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  • General Q&A, Bee chat and only Bee chat please
General Q&A, Bee chat and only Bee chat please
 #11148  by Dolly
 12 Jun 2021, 08:09
Hi
My bees have been feeding off the OSR ,and I have managed to get some of this off however some has crystallised and I wonder if I can just feed this back to them as I dont want to waste it .Anyone else had problems with this :?:
 #11149  by AdamD
 12 Jun 2021, 09:01
It's a problem with OSR; it sets very quickly. If the honey is in the frames it can be given back - what works for me is to put a super of it under the brood box with an excluder and entrance in between so the bees take it up. From bottom to top I would have:-
Floor, closed off.
Super with part-extracted frames.
Queen excluder
25mm eke with entrance
Brood box, brood, queen.
Queen excluder
Supers
Crownboard & roof.

If after a couple of weeks there is some rock-hard honey remaining in the frames, a spray with water from a plant mister helps the bees remove the remaining honey.

OSR honey can set spoon-bendingly hard in the jar too. Once warmed enough it will then remain runny for a while.
 #11151  by NigelP
 12 Jun 2021, 09:12
Why not make soft set honey from it.? It's a a quality product that sells well.
Dead easy to do, you need a honey creamer like this one from Thornes.
Image
Let your honey set in a bucket then semi melt it at 45C then use the "potatoe masher" to work the honey. You need to keep working it for a day or so at regular intervals until its a pale white colour, jar it and sell it.
 #11177  by AdamD
 14 Jun 2021, 11:17
Good idea!