Harvesting from FRAMED hive bodies
The same cut and strain method that we use to harvest honey from top bar hive bodies can also be used to harvest honey from framed hive bodies, with some variations that depend on your exact set up.
If no foundation or wire exists in the frames, the combs can simply be cut from the frames, pulverized and strained. If the frames have been wired, the combs can still be processed in this way, although removing them from the frames will take a bit more time and care so as not to damage the wiring. Frames that have wired foundation in them can also be processed in the strainer, but it is certainly undesirable to have the foundation or wires end up in there, so if you want to cut and strain these combs, we recommend using a plastic putty knife, 1.5 to 2 inches wide, to scrape the honey filled cells off of the original foundation sheet and into the strainer. The wax that the bees built on the foundation sheets, along with the honey, should scrape off quite easily. The foundation should not be reused, so simply remove it from the frame and place it into your solar wax melter if you intend to process wax.
Another option, which is what we recommend for frames that are either wired or have wired foundation in them, is to use a centrifugal extractor. As long as frames have nice, clean wax combs (like you'll have from framed hive bodies that were used as supers or possibly from frames that were located at the outside edges of boxes that had contained brood), you can extract the honey and reuse the combs next year. To learn about the extraction process, watch this video! Please note that we no longer offer honey extractors. Warré frames can be extracted using any extractor that will accept deep Langstroth frames.