Iowa Family Gardening Homestead

How to get ready for honey harvesting season

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You may be wondering about some things related to bottling your honey: what equipment do I need, where do I buy bottles, what needs to be on that honey label, and how and where do I design and print labels?

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Equipment needed to extract honey

If you’re new to beekeeping, or want to learn some more things about beekeeping, you may want to check out our post on “How to start beekeeping” that contains a complete list of beekeeping equipment you’ll need to get started. 

In order to get the supers off of the hive without most of the bees on them you’ll want to invest in some sort of chemical/fume. I would recommend: 

This works by applying the Honey Bandit to the felt piece inside of the frame. Allow it to get warmed up by the sun and absorbed for about five minutes. Place it on the top of the hive, with the top cover removed, directly on the top-most super. See how using a fume board with Honey Bandit works here (back when my bee suit was almost bright white! Haha). Or check out a newer, more improved tactic – using a leaf blower!

Equipment needed to get honey out of the frames

See the whole process after getting the boxes into the honey house here. How to use the uncapping knife, how it drips into the uncapping tank, and putting it into the extractor.

When extracting honey from the frames inside of the supers you’ll need a few pieces of equipment, including, but not limited to: 

  • Honey Extractor
  • Uncapping Knife/Scratcher
  • Uncapping Tank
  • Bucket with honey gate   or
    • Bottling Tank
  • Double sieve

Honey extractors

Here are some Honey Extractors I recommend. HillCo, LLC is located in Illinois. They are such an awesome company! I strongly stand by their quality, expertise and customer service!!

Capping Tank

You need something to catch and hold onto the cappings and honey that drops off of the frames. We used this Plastic Uncapping Tank. However, you could easily make your own with two totes and some wire, or a queen excluder. 

Uncapping Scratcher or Uncapping Knife

An uncapping scratcher or an uncapping knife is really important to be able to access the honey that is below the wax. In my opinion, the cleanest wax we had, and was the easiest to work with came from working with an Uncapping knife, like this one. It just rolls off in sheets, and the cleanup of the wax later on is so much easier than a bunch of little pieces that come from using a scratcher tool. However, I have also known a lot of people that use a serrated knife in some warm water. That works too!  

Bucket with Honey Gate and/or Bottling Tank

My mentor swears she can easily pour honey in bottle openings, even the teeny tiny 2 oz bears!!! I can’t for the life of me figure that out!! After I slop most of it on the floor, deal with over and under filling bottles, I opted for a bottling tank. 

I had a heated one, and it made bottling so easy for myself, and for the children helping!!! 

If you want to go with the bucket with honey gate, you do you! You can often get free food grade buckets from bakeries, or grocery stores. Just go in and ask if you can have the next round of buckets from them. One less thing that needs to go to the landfill, right?! 

Double Sieve

In my opinion, these are a must have. I like the ones that have the brackets that fit over a 5-gallon bucket. It is a great idea to have two of these so you can keep going with the filtering process. One can be filled and draining and then you can be working on getting the other one ready. Rather than waiting for everything. I highly do NOT recommend working with cheesecloth or tea towels to strain. The honey is too thick, and it takes TOO LONG! (I’m too impatient, and I have stuff to do!!)

Where to buy honey bottles and what sizes

Honestly, the time of the year you order honey bottles will determine if you’re able to get the sizes and kinds you’re looking for. I put a note on my calendar each January to not only enroll my hives in the FieldWatch (beecheck Apiary Registry) program, but to also order bottles and labels. Here are things you’ll want to keep in mind when picking out sizes and types of bottles: 

  • Are there certain shows you want to participate in at the county or state fair, or beekeeping conference? If so, look at the previous years’ rules and see if you can order the specific type ahead of time
  • Is there something unique from other beekeepers in the area that could set your bottles apart? 
  • What style do you like the look of? Is there something that can show off your brand?
  • Do the bottles you’re looking at come with lids, or are they listed separately?
  • Do they have a self-stick seal on the inside of the lid?
  • Can you get lids in all the same color for all of the different sizes of bottles you’re looking at?
  • Do the people in your market want glass or plastic? Will you be offering a “refill” program (if so, glass might be your best option).

We order our bottles from Lappes Bee Supply, located in Madison County, Iowa. They have the best prices, and styles of bottles, closest to us (we love to support local!). 

These are the sizes and styles of honey bottles we used: 

2 oz bear with lids (black)

8 oz bear-black flip top

16 oz-hourglass with lids (we changed from the one in the picture to the one linked so the style matched the others better!)

24 oz -inverted hex with black flip top lids

3 lb embossed honeycomb with black fliptop lids

5 lb labels embossed honeycomb with black fliptop

We used the jug style with the handle one year, they did not sell as well because they are opaque instead of clear. Our most popular size was 24 oz. No matter what sizes you offer, people will always tend towards something in the middle of what is available!

What needs to be on the honey label? 

It is important that you follow your state’s labeling regulations. According to the National Honey Board you must have this information on your honey label: 

  • The “Common” name of the Product
    • The word “honey” must be visible on the label
  • Net Weight (excluding packaging), both in pounds/ounces and in metric weight (grams) must be included in the lower third of your front label panel in easy-to-read type)
    • For example – Net Wt. 16 oz (454 g)
      • One once (oz) = 28.3495 grams or 1 pound (lb) = 443.592 grams
  • Ingredients
    • Single ingredient products (such as honey) do not have to name that single ingredient when used on the front panel
      • If there are ingredients, other than honey, you must  list them in an ingredient statement no less than 1/16 of an inch
  • Country of Origin
  • Contact Information – the label must let consumers know who put the product on the market, and how to contact that person
    • Must appear on the front panel
    • At least 1/16 of an inch tall
    • Name and address 
    • If space: full address and telephone number is recommended 

How and where do I design and print honey labels?

We used onlinelabels.com to print the labels we needed. We love using labels with a White Weatherproof (BOPP) Gloss Finish. This allowed us to wipe down extra stickiness off of bottles. It’s inevitable, no matter how many times you wipe down bottles, you’ll always find more (especially if you’re working with kids!). 

You can make your design on Canva.com, and import your design into the Maestro Label Designer, or you can use one of their pre-designed label templates. 

What should I charge for my honey?

This is a honey display at the Iowa State Fair with honey from all across the state of Iowa! Notice how the colors range because of the different environments they are from.

This may come as a total shock to you, but this really depends. 

The price you determine to sell your honey for may depend on if your bees are near some specific food source, let’s say, like Tupelo, linden tree, clover, sorghum, or something else that specifically changes the taste and/or appearance of the honey you are selling.

Sometimes putting your bees by something that gives it a unique flavor and color is desirable by the customer, and other times your clientele may not care that you have 1,482 varieties of flowers nearby. They just want to buy the dang honey, and to not spend all of the money in their wallet. 

How to determine a fair price for your honey

In order to come up with a fair price you you will want to take into account, at minimum, the following expenses for that particular harvest season: 

  • Bottles
  • Labels
  • Mite treatment
  • Pollen patties
  • Sugar 
  • Any other treatments you had to apply to keep your bees healthy (cinnamon, vegetable oil, small hive beetle traps, antibiotics for European Foulbrood, etc). 

I feel like on average, I’ve seen honey for sale anywhere $5 per pound to $10 per pound in Iowa. You will find most beekeepers will sell honey for cheaper, the larger quantities you buy at one time. 

Do what is right for you. Don’t be too cheap. If your customers want delicious bee vomit, and don’t think it’s THAT difficult, they would be out there keeping bees too. You know what it’s like (or you will find out soon enough) what it’s like to be in your bee suit when it’s 110 degrees F doing a check, moving bees, or all of the hard work you put into making sure those girls gave you their dang delicious, golden delicacy. 

Please comment and share with your friends to help our business grow. 

You’ve got this. I’m cheering you on! If you want to find out more about some of my other tips about family life, entrepreneur friends, gardening, beekeeping and more, check out our blog. 

This is the start of something GOOD! (I can tell!)

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