Do i take honey now?

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Generally you can leave it until the flowers start to fade but in the meantime if you have enough capped frames to extract then do it.
I also check the state of OSR honey using the shake test before it is capped and sometimes extract before capping.

The shake test is good but using a refractometer to check water content is better, especially if you are not confident in your judgement. I like to play "guess the water content" and then use the gadget to check. It reminds me of checking the moisture content of wheat by biting it before we had a meter to test it with.
Cazza
 
A general rule for rape honey that I use is to take it just before capped, turn frame upside down and shake. If no honey drops out of the frame it's ready. Usually around 81% sugar at this stage. It's a bugger to deal with when it sets, you need to warm to quite high temps (45-49oC) to re-liquify it, so much the wax can sag and break out of the combs. The one year it happened to me I simply cut out the frames and put everything into large buckets at 45oC for 48 hours and pressed out using my heather press. Got the honey but lost the drawn out foundation.
If you mix it with other honeys it will cause it all to set quite hard, so I always keep it separate. Allow to set, half liquefy and then cream to give a lovely smooth honey. Others do it differently with a similar end result.
 
I wondered if it was mixed would it still set in the comb? They were brinnging in all sorts before this, i didnt really want to extract a couple of frames at a time which i might need to do i guess?

Yes, it will set, any minute amount of OSR in a comb, can cause other honey to set.
 
Why would using a varroa inspection tray alter the temperature in the honey supers at the top of the hive? Heat rises.
 
I dont even know if they are going to this rape but i would think they could be as they were on a huge area of gorse which was past the rape, how can i know?
A bee on gorse:
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bd5b5e2ac7ad.png


A bee on OSR:
6b6f37167a62.png
6b6f37167a62.png

It`s really difficult to distinguish the pollen colores… The gorse pollen is a bit darker though
 
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A bee on gorse:
bd5b5e2ac7ad.png
bd5b5e2ac7ad.png


A bee on OSR:
6b6f37167a62.png
6b6f37167a62.png

It`s really difficult to distinguish the pollen colores… The gorse pollen is a bit darker though

Thanks BB, i am getting a variety of yellowish colours from pale yellow to hot orange, difficult to tell what theyre on without analysing it but clearly they arent on one crop, there is all shades of yellows & other colours.
 
Thanks BB, i am getting a variety of yellowish colours from pale yellow to hot orange, difficult to tell what theyre on without analysing it but clearly they arent on one crop, there is all shades of yellows & other colours.
Gorse in my area is definitely the crop №1 for my bees so far. Gorse pollen was the only 1 I`ve seen on bees in March and beginning of April. Then some pale yellow pollen came, and it stayed like that so far with proportion of gorse pollen from about 50 to 80% on bees. I even took samples of nectar in order to to see what it tastes like… Well… It tastes like pure sugar syrup…There is definitely no essential oils in it (or they do not smell :) ) But I`m sure it was a nectar. Not a syrup, as all my syrup should smell as thymol ;)
But I`m not disappointed :) As gorse is from the family Fabaceae, I`m sure it`s pollen is very rich in proteins that are so important for brood rearing in the time when it`s so needed – in the spring. It starts to flower in winter here and still in full blossom. Amazing plant. I`ts a shame that there were no over 8C` temperatures this winter here in Co.Sligo, as my bees could definitely top up their pollen stores then, and cure a bit nosema problem by consuming fresh pollen. Nonetheless all my colonies ok now, some have 9 frames of brood, some – 5 only, only 1 got empty super 2 weeks ago but weather was changeable… There is a good chence for setting up an empty super on another colony next week as it also had 9 frames of brood… but some brood was only as a fist in size or less :)
 
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How about putting the frames in a big warming cabinet for a couple of days?

As others have said to re-liquify set rape honey takes far too much temp for the wax to stand it.

Besides I prefer to judge it just right!
 
The shake test is good but using a refractometer to check water content is better, especially if you are not confident in your judgement. I like to play "guess the water content" and then use the gadget to check. It reminds me of checking the moisture content of wheat by biting it before we had a meter to test it with.
Cazza

Yes I use a refractometer when I get it to the extraction room but out in the field I use the shake test!

Also starting to gauge it right most of the time and there are a few tricks to reduce water content before extraction if the frames aren't cappped!
 
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