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oil seed rape honey extraction
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Tavascarow



Joined: 06 Aug 2006
Posts: 8407
Location: South Cornwall
PostPosted: Mon Jul 07, 08 12:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Just had a thought!!
You could dissolve it & make a big batch of mead?

RichardW



Joined: 24 Aug 2006
Posts: 8443
Location: Llyn Peninsular North Wales
PostPosted: Mon Jul 07, 08 12:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I know you cant compare cheap honey to good honey but as that is what we buy having better honey will only save me the cost of the cheaper stuff. I bet we dont use more than 3-6 jars a year. So at 3 per hive, one or two hives start to make sence. They would be in a woodland but bordering onto open fields (grass for silage & grazing) too. How far to bees travel? how big an exclusion area would they need?

Richard

RichardW



Joined: 24 Aug 2006
Posts: 8443
Location: Llyn Peninsular North Wales
PostPosted: Mon Jul 07, 08 12:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

TAVASCAROW wrote:
Just had a thought!!
You could dissolve it & make a big batch of mead?


How much would 1 jar make?
Is it easy to make?

joanne



Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 7100
Location: Morecambe, Lancashire
PostPosted: Mon Jul 07, 08 12:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

RichardW wrote:
I know you cant compare cheap honey to good honey but as that is what we buy having better honey will only save me the cost of the cheaper stuff. I bet we dont use more than 3-6 jars a year. So at 3 per hive, one or two hives start to make sence. They would be in a woodland but bordering onto open fields (grass for silage & grazing) too. How far to bees travel? how big an exclusion area would they need?

Richard


Exclusion area ? My bee's live in my garden and I have a path on one side of a willow tree with the hives on the other - they don't take up very much room - Maybe a couple of feet behind them for working on them plus 3 or 4 infront of them - Not much space really - as long as they can face south or south west - that is the best direction for them - it doesn't matter if there is a fence in front of them either - It just makes them fly up to "cruising level" sooner

Bee's will fly upto 3 miles in any direction looking for forage, a mix of woodland, open fields and hedgerows is ideal for them

James



Joined: 11 Jan 2006
Posts: 2866
Location: York
PostPosted: Mon Jul 07, 08 1:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

When I was a kid, we used to keep bees in OSR farmland in Shropshire. It was the lions share of our yield. We'd spin it after an overnight in the kitchen (with a rayburn on low). When it'd cooled from the warm room temperature to the cool (storage room) temperature, the honey would crystalise to rock hard, pure white, almost too hard to get out of the pot (it'd come out in chunks). Almost sickly sweet, with a very strong distinctice smell. Not my favourite

We also had lime flower (we had a lot of lime trees close by). Not much of this, so I cant remember much about it (in comparison to the ubiquitous OSR honey), but I remember it was really good stuff. Am I right in thinking its very pale & runny?

I was allergic to bee stings (not good with 3 hives in the garded and two wild broods in the house), so we stopped keeping bees.

Do you grow out of allergies? I'd like to keep bees again, but I'm concerned I'd swell up like a big red balloon (which what used to happen).

Pel



Joined: 29 Mar 2008
Posts: 2366
Location: Sennybridge
PostPosted: Mon Jul 07, 08 5:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Dad kept 4 hives on a SSSI field at work, he gave them 6 jars free, and then sold honey to them to sell in the shop.. he sold them at £2.50 per Lb and the shop sold them at £3.75 as Llanerchaeron honey, as in theory the bees could have pollenated their flowers.

This was two years ago, this year he had to take the hives from there as they were re-fencing the field.. the bees shared the field with rams or bulls. He used to take bees down to kent from lancashire to the OSR fields and orchards.. i'll see how he extracted his honey.

Tavascarow



Joined: 06 Aug 2006
Posts: 8407
Location: South Cornwall
PostPosted: Mon Jul 07, 08 5:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

RichardW wrote:
TAVASCAROW wrote:
Just had a thought!!
You could dissolve it & make a big batch of mead?


How much would 1 jar make?
Is it easy to make?

I was replying to Mrs Fiddlesticks question about OSR honey.
Haven't made mead myself but I imagine 2 to 3 jars per gallon.
The commercial beekeepers love OSR because the crop is huge & dependable unlike heather & clover which are very weather/temp dependant & the bees fill supers in a few days as apposed to weeks but I agree with James, sets & tastes like a block of sugar.
Commercially they allow it to part crystalise after extraction then it is homogonised to make cream honey which doesn't crystalise after but it still tastes the same.

tahir



Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45389
Location: Essex
PostPosted: Mon Jul 07, 08 5:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

James wrote:
Almost sickly sweet, with a very strong distinctice smell. Not my favourite


Tastes of very little though

StuP



Joined: 19 Jan 2006
Posts: 123
Location: Aberdeenshire
PostPosted: Tue Jul 08, 08 9:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I believe you need to extract OSR honey immediately. If it's left to crystallise then it's a case of mashing up the combs and gently warming to separate out the honey from the wax. You can cream OSR honey with a very heavy duty mixer to break down the crystals but it's hard work.

Unfortunately our bees didn't make it through the winter. We'll see about aquiring more next year.

StuP



Joined: 19 Jan 2006
Posts: 123
Location: Aberdeenshire
PostPosted: Tue Jul 08, 08 9:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Oh, and as for mead, we made a five gallon drum up a couple of years ago - took about 40 jars of honey. That was one incentive to get bees in the first place.

joanne



Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 7100
Location: Morecambe, Lancashire
PostPosted: Tue Jul 08, 08 9:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

James wrote:
I was allergic to bee stings (not good with 3 hives in the garded and two wild broods in the house), so we stopped keeping bees.

Do you grow out of allergies? I'd like to keep bees again, but I'm concerned I'd swell up like a big red balloon (which what used to happen).


I don't know whether you can grow out of an allergy like bee stings but you can be de-sensitised I believe - I'd ask your GP for a referral to the local allergy clinic to be tested in a safe environment and go from there

Tavascarow



Joined: 06 Aug 2006
Posts: 8407
Location: South Cornwall
PostPosted: Tue Jul 08, 08 11:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

James wrote:


I was allergic to bee stings (not good with 3 hives in the garded and two wild broods in the house), so we stopped keeping bees.

Do you grow out of allergies? I'd like to keep bees again, but I'm concerned I'd swell up like a big red balloon (which what used to happen).

Swelling isn't a sign of allergy.
If I get stung around the face I swell badly but I'm not allergic to bee stings.
Usually the first sting or two at the beginning of the season I get swelling but after that no more than a little irritation.
Anaphylactic shock on the other hand is life threatening.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaphylaxis

James



Joined: 11 Jan 2006
Posts: 2866
Location: York
PostPosted: Wed Jul 09, 08 9:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

TAVASCAROW wrote:
James wrote:


I was allergic to bee stings (not good with 3 hives in the garded and two wild broods in the house), so we stopped keeping bees.

Do you grow out of allergies? I'd like to keep bees again, but I'm concerned I'd swell up like a big red balloon (which what used to happen).

Swelling isn't a sign of allergy.


true, perhaps "allergic" is the wrong word. An extreme reaction is probably more appropriate.

No matter where I was stung, all the glands in my body, from the back of my neck to my bollocks and everything inbetween, would swell up badly. The glands at the back of my throat would swell to the point were breathing was restricted (though I never felt in any danger of not being able to breath.).

Tavascarow



Joined: 06 Aug 2006
Posts: 8407
Location: South Cornwall
PostPosted: Wed Jul 09, 08 11:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

James wrote:


true, perhaps "allergic" is the wrong word. An extreme reaction is probably more appropriate.

No matter where I was stung, all the glands in my body, from the back of my neck to my bollocks and everything inbetween, would swell up badly. The glands at the back of my throat would swell to the point were breathing was restricted (though I never felt in any danger of not being able to breath.).

I'm not medical but anything other than local reaction I would consider an allergy.
Best stay away IMO or if your determined get an epipen before you have a test stinging.

Mrs Fiddlesticks



Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 10460

PostPosted: Wed Jul 09, 08 12:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

back to OSR extraction if I may. Apparently we need a pratley tray? does that mean anything to you Tavascarow? Can't find much by googling the phrase so far

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