The bees tell you..

[Somerford]

I’ll hold my hands up - I don’t always get around to expanding nucs into full hives - and 4 here were literally bursting from their 12 frame nucs - 9 weeks ago they were new queens, now they are rammed...
they are all now in nationals with a couple of drawn supers above for space...
And the crop below is what they’re foraging on - Soyabean

 

[enrico]

I’ll hold my hands up - I don’t always get around to expanding nucs into full hives - and 4 here were literally bursting from their 12 frame nucs - 9 weeks ago they were new queens, now they are rammed...
they are all now in nationals with a couple of drawn supers above for space...
And the crop below is what they’re foraging on - Soyabean

That seems like a good late crop!

 

[beeno]

I’ll hold my hands up - I don’t always get around to expanding nucs into full hives - and 4 here were literally bursting from their 12 frame nucs - 9 weeks ago they were new queens, now they are rammed...
they are all now in nationals with a couple of drawn supers above for space...
And the crop below is what they’re foraging on - Soyabean

It would appear that you have been feeding them thoug? Seems you were very lucky that they did not swarm!

 

[Finman]

I
And the crop below is what they’re foraging on - Soyabean

Far from soya beans...

It is Sinapis alba, white mustard.

Take honey and nectar frames off from nucs and put them into big hives. Big hives are able to rippen the honey. Add empty combs to nucs.

 

[bobthecob]

What are the black things on the front of the nucs?

 

[pargyle]

What are the black things on the front of the nucs?

Anti robbing screens ? Just leaving a smaller hole for them to get in an out - or pehaps giving them a narrow entrance at the bottom of the nuc with a bit of a landing board ? I'd be interested to hear as well...

 

[Somerford]

Gosh so many questions !

so I feed the nucs for the first few weeks - empty Jerry can in photo

the plant isn’t mustard - the seed pods are too large

the black screens are Wasp deflectors - I use them on all my nucs and they work v well. Best even if you just place the nuc on the grass and the bees burrow a way under and it doesn’t seem to affect them yet the wasps can’t find a way in. Cheap correx from a friend, fixed in place with frame nails

 

[pargyle]

Gosh so many questions !

so I feed the nucs for the first few weeks - empty Jerry can in photo

the plant isn’t mustard - the seed pods are too large

the black screens are Wasp deflectors - I use them on all my nucs and they work v well. Best even if you just place the nuc on the grass and the bees burrow a way under and it doesn’t seem to affect them yet the wasps can’t find a way in. Cheap correx from a friend, fixed in place with frame nails

How far down the front of the nuc do your wasp deflectors go ? Do you just leave a small gap at the bottom where they can get in an presumably climb to the 'normal' entrance - I like the idea - sort of a periscope entrance ?

 

[Finman]

the plant isn’t mustard - the seed pods are too large

Do you mean plant in the photo?
Have you looked soyabean plant with flowers and bods?

 

[Woodland bees]

Do you mean plant in the photo?
Have you looked soyabean plant with flowers and bods?

It's not soya bean and I thought white mustard has yellow flowers.

The flowers do look like some form of brassica and I'd suggest a fodder radish of some sort as they can produce very large pods.

 

[Somerford]

How far down the front of the nuc do your wasp deflectors go ? Do you just leave a small gap at the bottom where they can get in an presumably climb to the 'normal' entrance - I like the idea - sort of a periscope entrance ?

They go to the bottom - with about a bee space below when on the grass. These ones were rather populous so ended up not needing really

 

[Finman]

It's not soya bean and I thought white mustard has yellow flowers.

The flowers do look fodder radish

White mustard name comes perhaps from the color of seeds.

Radish actually has white flowers. That is right.
.

 

[Beekeeper Brownie]

As @Woodland bees has said it's radish, Raphanus sativus. The farmers will be using these as a cover crop between their main cash crops, in a similar way to what white mustard is often used. Both are fast growing brassicas which effectively mop up nutrients to help prevent leaching of these into watercourses. As these are not harvested the biomass from the crop is cultivated back in acting as a 'green manure'. Some, definitely not all of the water companies in the UK are paying farmers to plant these types of crops near watercourses as removing nitrates and phosphates are expensive.

Radish can have purple flowers as well depending on the variety.

The two photos below show some cover crops being used in a trial I ran a few years ago. In the first pic is a mix of radish, both white and purple flowring species and on the right is Phacelia. The second photo is white mustard in flower and where it's been knocked down is the where the tractor and seed drill have gone through it.


As radish is a brassica I would expect the honey to have similar properties to oilseed ****, however I have not experienced large quantities of it first hand. Someone else maybe be comment about it's specific properties.