What is your Honey yield on Rape

[MuswellMetro]

just wondering what people are getting as a yield per hive on OSR, i have average 35lbs per hive and for me in outer london the OSR flow is over

 

[deanrpwaacs]

63lb so far from 3 hives another week and a half at a push left . Going great guns today .

 

[snelgrove]

rape in full flower here, been plagued by cold easterly winds for the last couple of weeks, but looking good with bees storing in second super. Estimate 40 pounds on best colonies.

 

[Tim.S]

About another week to go here then I will let you know! It is looking good though, estimate at least 50 pounds per hive due to one very good week of weather.

 

[Fatbee]

Not taken any off yet but most have a very heavy super and another week to 10 days to go so not too bad. I fear quite a bit has gone in to the brood box because they were a bit slower getting going.

 

[dpearce4]

none this year the farmer didn't plant any.

 

[Into the lions den]

Practically zero thus far. Bees strong enough. Hives NOT on OSR actually doing better, dandelion flow was the strongest I have known.
Very little nectar from the OSR even on perfectly good days. Early sycamores are giving a bit too, more than the OSR in those places where there is enough of it.

We have odd hives putting honey in the first super, but not much more than that so far, but we go onto the Smith hives as of Friday again and they may be different.

East wind off the north sea is never a good nectar wind, it just sucks the plants and soil bone dry in a short time. You could lose your hive tool down the cracks in the ground in some fields we have bees in, yet a month ago you could not even get around there it was so wet. The east wind desiccates the place.

 

[mbc]

Practically zero thus far

Thanks for posting this, I thought it was just me, or maybe the rape I'm on is not a nectar yielding variety.
As you say, the bees are built up beautifully, the fields are just about reaching full flower, yet little to no honey being packed in the supers. I fear rampant swarming if a strong flow does start.

 

[Chris B]

Not sure about yield yet, but the few apiaries I have next to OSR have way more in the supers than those elsewhere. So it seems to be nectar yielding varieties around here. Having said that they were working hawthorn yesterday.

 

[McNulty]

Is it experience that tells people which trees are giving a nectar flow? I ask because I have dozens and dozens are huge horse chestnut in flower around me and I would love to know if it is yielding any nectar. I am only seeing a very small amount of its red pollen coming in but im not sure that is much of a clue.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I just look at how many bees are coming home with nectar and stand under trees to see if they are humming

 

[Finman]

I just look at how many bees are coming home with nectar and stand under trees to see if they are humming

Forecast for Ceredigion for next days 13-14C. Not much humming.

 

[snelgrove]

Forecast for Ceredigion for next days 13-14C. Not much humming.

13 to 14 degrees with sunshine, bees will fly and gather nectar from rape. it's all we have had here in weeks, two supers on some.

 

[Into the lions den]

Is it experience that tells people which trees are giving a nectar flow? I ask because I have dozens and dozens are huge horse chestnut in flower around me and I would love to know if it is yielding any nectar. I am only seeing a very small amount of its red pollen coming in but im not sure that is much of a clue.

Horse chestnut is not a nectar plant of any consequence whatsoever. Reasonable pollen source though. Chestnut honey comes only from the Sweet or Spanish chestnut.

 

[Into the lions den]

13 to 14 degrees with sunshine, bees will fly and gather nectar from rape. it's all we have had here in weeks, two supers on some.

Some truth in that if there is adequate moisture. But it does not do really well till about 16 or 17........and if it gets above 23...unless the ground is very wet.....it shuts down again.

In most of our range it is the dry and cold east wind to blame added to lack of soil moisture. Have never known a significant nectar flow from any source when the wind is a cold easterly in spring.

 

[dannygolf1959]

osr taste

as a newby,,,I've heard that osr honey doesn't taste so nice?,,is this true or false

 

[Tim.S]

Ours always tastes very nice down here - but it is never pure rape, always a blend with a lot of hawthorn, amongst other things, in it. Tends to be a lot less grainy as a result too.

 

[Finman]

13 to 14 degrees with sunshine, bees will fly and gather nectar from rape. it's all we have had here in weeks, two supers on some.

I have kept hives on autumn rape fieldd, that temp is not enough for foraging any flower that you can say that bees get yield.

In Australian research it was said that bees achieve full foraging on rape at 18C.
But sunshine is stronger in Australia than in Finland.


Typical good yield from summer canola is 60-80 kg. Then it blooms 3 weeks.
There are some dry or unfertilized fields, and field blooms only 2-3 days.

If day temps rise over 25C, rape gives nothing, and same happens, if soil is dry.
I have 40 years experience about harvesting summer rape. I have learned lot, what is worth to do and what not. The field must be selected very carefully.
.
Our rape blooms in July.
.
.

.

 

[snelgrove]

I only base my opinion on the supers I am extracting and the weather which we have had. Cold easterly winds temps about 12. as said if soil is moist it will yield at , low temps, and it's moist here underneath.

 

[Finman]

I only base my opinion on the supers I am extracting and the weather which we have had. Cold easterly winds temps about 12. as said if soil is moist it will yield at , low temps, and it's moist here underneath.

It depends, on what size of yield you are satisfied.

But 12 C temp is nothing temp. Last summer we had such weathers 2 months, June and July.
.even fireweed was 3 weeks late. Never seen such weathers.

Such is life, sometimes