spring sown OSR

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MuswellMetro

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A local farmer that has just given the Honey rent by my friend for letting him use his OSR fields has just told the beekeeper that he has sown also this year spring grown OSR....Near me

ok, i don't like OSR and my hives are normall too far away from OSR for any OSR crystalised Honey problems


i have one super nearly capped and one being evaporated of garden/hedgerow blossom honey but i now have 300 acres of spring grown OSR within a mile...just spotting yellow not in full bloom

i am not used to spring grown OSR( last year it was a broadbean field)

how can i protect my second super blossom honey from turning into solid OSR
 
Take the hives away! The bees will find the OSR whatever you do - short of feeding them so much sugar syrup they won't bother to go anywhere other than the nearest supply of pollen - unless that is the OSR as well.

On the basis moving the hives is not practical - and can you be sure the new location doesn't have OSR within a few miles, then I suggest as soon as you see them coming in with OSR pollen or the flowers start to bloom in numbers then you will have to take off all supers and give them fresh ones. This will keep the honeys apart.
 
On the basis moving the hives is not practical - and can you be sure the new location doesn't have OSR within a few miles, then I suggest as soon as you see them coming in with OSR pollen or the flowers start to bloom in numbers then you will have to take off all supers and give them fresh ones. This will keep the honeys apart.

thanks , i'll start making up SN1 frames now ,as i cannot move the hives. i thougth new supers would be the only answer....i have run out of Agent Orange LOL
 
Not so fast to panic in my opinion! You have a multitude of current forage, strong clover, strong brambles. My spring honey came from hives all of 2m from 30 hectares of OSR. The OSR came in late there was plenty else around and they chose to go for variety (even over a true doorstep crop). My Spring honey has been bottled perhaps 5 weeks now and has not crystalised at all. Nice balanced, slightly perfumed flavour as well. There is good variety out there and OSR a mile away is not right on your door step with July forage options being varied.

I would not be taking the supers off until I was certain of the sugar content. Perhaps do a refrac or several frames from them at your next inspection. If they are virtually full or being concentrated then they wont get OSR added anyway (but see above observation on forage)
 
I have had the winter OSR, and as I type I see from my window on the hill about 500m away the spring OSR.

There is nothing wrong with OSR, you just need to (like with bees) be one step ahead or you have a block of concret in little wax blocks.

But I see you point about it spoiling some "nice" honey.
 
Two points.

MM: Have you got a B52 for delivery of agent orange?

Rosti: Two frames (from same hive) taken two days previous to a super (after clearing) both failed to extract completely. Super was OK but those two frames had about a third left in them. Back on the bees for reprocessing now!

Regards, RAB
 
RAB, just shows how things can vary! I was expecting classic OSR honey on my spring extraction, esp given my location, even took it on refrac (>81) rather than waiting for it to be capped. No one more suprised at what I got than me! Not complaining mind you. But it was a strange spring, late OSR, early bean so overlap I guess. You are also right I also had a couple of minor spots where extraction was poor, did as you scraped back and gave it back!
 
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I am just moving my hives to spring rape. It is splended honey plant when honey is mixed with other flowers.
 
i am not used to spring grown OSR( last year it was a broadbean field)
how can i protect my second super blossom honey from turning into solid OSR

Why not put the OSR nectar to good use and let them use it to draw out some new frames.
 

Please explain jimbeekeeper ?

MM said he doesn't want OSR honey but unless he moves the colonies they will collect it, so why you do you think my suggestion is stupid?
 
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Those concrete talkings are nonsense. If you cultivate srawberries or raspberries, needless to say in Autumn that the whole yield was moldy.
You need to act in time.

To me spring OSR yield is about 40-60 kg per hive. Alone the taste is like sugar but in honey mixture it is good. It is same with other mass flowering yields like fireweed and clover.

If you put into huves in high nectar flow combs which have crystalls from last summer, those are quick to crystallize.
 
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Please explain jimbeekeeper ?

MM said he doesn't want OSR honey but unless he moves the colonies they will collect it, so why you do you think my suggestion is stupid?

I think he means that he agrees with you. The "with" being more important than "stupid".
 

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