Dam OSR and Dandelions

[Millet]

I thought i had pulled safe this year but i have spotted two fields of rape less than one mile away, and to top it of i also found a meadow field full of dandelions which the bees are working on , it is a shame as all the Sycamore/Gorse/Willow/ Cherry and all the spring bulb nectar will be contaminated again with crystallizing honey if i choose to extract it.

A quick question for anyone with experience, will the Dandies cause the rape contaminated honey to set any quicker than it already does.
Regards.
Steve.

 

[wightbees]

Trouble as i see it , is... How do you know what they have worked mainly?

 

[Millet]

Trouble as i see it , is... How do you know what they have worked mainly?

I can never know what they have mainly worked unless i put a GPS tracker on each bee.. lol , i do however know when they are on the rape by the yellow dot between the compound eyes which i have not seen yet but i am sure if the weather warms up a little the little yellow dots will be a common sight, does Dandelion nectar set rape any quicker.

 

[drex]

Don't know the effect of the combination, but I take a good rape crop off every year. Harvesting before the flowers die off completely ( i.e. There is still a tinge of yellow in the field) I never have problems extracting. Makes for a long day, as I put rhombus clearers in first thing, after a couple of hours take the supers off, and get them straight home, where I stack them in a warm shed and start extracting immediately. This is so that the honey does not cool appreciably. Probably half are uncapped, but I shake test at the apiary and use refractometer in my extracting room. Makes a lovely soft set honey.
Embrace it rather than hate it. Empty supers get put back on for cleaning up before the day's end, and if lucky have time to give the extractor a rough wash down

 

[Millet]

Don't know the effect of the combination, but I take a good rape crop off every year. Harvesting before the flowers die off completely ( i.e. There is still a tinge of yellow in the field) I never have problems extracting. Makes for a long day, as I put rhombus clearers in first thing, after a couple of hours take the supers off, and get them straight home, where I stack them in a warm shed and start extracting immediately. This is so that the honey does not cool appreciably. Probably half are uncapped, but I shake test at the apiary and use refractometer in my extracting room. Makes a lovely soft set honey.
Embrace it rather than hate it. Empty supers get put back on for cleaning up before the day's end, and if lucky have time to give the extractor a rough wash down

Thank you for that, i extracted rape spring honey last year with no problem after it read 17.5 % on the refractometer , it was the faff on afterwards that i did not want to repeat, warming the solid stuff then seeding it took more time than i anticipated for, the Autumn honey was much more manageable and stayed pretty runny for a good while, it did however crystallize but it is not like concrete which i thought i had escaped... lol .. at the end of the day i will have to half like it and lump it and hope the Dandies don't make it set like Granite in the comb.

 

[Erichalfbee]

My dandelion mix honey has always set fairly quickly after jarring but never in the comb

 

[Millet]

My dandelion mix honey has always set fairly quickly after jarring but never in the comb

Thank you Erica, do you just extract as you would normally with Oil Seed Rape honey.