Osr?

[rae]

I think this has a lot to do with the popularity of set honey - it's not so much the taste but the 'ease of handling'. Runny honey really can make a mess!

We always say it is good for children - because it doesn't end up in a sticky mess all over the floor.

 

[Stiffy]

I would just like to point out that down here in the deepest SW we dont see a great deal of OSR, in fact none near me that I know off. All this talk of bumper crops and readying supers is very disheartening
Hope you all do well on it
S

 

[drstitson]

don't you get some heather to make up for it.

 

[DanBee]

don't you get some heather to make up for it.

No, but they get to milk the tourists...

 

[Stiffy]

No, but they get to milk the tourists...

Would rather have some OSR than the county cluttered with Emmets ?
S



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Rosti]

Grockles surely my luvver, you'm bist specking o' c'nry norf orf the Tamar

(if you've just checked geography, yes, an immigrant to the north!)

 

[Beeline]

With the weather turning decidedly colder next week and OSR about to flower next week as well, as it is up the road from me - question is when to add a super? do you risk brood chill by adding the extra space to heat up during this colder period.

Currently on brood and half with 40mm insulation still on.

 

[TOBY-3652]

Good question i was thinking the same on one of mine. 2 supers placed on 2 of mine at the weekend i looked today and 5 frames nearly full

 

[CB008]

With the weather turning decidedly colder next week and OSR about to flower next week as well, as it is up the road from me - question is when to add a super? do you risk brood chill by adding the extra space to heat up during this colder period.

Currently on brood and half with 40mm insulation still on.

I would add the super as indeed I have done on mine. I have left the insulation in the roof. My reason is that last year, in Surrey, I left it too late to react to OSR right next door and did not appreciate how frenzied they become and quite how much they can harvest in such a short space of time.
Mine went from a small colony to swarming in ten days on OSR

 

[weatherman1200]

this year the osr is less than half a mile from home

 

[bee ginnner]

this year the osr is less than half a mile from home

It must be GM OSR, i would run it over then drag it up the road and chuck it back over the hedge into the field it came from. !!!!

 

[Teemore]

A slight hijack of this thread....

For those of you who regularly take a crop off OSR, after extracting:

• 
  Do you 'reserve' the comb for use on OSR the following year?

• 
  Do you re-use this comb with other honey crops?

• 
  Do you find that a residue of OSR honey in a comb hastens the crystalisation of other honey that is later stored in the comb? Does this actually cause any difficulty when extracting?

Richard Ball spoke at the Ulster Bee Keepers conference earlier in the year and explained that he uses cut comb foundation in his colonies that are foraging OSR. He carefully extracts these and then uses them later in the season in colonies foraging on heather. Rather than extracting the heather honey he sells it as cut comb. He thus saves the bees from the added pressure of having to draw comb on the heather. He also commented that this practice obviated any problems with reusing the OSR comb the following year where residues of the OSR honey might act as a seed and speed up the crystalisation of other honey crops.

My current thoughts are that I will be bringing 3 or 4 strong colonies to OSR that is just coming into bloom and that I will super with full brood boxes of foundation. Following extraction, I will have a supply of freshly drawn brood frames to hand. Since they will be used to rear brood in, these will be well cleaned out by the bees and so I think it less likely that any OSR honey would remain to act as a seed to start crystallising (Winter) stores.

Thoughts please

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

A slight hijack of this thread....

For those of you who regularly take a crop off OSR, after extracting:

• 
  Do you 'reserve' the comb for use on OSR the following year?

• 
  Do you re-use this comb with other honey crops?

• 
  Do you find that a residue of OSR honey in a comb hastens the crystalisation of other honey that is later stored in the comb? Does this actually cause any difficulty when extracting?

No
Yes
Hadn't noticed. If you give it back to the bees to clean out afterwards then I imagine any risk of this goes.

 

[enrico]

My answers are
Yes
No
Yes
Oh well!

 

[enrico]

If the bees digest OSR for a second time ( in cleaning up for example) for some reason it doesn't seem to crystallise as much..... Don't know why!

 

[YorkshireBees]

No
Yes
Hadn't noticed. If you give it back to the bees to clean out afterwards then I imagine any risk of this goes.

Same answers for me

 

[Teemore]

Ta for the replies folks. Bringing colonies to the OSR for the first time will be a learning experience! If it goes well I'll bring a few more colonies next year