oil seed rape honey extraction

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Tavascarow

Joined: 06 Aug 2006
Posts: 8407
Location: South Cornwall

Posted: Mon Jul 07, 08 12:11 pm Post subject:
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

Posted: Mon Jul 07, 08 12:17 pm Post subject:

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

Posted: Mon Jul 07, 08 12:18 pm Post subject:

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

Posted: Mon Jul 07, 08 12:30 pm Post subject:

RichardW wrote:

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

Posted: Mon Jul 07, 08 1:42 pm Post subject:

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

Posted: Mon Jul 07, 08 5:04 pm Post subject:

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

Posted: Mon Jul 07, 08 5:06 pm Post subject:

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: 45669
Location: Essex

Posted: Mon Jul 07, 08 5:08 pm Post subject:

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

Posted: Tue Jul 08, 08 9:32 am Post subject:
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

Posted: Tue Jul 08, 08 9:33 am Post subject:
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

Posted: Tue Jul 08, 08 9:36 am Post subject:

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

Posted: Tue Jul 08, 08 11:47 am Post subject:

James wrote:

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

Posted: Wed Jul 09, 08 9:40 am Post subject:

TAVASCAROW wrote:

James wrote:

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

Posted: Wed Jul 09, 08 11:44 am Post subject:

James wrote:

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

Posted: Wed Jul 09, 08 12:00 pm Post subject:
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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