How to manage a Hive in a Oil Seed Rape Field

[Tremyfro]

I have a question about OSR too. Our hives are a couple of fields away from OSR....so I am guessing some will be brought back to the hives. Last year we missed the local OSR......when we spun out the honey it was light in colour and stayed runny until January....it is now crystallising.
I know if we delay harvesting....the honey from OSR will crystallise in the comb. So getting it out early....we can do that.
After harvesting the honey...do we seed it straight away or leave it to solidify ...then warm it....then seed it? Not knowing whether it will be OSR or not....we don't want to cream it unnecessarily. What does everyone else do?

 

[For want of a better word]

Feed it to my daughters pony !!!

 

[Tremyfro]

Ha ha .... That will ensure your daughters pony gets laminitis! And you will get big vets bills! You don't like it then?
I am going to be extracting the early honey...just in case.....if the bees ever get a chance to collect nectar....the weather here is very dull...threatening rain.....I just wondered how best to use it. I don't want buckets of solid honey...if I can avoid it. Since I don't know whether I have eaten OSR honey....I don't know whether we will like it.

 

[Cazza]

I have a question about OSR too. Our hives are a couple of fields away from OSR....so I am guessing some will be brought back to the hives. Last year we missed the local OSR......when we spun out the honey it was light in colour and stayed runny until January....it is now crystallising.
I know if we delay harvesting....the honey from OSR will crystallise in the comb. So getting it out early....we can do that.
After harvesting the honey...do we seed it straight away or leave it to solidify ...then warm it....then seed it? Not knowing whether it will be OSR or not....we don't want to cream it unnecessarily. What does everyone else do?

I jar mine after leaving in a ripener For 24 hours. I have repeat customers who love it.
Cazza

 

[Tremyfro]

Does putting it in a ripener stop the honey getting too hard?

 

[Luka22]

Does putting it in a ripener stop the honey getting too hard?

I would say no. Last year we didn't know that we were close to an OSR Field, but luckily we extracted the Honey in time. We stored it in a bucket and the first one was set within 3 days and I am talking about rock hard. As I always said, we could have used it as a base for a shed. So we left it in buckets, till we knew what to do with it and because it was very fine crystals and we had no seed anyway, we only warmed it up and used a potato masher, after that we put it in a settling tank to jar it straight away.

This year I will probably get a Plastic Bucket with a tap to jar it up from there, because when we put it in the end from the bucket into the settling tank it was rather slow running into the jars and a bucket I could always put back into a warming cupboard. Maybe not the right way as well, but we are still not sure how to do it best.

It is rather confusing, probable because you read it everywhere different....

 

[Tremyfro]

So you didn't need to seed the OSR honey with a fine creMed honey as the crystals were already small. So you warmed it and then stirred it and then put in the jars? And it stayed soft enough to use?

 

[Luka22]

Yes, it stayed soft enough I would say. I heard so many conflicting information, some say OSR always got small crystals other say the opposite and that is why you need a seed with fine crystals.

We simply did not had any and refused to buy some from a Supermarket to mix it with our product. For us it worked. Maybe we were lucky, maybe they mixed it with the Apple Trees or maybe there are different types of OSR? I still don't know what it is. I think this year we will find out ourself with only OSR in front of their Hive, but we also still got some fine OSR from last year and hopefully we could use that then as a seed, if needed ....

But what we did is Extract it, send it through a Filter and than into the buckets. It was still runny at that time. 3 days later, rock hard and light colour and than we found out what it was...

 

[For want of a better word]

Ha ha .... That will ensure your daughters pony gets laminitis! And you will get big vets bills! You don't like it then?
I am going to be extracting the early honey...just in case.....if the bees ever get a chance to collect nectar....the weather here is very dull...threatening rain.....I just wondered how best to use it. I don't want buckets of solid honey...if I can avoid it. Since I don't know whether I have eaten OSR honey....I don't know whether we will like it.

I was being ironic!

OSR honey makes a good lemon mead... the lemon covers up the orrible flavour!

Yeghes da

 

[Tremyfro]

Thank you so much....now have an idea of what to expect. I am not expecting to have much honey this year as I want to make increase.....but one hive will be undisturbed ...so we will see what they can do. Atm the hive I split, to make a nuc for the new Buckfast Queen, is busy filling a super too. It is an exciting year.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

I have a question about OSR too. Our hives are a couple of fields away from OSR....so I am guessing some will be brought back to the hives. Last year we missed the local OSR......when we spun out the honey it was light in colour and stayed runny until January....it is now crystallising.
I know if we delay harvesting....the honey from OSR will crystallise in the comb. So getting it out early....we can do that.
After harvesting the honey...do we seed it straight away or leave it to solidify ...then warm it....then seed it? Not knowing whether it will be OSR or not....we don't want to cream it unnecessarily. What does everyone else do?

Last year I extracted and filtered into buckets. These duly set so they went into the warming cabinet until soft enough to use an electric mixer with dough hooks. I repeatedly stirred with this before jarring. The resultant set honey has remained about the consistency of spreadable margarine. No seeding of any kind.
All batches from May through to August have set in the same way. Each has a slightly different flavour, the last being vaguely caramel but all well received by consumers.

 

[Tremyfro]

Did you build your own warming cabinet? When my OH has put the Bee Shed up....he finished the base yesterday......so I am hoping not too long to wait now. I have an upright freezer. I have seen some people put a light bulb in the bottom to use as a warming cabinet. Thank you for the advice.

 

[maddydog]

Last year I extracted and filtered into buckets. These duly set so they went into the warming cabinet until soft enough to use an electric mixer with dough hooks. I repeatedly stirred with this before jarring. The resultant set honey has remained about the consistency of spreadable margarine. No seeding of any kind.
All batches from May through to August have set in the same way. Each has a slightly different flavour, the last being vaguely caramel but all well received by consumers.

Snap, except I used a plaster mixer in a drill (just don't let the 'head' breach the surface as it introduces air) I seeded each 30lb with 2lb of soft set. Lovely soft consistency. Admittedly it has a mild flavour but then many people prefer that.

 

[maddydog]

Did you build your own warming cabinet? When my OH has put the Bee Shed up....he finished the base yesterday......so I am hoping not too long to wait now. I have an upright freezer. I have seen some people put a light bulb in the bottom to use as a warming cabinet. Thank you for the advice.

Simple to make. Plenty of threads to view. Mine is just a kingspan lined plywood box with two greenhouse 'tube-style' heaters with a shelf made using zinc q excluder (the only good use for it ) that the buckets/boxes sit on.

 

[Tremyfro]

That sounds easy to make. I have got a small greenhouse heater tube already...the freezer should have good insulation. I don't have any wire mesh but I am sure the shelf from the freezer will be fine.
OH informs me that the base needs time to firm up......why 12 slabs need to firm themselves is beyond me! Perhaps he means the cement he used to stick them together. So I am amusing myself putting together frames for the nucs whilst waiting.

 

[Luka22]

And I would recommend to get a Thermostat. We bought the Digital STC-1000 All-Purpose Temperature Controller Thermostat via the Auction side and its fantastic. Easy to install and easy to use (when you have figured out the 2) and it only costs about £13.

The only think we still need to install in our Cabinet is a Fan to spread the warm Air around...

 

[Madge]

... Each has a slightly different flavour, the last being vaguely caramel but all well received by consumers.

Doesn't a caramel flavour mean you've overheated the honey?

 

[oliver90owner]

only costs about £13.

Great devices, but beware that specs do vary. Some may only heat or cool, others will both heat and cool (so useful for fermentations as well). Some only have 5A rated contacts while others are rated at 10A.

They also need a proper housing (properly screwed together, not easily openable, with mains voltages present) and possibly terminal blocks, stuffing glands or grommets, etc, plus one (or two separate) socket outlet(s) along with some connecting wire.

An easy project for an electrically-competent DIYer. As little as twenty quid, but likely more unless one has bits lying around and can use an electrical trade supplier, rather than epay or the usual shark retailers.

There is a trade off between a larger box with two sockets fitted or a smaller box but with trailing sockets.

RAB

 

[Tremyfro]

So a thermostat too....to maintain a temperature to liquify the honey but not bake it...and a fan to circulate the air.....methinks a headache coming on and a handover to OH.
Perhaps my bees will avoid the fields of OSR at the end of the lane...

 

[Ely]

Has anyone tried making a warming cabinet out of an old icecream style freezer? I have quite a few old fridges/freezers knocking about in a barn but the icecream style may lend itself to be better suited due to its top sliding doors and lots of space. Similar to this -

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I'm not sure if it would be too big though