OSR questions

[russ_01]

Hi,

I'm going to attempt my first year on OSR (winter) this year however there are a couple of questions that I can't seem to find an answer on and looking for a bit of advice:

1) When the bees store OSR honey in the brood box does it crystallise like it would in the super or does the heat of the hive stop this from happening? I'm not planning on extracting honey in the brood as we get very little forage in June

2) Once the OSR honey has been extracted do you need to "wash" the frames & wax to ensure that future honey from these frames don't crystallise or would you just put the super back on the hive for the bees to clean?

3) I'm up in the NE of Scotland where March can still be cold therefore it might not be possible to feed 1:1 syrup to kick start breeding due to bees still being in a cluster, how many seams of bees would you recommend as being strong enough to move over to the OSR fields?

4) For feeding 1:1 do you suggest a contact or a rapid feeder?

5) If the hive is in the middle of a field, how quickly will the bees fill up a new super? The super need comb to be built on the foundation

R

 

[Poly Hive]

1. Yes

2. No

3. Bees will take syrup in March esp from a frame feeder. If they don't they are weak.

4. You need at least 7 frames of brood before they will successfully work OSR or anything for that matter.

5. A good colony can fill and cap a super in three days.

Given the way OSR now behaves the chances of a crop are not good. Over and done in three weeks while 25 years ago it was near 7 to 8 weeks.

If you can find Auchronie Farm then you have a very good chance of a flow from "X" as I took a ton a year from it, never found the source may be trees but well worth moving to.

PH

 

[maddydog]

Anecdotal evidence suggests that the more recent varieties of osr don't yield nectar to the same extent. Would be nice to have that confirmed?

 

[Poly Hive]

Personally, I think it's the case that the nectar is less profuse as I don't get that cabbage scent so often while driving, and the flowering period is definitely halved and earlier.

PH

 

[Millet]

Personally, I think it's the case that the nectar is less profuse as I don't get that cabbage scent so often while driving, and the flowering period is definitely halved and earlier.

PH

Got to agree with you PH , when we where kids we used to make camps in the rape fields for weeks that seemed to last forever, it used to grow that tall the farmer could not see us playing in among it, we would all go home when we got sick covered in yellow pollen and stinking of what i would describe as a cross between cabbage and urine, these days it seems to flower and die of in the blink of a eye it lacks the stink it used to have and it barely gets much higher than knee height.

 

[Poly Hive]

I watched it last year and it is flowering a good 2 to 3 weeks earlier than it used to. I used to move hives for the 2nd to 3d week in April, and now it seems to be at 50% flower by 3d week in March.

Now at that point my bees are on 3 to 4 frames of brood so frankly they stand no chance of a crop on it so now I am actively looking to avoid it!

How things change eh.

PH

 

[Millet]

Its not a bad thing for me i have access to good forage for the bees in the form of a large amount of wild cherry trees and i want to avoid that rape if i can but i'm sure the bees will make my mind up for me on that subject..

 

[Poly Hive]

Had gean honey once by total accident but it's a lovely mild flavour.

PH

 

[russ_01]

So how do you handle the OSR honey in the brood?

 

[Ashley_apiaries]

You don't! Just let the bees deal with it...they know what they're doing.

 

[Poly Hive]

If it granulates then bruise the cappings over it and the bees will clean it out.

PH

 

[Finman]

So how do you handle the OSR honey in the brood?

Lift that brood box over the excluder. Brood emerge and bees fill the rest cells with honey. Then extract frames. Do not force bees to move honey from comb to comb. It only consume energy and yield.

Be flexible and do not force bees to do extra or vain work.

.

 

[Beefriendly]

Had gean honey once by total accident but it's a lovely mild flavour.

PH

Do you mean Bean honey? As in field beans?

 

[Millet]

Do you mean Bean honey? As in field beans?

I was thinking that but unsure as beans flower a lot later than OSR so they surely would be no rape honey in the frames by the time the beans are flowering.

 

[Beefriendly]

Maybe it's something they only grow in Scotland, perhaps related to the haggii family of plants?

 

[Hivemaker.]

Do you mean Bean honey? As in field beans?

No, he means Gean or wild cherry tree, they are known as Gean here as well.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prunus_avium

 

[Beefriendly]

No, he means Gean or wild cherry tree, they are known as Gean here as well.

Never heard of wild cherry trees called gean before. Well I never. You are a Mazzard of a chap!

 

[Millet]

No, he means Gean or wild cherry tree, they are known as Gean here as well.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prunus_avium

The Encyclopedia strikes again..

 

[Millet]

If it granulates then bruise the cappings over it and the bees will clean it out.

PH

I have read somewhere on here i think that when the bees go through the process of relocating Rape honey that it does not crystallize as quick. is that truth or myth ? .

 

[Finman]

I have read somewhere on here i think that when the bees go through the process of relocating Rape honey that it does not crystallize as quick. is that truth or myth ? .

That makes no sense. Of course it is possible that some idiot has written such.

Moving the honey does not change glucose chemically. Bees move nectar many times before it is capped.
.