Mt. Joy Farmer Busy Extracting Honey by Sally Bair Farm Feature Writer Wilbur N. Erb, Mount Joy RDI, is involved in some sticky business these days he’s busily extracting honey from some of his beehives. Erb is really a dairy farmer, milking about SO head of Holsteins, but about five years ago he caught a swarm of honey bees in Rheems and since then he has added to that initial swarm and has about 23 hives. Erb figures his interest in bees is hereditary because “my great-grandfather kept bees before I was bom. I heard a lot about it and I was always interested in it.” Erb has his bees scattered at five locations, and he is now extracting only a portion of the total honey crop. He wouldn’t hazard a guess as to how much honey he extracts in a year, but he did say that he got 19 gallons out of three hives - recently. nvhiA Farmline uwnM Motors SINGLE-PHASE ‘/a to 10 H. P.; Capacitor Start: CONTINUOUS DUTY; BALL BEARING; TOTALLY ENCLOSED Specially Designed to Produce Operating Characteristics to Fulfill Farm Requirements for Hard-Starting, Long-Life, Rugged Use Motors. HIGH STARTING TORQUE FOR COM PRESSORS, BARN CLEANERS, GRINDERS, SILO UNLOADERS OR ANY OTHER OPERATION THAT STARTS UNDER LOAD. Quantity Discounts FARMERS and DEALERS: We Can Serve Your Motor Needs For 1 or 500 Motors. FACTORY WARRANTY SERVICE HP ELECTROMEC electromechanical M 1 SERVICE RA—. ROUTE 222, EPHRATA, PA. 17522 HJ PHONE [7l7] 733-7911 ELECTRIC MOTOR* GENERATOR •POWER-TOOL SPECIALISTS He explained that many people extract honey twice a year. He said he finds his honey is lighter in the early summer when there are alfalfa, locust and dandelion blossoms for the bees. Towards fall the honey tends to be darker. How does one extract honey? The initial step, of course, is to collect the frames from the beehives. Erb says he uses protective gear (but has been stung anyway). He says bees do not sting light complexioned people so readily. Another method of taming bees for working with them is to quiet them with smoke. Fire is a dreaded thing among bees, he says, and so when they smell smoke, they fill up with honey (so they’ll have a supply if the hive is burned), and when they’re full, they simply can’t move so quickly and they’re not as likely to sting. “Uncapping” is the next process. That means skimming the wax off the frames by the use of an electrically heated knife, in Erb’s case. He says some people use steam-heated knives. Then the frames are inserted in a centrifugal ex tracting machine, and after a lot of hand cranking of the machine, the honey is out of the frame. At this point the Erbs strain the honey twice, and then it’s ready to eat. Mrs. Erb says the whole family loves it on toast, and she has many recipes using honey in baking and cooking. They do extract more than enough for their family, so they sell some in quarts and gallons to friends and neighbors. Erb says he started working with bees as a hobby, but as his numbers increase, it’s beoming more time consuming and more of a business. He said that today people are “really looking for hives” and it is getting very difficult to obtain frames or wax. He also explained that apiaires must be inspected once a year by the state to ensure that no hives are carrying disease. Any hive harboring disease is destroyed by fire. Erb is a member of the Lancaster County Beekeepers Association. He farms about 180 acres, and in his spare time he is an avid chess player. He carries on quite a few games by correspondence, so he always has a partner and a game underway. BINKLEY & HURST BROS. ASPHALT PAVING - EXCAVATING GRADING INSTALLATION OF SEPTIC TANKS AND DRAINFIELDS FOR FREE ESTIMATES CALL 626-4705 ALititzßD4 Rothsville Station Road (k^a); ' r ''TXiZ'' master Farming, Saturday. July 13.1974 Erb checks one of the frames in the extractor to see if the honey has all been extracted. • De Laval MILKERS sales & service • Topline Transfer System • Full Line Cleaning Detergents • Installation Pipelines & Parlors CALL FOR FREE ESTIMATE i. B. ZIMMERMAN & SONS Rt. 23 - West of Blue Ball Phone [7l7] 354-4955 39
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