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If it is truly crystalised would stick it in the warming cabinet at about 40C . Otherwise you may struggle to get the crystals through the filter bag. If it is just heather honey being heather honey and turns liquid when agitated you could give it a go as is.

Not the most practical suggestion maybe, but the thing that massively improved my beekeeping was spending a year and a half working full time for a very large and well established Beefarmer tending 1000s of colonies. The main things I took away from my time there: - was cutting out the niff naff...

"“honey” means the natural sweet substance produced by Apis mellifera bees" who want to be first to spot a jar and tell trading standards?

Some blasts from the past on this thread! I work in food safety and would echo what has already been said the cost of of bringing the extractor up to the required standard is probably not worth it and would be better spent on one that is manufactured using modern food safe materials. I can not...

I have tangential screens for my 20 frame extractor which then takes 4 deeps or 8 shallow frames and a hand held loosener which works ok. I also have a lyson cappings spinner which is faster and less of a chore but does obviously result in a lot less drawn comb available at the start of next...

Yep take it out for winter.

Brassica rapa cover a wide range of cultivars / subspecies and includes OSR and mustard etc.

The inkbird thermostats are worth a look, really simple "plug and play" heat controllers. That's what I have on my warming cupboard (with a circulating fan and a cheap oil filled radiator plugged in to the warming socket) and it was simple to set up and seems pretty accurate

Good idea, never thought about that, thanks

Hi I had some bees down on the Linc/Cambs fens this summer. I have taken bees there for the last few years as the farm grows mustard for colmans which in previous year has given a similar honey to OSR as you would expect. This year I left them there after the mustard has finished (mid June) and...

I was talking to a pest controller at work last week who said he has never had so many moth jobs (carpet/clothes) as he does at the moment. Think all pesky moths may have had a good summer.

As has been said on here before Honey is one of the most adulterated food globally because it is very difficult to test to see if it has been cut with syrup. In addition the supply chain is for imported honey is long often passing through many intermediaries and international boundaries. Chinese...

Yes I was only talking about meeting the demand of one single individual and did not mean to infer anything of about the national picture. The point I was trying to make was that the OP could have got his 30 queens from the UK if he wished and that saying he could not was nonsense. As they said...

I have queens in 10s and 20s from UK suppliers both planned and booked in advance and short notice. and never had issues. Sure if the OP had got intouch early enough with someone like Black Mountain or BHP they would have had no problem getting that number. I doubt supply was the factor with...

what that no UK producer could supply 30 queens (in 3 batches of 10)?

ITLD may disagree on that point. Think Murray/Jolanta exceed the stated quantity of 30 by a few thousand. I am sure if you got your order in with sufficient notice either directly (if you are a beefarmer/trade) or via an outlet such as Black Mountain you could have got 30 UK bred queens. I have...

"And those people in this thread who state aggression is not linked to joney production, did it put you off opening the hives?" Nope it motivated me to open the hives and squash the queen!

There is no cut off or recommendations that I can find. If the letter of the law is applied and you know it contains foreign honey, then I guess the onus is on you to label it. Once the ratios get tiny I can not imagine even the most pedantic of officers getting too excited about it if you...

I would get some more placid bees too.

I don't know what is acceptable, by the letter of the law it is not acceptable to to say it British honey if the gales is a blend of Eu and none EU. But the ratio is reduced and 12 oz to 30lb (so about 1 in 40 jars?) is not going to bulk out your honey to the extent that you are making a...