OSR - more trouble than its worth?

[onriver]

I've asked in another thread about taking advantage of the offer of putting a hive or two in some extensive oil seed rape nearby. It sounded like a good idea but I've been thinking and, as I don't have an extractor yet (borrowed one last autumn) will run into problems with any OSR honey produced. Even if I have supers without wired foundation (starter strips alternated with unwired foundation?) I might end up with granulated honey I can't use.
question for the more experienced!
whats the point of a super full of OSR honey - a liability that can't be used as cut comb honey, as it has set, and can't be used by the bees as it has granulated?
I still like the idea of helping colony increase with an unending nectar flow but what do I do after I bring them home?

 

[johnandyrob]

Why not take one or two hive and see how it goes and then compare with the two left on original site

 

[onriver]

was planning to but am now wondering what on earth I do with any OSR honey produced!?

 

[johnandyrob]

have a look at the video section admin has a video how to make soft set honey

 

[Moggs]

No problem with OSR honey if you remove it promptly. Do you think the bees are that choosy? Let em at it.

 

[johnandyrob]

or have a look at the web page beeginners it has a section on honey including osr

 

[Rosti]

There is some latitude in all this, despite the horror stories it does not (well mine does not) set like bricks faster than super glue. I take the early (predominantly rape) harvest at end of May - well I did last year (rape was late flowering in Yorkshire last year and it ended with a 2 week overlap with field beans). There was absolutely no problem with granulation at that stage and there was probably a 3/4 week setting period in the jar afterwards. My bees are all of 4m from rape and have 60+ hectares around them, so mine was a high rape content early honey.
Whether you take a rape honey crop or not it is still a valuable forage to support build up and have colonies in prime condition for the main season.
You borrowed an extractor last year why can't you plan a borrow end of May come what - and then another borrow mid / late August?

 

[Finman]

question for the more experienced!
whats the point of a super full of OSR honey -?

- The main idea of keeping bees is to get honey and sell it.
- OSR is a good honey plant.
- Does it help if you get a extractor nex year and not now.

- perhaps you get 5 box more honey this summer

 

[PaleoPerson]

OSR is great if you need the bees to draw a lot of foundation and personally, is one of my favourite honeys as I do not like strong tasting ones.

Try it for one season and make you own mind for the future. Just make sure you take it off as soon as it is ready. I also found that removing the supers and extracting on the same (very hot day) and returning the supers back helped a lot.

 

[Teemore]

You could always consider going the cut comb route and then you would not need the use of an extractor.

 

[Poly Hive]

Granulated cut comb is absolutely fine with the general public.

I think the down the nose attitude comes from Honey Judging and not from practical selling.

My guests devour granulated cut comb on their toast and buy it for themselves from that experience.

PH

 

[moby]

No problem with OSR honey if you remove it promptly. Do you think the bees are that choosy? Let em at it.

Moggs - when you say remove it promptly do you mean as soon as the OSR honey is capped?

 

[hedgerow pete]

osr is a double edged sword, to me in the city i am glad to be away from it as i found it a lot of hard work, but saying that when i lived in the country side it was the biggest crop of the season honey wise and only a fool would egnor it,

yes you do have to be a little quick extracting it but apart from that is a great crop not only for the bee keeper but the bees as well

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

Moggs - when you say remove it promptly do you mean as soon as the OSR honey is capped?

Often before the whole frame is capped, shake the frame to see if it runs out of uncapped cells, or use a refractometer if you are worried about water content.

I believe (a) rule of thumb is to take it off pretty soon after the crop finishes.

Certainly my most significant crop last year, will be sorry to miss most of its benefits this year due to hive expansion.

 

[Moggs]

Moby, it would appear the good Monsieur arrived before me with words of wisdom.

 

[moby]

Thanks for that bit of wisdom will be shaking frames during May

 

[peterbees]

If you are within a reasonable distance of ling heather you can make a delicious blend of soft set honey using two buckets of rape to one of heather. This is my most popular honey.

 

[jimbeekeeper]

For some of us we have no choice over OSR as it is all around us.

I think it is great, for both the bees (building up) and for me ( like the honey)

Slight hint of yellow in the fields now, but still 2 weeks off for full.

 

[onriver]

thanks for all that advice - I think I'm going to hedge my bets in case I can't get hold of an extractor when I need one and I'll use a combination of wired, unwired and starter strips - the wired if I can use an extractor or if not I'll have to scrape the comb back to the foundation and squeeze, the unwired for cut comb and / or squeezing!
I really need to get an extractor - maybe with 4 hives I can justify it this year

 

[PaleoPerson]

One colony I had 140lb of OSR from it last year and all from new foundation. This one was exceptional in both honey gathering and aggression.