Right on time for extracting we brought some extracting tools and more bottling jars to our online store. We have inventory on hand and you can place an order online for pickup at the store.
The pictures below are for a couple of items added to the Extracting category:
And if you need jars and bottles for your honey, we have added the Containers and Labels category to the store. It’s already stocked and we will continue adding different containers over time:
Last Saturday was the second annual Backyard Beekeepers Association field trip, where lots of new and experienced beekeepers gathered to inspect a variety of hives and beekeeping techniques in commercial and hobby bee yards.
BeeManiacs was featured as one of the field trip destinations. We checked foundation-less Langstroth frames as well as Top Bar hives, followed by a honey extraction demonstration by Ari Jr and Maria.
Thank you all for the visit.
We just extracted the last of our 2015 crop, testing new hardware that we either sell at our store or will sell soon.
The honey crop was pretty good for such dry and smoky weather in WA State.
We have some pictures below where you can see BeeManiacs staff in action.
We just added another useful tool for extracting time, from the creators of the Combcapper.
The Bucket Bench is used to facilitate bucket to bucket transfers (it’s the yellow bucket holder in the picture).
And it’s compatible with multiple bucket sizes.
BeeManiacs is the first store in Western USA to carry this tool. We are also currently shipping to all USA addresses.
For more pictures and pricing information please follow this link to the BeeManiacs online store:
http://shopbeemaniacs.com/bucket-bench/
Beekeeping is an expensive hobby. We think we are done spending money after buying our tools, hardware, and bee packages, and close to getting some cash back from selling some honey.
Well, first we need to extract that honey, and the extracting equipment is not cheap. A basic extracting setup costs about $400 for a manual extractor with all the other parts needed for extracting and if we would like to go with an electric extractor, we are well in the thousands.
There are some extracting options in the area, but as we have more and more new backyard beekeepers every season, the extracting businesses are getting overbooked and have to work way past the extracting season to accommodate all local beekeepers. That means that some beekeepers had to wait until around Halloween to be able to extract and start selling honey (instead of being able to extract and start selling in August).
Some beekeepers would like to extract their own honey at home, and until now there was not an option available in the area.
That’s why we decided to start renting honey extractor kits from BeeManiacs. This benefit is only available for customers in driving distance and we will offer this rental service in store only on a first-come, first-served basis (we are sorry but we cannot offer this service to our many online customers). If you are in the Inland Northwest of USA and following us on FaceBook or Twitter, you will receive this notification as soon as it is posted online. For our current store hours follow this link.
We put together 4 kits, two with manual extractors and two with electric extractors. We will start booking the schedule and renting out these kits starting Friday, August 8th.
In the picture below you can see some of the equipment included in the kits.
Look below for more detailed information about kit contents and schedule.
Every kit contains:
Rental times
(three options a week)
Pickup | Drop-off |
Sat 4pm | Mon 6pm |
Mon 7pm | Thur 6pm |
Thu 7pm | Sat 3pm |
Pricing
Book your kit ahead of time (in store only, starting on August 8th). You can choose the kit you would like to rent and sign the agreement with conditions and schedule details at booking time.
Rental fee due at booking time. We accept credit cards and checks.
Refundable deposit is due at pickup time. We recommend a check for deposit (cash will work too). The check/cash will be returned to you after the equipment is returned on time and in good shape.
You can also download a flier in pdf format: ExtractingKitForRent
