Jellybush, Manuka or Crystallised Honey in the Flow™ Hive

For those of you who are worrying about OSR…stop worrying. It is liquid honey until it starts to crystallise. So it will run out of the Flow frames without a problem. It is only if you leave it in the comb too long that it will crystallise. If you bees are on OSR only…then be vigilant…test the honey with a refractometer…as soon as you get good readings then you are good to go. It may not even be capped. Any cells which have started to crystallise will be cleaned up by the bees. Also…if your bees collect honey from other sources and mix it with the OSR…that delays the onset of crystallisation.
I wouldn’t leave the Flow frames on until the ivy starts…or you will have to drain it out…not everyone likes the taste of it…so best to remove the Flow frames before so the bees use it for winter stores.

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You guys will be some of the first people to really experiment with the Flow frames and Rape flowers. So i think your experiments and experiences will be very valuable. I’m excited hear about your experiments!

As far as putting the flow frames in an extractor I think they will be generally to thick to fit in most extractors. If any one has an extractor that fits the flow frames they will need to be supported throughout the middle as if they are flexed through the middle they could fall apart, requiring you to reassemble all the pieces.

Craig/MT, tony here from Wyoming. i am buying traditional boxes from a guy that is in Etna, south of Jackson Hole. You might check out his site. He makes the boxes from poplar instead of pine. Less warpage and a better white wood all around. Here is his link; http://rockinbees.com

I’m thinking since I am more commercial I will be sticking to more traditional methods as the flow would be too cost prohibitive for me, but I am getting enough to try in couple of boxes at any rate.

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Yeah it’s all over the area. Most people that jump from Langar stay in the B&B next to our house…small world!

Thanks for your comments Horsehillhoney! I feel a little bit more reassured that it might work now before we get to the crystallisation period…will need to keep a close eye on it.

@Jamie_Lamb - Can you send me details of B&B if we want to stop up there.

Your not related to lambs in Shirley?? Lambs Lunches?

I discovered some Jellybush honey in my frames while spinning out my honey the other day.


I’m thinking that it could be quite challenging to get it to flow out of Flow frames.

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Thanks Jeff, interesting. Out f curiosity what was the temperature while you were extracting in the vid?

Hi Greg, it was around 30 degC. I just finished another upload of straining the honey. I sat a small amount that was in a bucket in a warming tank I use to decrystallize honey during winter for 2 hours at 125degF / Just over 50degC. You can see by my video how difficult it is to get it to flow. cheers.

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Thanks for that, Jeff.
Interesting video.
Our heather honey looks like that.
It’s quite high in water content too, over 20%.
Usually it’s pressed out of the comb or used for comb honey. I’ve never tasted Jellybush honey. Does it taste like Manuka?

I’ll let you know when my bushes all grow and I propagate from them LOL

I’ve got two well established ones that have masses of single flowers every year and I’ve never seen bees on them. Maybe it’s too cold for them to produce nectar?

Hi & thank YOU Dee, I have no idea, I’ve never tasted Manuka honey:) All I know is it has a strong flavor, which kind of grows on you. Maybe because you know how good it is, you just like the smell.

Beekeepers used to curse the stuff because it wouldn’t spin out of the frames. Now they look for it. Not me, I’m just happy to continue what I’m doing. If it’s in my frames after I extract the regular honey, I’ll do what I did this time & try & get better at it & try & sell it on Gumtree.

There’s a fair bit still in the hives I suspect, a lot of frames weren’t quite ready to take last time that’ll be ready next time.

Apparently I can take a sample to our local university to have it tested (for free) for it’s potency level. That will be interesting to see the result.

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Hi Dee, I just want to let you know that I remembered you talking about thixotropic a few months ago. Well according to Wikipedia, there are 2 honeys that have that characteristic. Heather honey & Manuka honey. This honey certainly has that characteristic. The jar I tipped over at the end of my video had been played with recently, therefore had I held the jar on it’s side much longer, the honey certainly would have flowed out. However, this morning I was able to hold the jar upside down & it appeared that the honey was not going to budge.

After about 3 or 4 stirs with a spoon, the honey was amazingly free to flow out. Thixotropic to the max, I thought. I don’t think we have any Heather honey down here so I’m confident my honey must be Manuka or Australia’s version of Manuka.

I guess if anyone does have a couple of Manuka plants growing in their yard, they’d have to be spinning the honey out & if any honey sets in the frames like jelly & refuses to come out, that would be the honey to taste, to see what it tastes like.

Hi Jeff Our jelly Bush Manuka is very closely related to the kiwi version. In fact the same Manuka bush also grows in southern Australia. They are all in the same family as the tea tree, thus the amazing antibacterial properties of the honey. Ours is very similar in taste to the NZ version.

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All pure natural honey has the same amazing properties😃

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Jamie, did you have any issues this year with OSR? I have just set up my flow hive so missed OSR season.

Hi Andrew,

We didn’t actually have any OSR in our area this year, quite lucky. I’ve had the flow hive on since the end of May and have already taken a full crop - it works brilliantly you’ll be impressed.

I think OSR comes around our area every 3 years or so, so hopefully I won’t have to deal with it for a few years yet as we had it last year.

You’ve been very quiet about that.
You should share so that fellow UK flow keepers can get encouraged.

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I have shared…just not on this site :wink:

Here’s a video if you’re interested (and before anyone decides to tell me again…yes I did put the tubes in the wrong way around! Haha - I should really start reading the instruction booklet first :wink:

And here’s a link to my website also.

http://www.the-lambs-honey.co.uk/

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Great to see the flowhive working here in the UK Jamie and Thanks for posting.
I’m keeping bees for the 1st time so all this is new & very exciting.
I received my hive this year & got a swarm on 26th May. The swarm has laid up on 5 frames & brood is hatching so the swarm is now growing. I’ve not put the flowframes on yet & I think the hive isn’t strong enough. Am I right?
Did you have a hive that you just transferred to the Flowhive or has it started from scratch?
We have a lot of OSR around us in Salinbury, Wiltshire but I feel as long as I catch it early enough, it should fine.

Our local beekeepers have asked me to give a talk about the Flowhive at our AGM (no pressure on a newbie) !!!
Cheers
Gervase