of harm in bee larval poo?? :smirk:

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Beats the shit out of me

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I guess in @Dee’s case, we can see what happens when the larval bee poo hits the extractor…

:yum:

Sorry, couldn’t resist…

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That’s up to you but I wouldn’t and I certainly wouldn’t sell it in my honey

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Then I will always buy my honey from you! :wink:

Love this thread :smile: ! I am rolling over in laughter ! :grinning::joy: and tear ducts leaking from this ! !! The lighter side of a weekend !

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@Dee, @Dawn_SD, @Schnucki & @Gerald_Nickel, In this modern society, I just think there is way too much information available to us. I’m sure the honey they found in the pyramids (fact or myth?) that was found to be still ok contained larval bee poo, possibly squashed bee innards etc.

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I try to cut the caps off when crush and straining to make honey flow quicker but no where near as precisely as is needed for spinning. I try not to over crush the wax to reduce the amount small enough to go through into the honey.

I strain a frame at a time so just use a colinder lined with fine mesh (bought from beekeeping suppliers- but fabric such as muslin/cheese cloth works) under a second colinder.

One of the really nice things about crush and strain (and FlowFrames) is the ability to have single frame honey - so much nicer than having them all mixed together. I love how frames of honey each taste different.

There is no issue with cut and crushing any honey frames but don’t use ex-brood frames for cut comb. If we are getting all thingy over food veggies are covered in dirt made from rotting vegetation, Honey is bee spew and let’s not even go into mushrooms. Real food isn’t sterile.

I love having the wax from crush and strain and am currently collecting mine to show at our local agricultural show before using it for candles. Each batch of wax can be different colours as well.

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You couldn’t chew them for start :sunny:

I’m with you there all the way but when I said this a couple of weeks ago I got flagged.

Some people will eat any old Sh1t