Today visited a professional beekeepers : Serge Arnould at Lugos, with the Rucher Ecole de Cestas. He has 1000 hives, so a bit different to my set up at home where I have 3 hives.
They were busy collecting heather honey, which is exceptionally sticky, so a special method has to be used : first the top boxes are stored for at least 24 hours in a heated room (25-30°), then the wax seal is removed using a hefty machine which lashed the sides of each frame with mini chains at exactly the right distance just to scim the wax off. Then the honeycomb is prodded repeatedly with needles up and down each side, before finally being centrifuged to collect the honey. The room where all this was going on was warm, several bees had managed to get inside, so they were buzzing about, and overall the air was infused with the sweet smell of honey - Fascinating stuff !
The photo shows the storeroom where empty top-boxes are being stored.
The hives themselves can be moved on his specialy designed lorry, 240 at a time, to orchards, or fields in flower, either to pollinise the crop for a fee, or to create a specific honey such as chestnut, accasia, or heather...