Forgot to mention

The bees don't go into the extractor. You shoo the bees away (not sure how – that happened before I arrived) and move the frames into a separate box they can't get into, and then you take that box far away to do the extraction. They can smell honey from a long way off, I am told, and will make a great nuisance of themselves if they're around when you open the cells.

Earlier in the day I'd spent 40 minutes sitting on the ground watching a cluster of eighteen bees buzzing around the inside of a wheelbarrow that had gotten smeared with honey when we moved the boxes. They were grooving and vibrating and drinking honey until they could hardly fly. Later, while I was watching the honey drain out of the extractor, I noticed a couple of bees had gotten into the greenhouse and were flying in and out and all around the bucket trying to figure out a way to get a taste. They knew enough not to try to land on the surface of the honey in the bucket, but we'd done such a good job of keeping everything clean (this was early in the process) that there wasn't any other honey around that they could easily reach.

As I watched, wondering how they were going to solve their dilemma – honey honey everywhere, and not a drop to drink! – one of the bees flew straight into the stream as it poured out of the extractor. From the way he went in, all business-like, slowing down with legs extended, I'm guessing he thought it was going to be like landing on a leaf or a flower. The stream was so steady it didn't really look like it was moving at all. But it was. It grabbed his feet and swept him away like a leaf in a waterfall, blasting him instantly all the way to the bottom of the bucket.

Death by honey.