We were lucky to be invited by Val, owner of Beecharmer Farms, to film and video in her Honey House during peak honey processing. Val has had her honey house since 2007 and is an avid beekeeper not to mention a wonderful mentor to many beekeepers in the area. In the late summer Val invites members from our local Beekeepers Association of The Ozarks to a field day at her facilities and we joined her to film the following day.
At Beecharmer Farms they process a lot of their own honey but they also have the honey house available for other people to process thier own honey. This is exceptionally nice if you want to process your honey like a professional but you don't have all the equipment. Her setup includes lots of custom food grade equipment but additionally there are two motorized extractors and the new chain drive uncapper.
The Cowen Manufacturing uncapper is an impressive piece of equipment, capable of uncapping 9 frames of comb per minute
or 60 supers per hour and the stand will hold over 40 processed frames. Val stated that before getting the uncapper they would only do 15 supers in a day, thats a huge improvement. It additionally has a 5 frame loader so you can pre-load to keep up with the uncapping process. The knives are gearbox driven and they are both sharp and hot water heated. The chain drive portion pertains to the feeder chain that feeds the frames through the system. Constructed entirely of stainless steel it looks easy to clean and very durable.
In the pictures and video below you can see the professionalism of this operation. Val and her helpers are very focused on providing the best honey products possible in an efficient cost effective manner. I always mention to every new member to our bee club to make it to Val's field day in the honey house. This video will cover all aspect of honey production except bottling, unfortunately after testing with the refractometer the honey was not ready for bottling. I understand her honey is now ready and she is sure to sellout fast.
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