BBKA Bee Breeding certificate.

[alldigging]

An Aside really - I don't quite get why they're introducing two certificates as an 'intermediary' to the GH when neither count towards it.

Splitting the GH up if it's deemed too arduous would seem the better thing to do.

 

[For want of a better word]

IMHO, the idea of committing to a plan for the whole breeding season sometime prior to the 1st of May is lunacy!


Quite honestly, I am too busy to mess about playing games like this. I offered to do it to help the BBKA develop a worthwhile Bee Breeding Certificate, not to be messed about.

***
Sad to say "they" looked down their noses at my somewhat successful efforts in rearing Native Honeybees queens..... I think one of the BBKA lead assessors is a Soil Association member as AI seemed to be definitely off the agenda!

No worries the "Basic" was farcical enough to put me off proving what a brilliant keeper of bee I is!



Yeghes da

 

[B+.]

Bide your time and provide them with feedback highlighting the points you take issue with although I am guessing that you intend to do so as you always have an organised approach to things. If no-one highlights the deficiencies, there will be no improvement.

Part of me would be inclined to ask for clarification of the assessment criteria used as that is what you were working to in preparation for the assessment and that remains the criteria available for potential candidates to refer to.

From your comments, it looks as if the certificate harks back to the aspirations of the village bee breeders association as opposed to those of the Bee Improvement and Bee Breeders Association. I continue to hope that the BBKA is forward looking and progressive.....

I was asked to provide my feedback on the assessment prior to the exam committee meeting which took place recently.
Ironically, they knew that I worked with Apis mellifera carnica exclusively because it was all in the information pack I had to provide at the beginning of the process. The organisers were keen to have established breeders in the pilot to set the expectation for future candidates. All I can say is: don't bother! I had hoped that the organisers would listen to input from those of us on the pilot, but, it seems to have been a whitewash.

 

[For want of a better word]

I continue to hope that the BBKA is forward looking and progressive....

Hope indeed!

Yeghes da

 

[B+.]

the "Basic" was farcical enough to put me off proving what a brilliant keeper of bee I is!

They had problems finding any record of my having taken the "Basic". It seems that their records didn't go back far enough and some of the older records were never entered into their computer system. They eventually tracked them down though.

 

[B+.]

That's a bit of a pisser that they failed you because you use imported breeder queens.

What records do you keep, and method of queen marking "that is considered to be the best method currently available"?

More than that; they knew I only used carnica before the assessment. They had a copy of my pedigrees as part of the information I had to submit at the start of the process.

Each queen emerges in a Nicot cage in the incubator and is marked with a numbered plastic disk prior to being introduced to a nuc. The record keeping is handled by a German program called "Zucht Buch" (http://www.pexa.de/Zuchtbuch.htm). I have a few extra bits that aren't included in the program too.
Basically, it's just a matter of sitting down and thinking the process through.

 

[B+.]

Bide your time and provide them with feedback highlighting the points you take issue with although I am guessing that you intend to do so as you always have an organised approach to things. If no-one highlights the deficiencies, there will be no improvement.

The only point I take issue with is that the result had nothing to do with my performance in the assessment. In that sense, it was unfair and dishonest.
It seems to me that the "result" was more of a reflection of the prejudices of some members of the exam committee. A "political" process which occurs behind closed doors is not credible as a basis for assessment. It has to be based on the performance of the candidate and not be a reflection of the views of those who weren't even at the assessment.

 

[Finman]

.
I usually change the larvae in queen cells of swarming hive. Do I get the certificate?

In same hive I had Miller system frame, and it gove a good results. A certificate?

 

[B+.]

.
I usually change the larvae in queen cells of swarming hive. Do I get the certificate?

No Finman. You use imported breeder queens. That means you're instantly disqualified.

 

[pargyle]

I had hoped that the organisers would listen to input from those of us on the pilot, but, it seems to have been a whitewash.

A bit of a farce by all accounts ... I think everyone who has been on this forum for a time know the efforts and care you take with your bee breeding ...

But ... the underlying message is that the BBKA, once again, has demonstrated that it is an organisation that, much of the time, is no longer fit for purpose.

They stumble from one disaster to another ... the trouble is, all the good people are too busy keeping bees ! And the few that are prepared to get involved are massacred by the old guard who seem incapable of bringing anything in beekeeping terms into this century ... indeed, in some cases, into the last century ...

 

[Finman]

. You use imported breeder queens.

Every one use.

.

 

[For want of a better word]

A bit of a farce by all accounts ... I think everyone who has been on this forum for a time know the efforts and care you take with your bee breeding ...

But ... the underlying message is that the BBKA, once again, has demonstrated that it is an organisation that, much of the time, is no longer fit for purpose.

They stumble from one disaster to another ... the trouble is, all the good people are too busy keeping bees ! And the few that are prepared to get involved are massacred by the old guard who seem incapable of bringing anything in beekeeping terms into this century ... indeed, in some cases, into the last century ...

Too close to the mark.... keep your doors locked at night for to be sure a circle of men in white pointy beekeepers hats will gather outside and burn a wicker top bar hive!

Nos da

 

[REDWOOD]

Why do you need a certificate to breed bees, you don't need one for producing humans, all that stuff comes naturally


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

[B+.]

Why do you need a certificate to breed bees, you don't need one for producing humans, all that stuff comes naturally

This is true. However, I think it's disreputable behaviour to change the requirements after an assessment has taken place so that the candidate no longer qualifies, especially when they already have that information to hand and the candidate has demonstrated that he/she meets the criteria in the brief.
If they are capable of this, what other shenanigans are going on?

 

[kevrhcfag]

Shocked and stunned the BBKA have an agenda that they are pursuing irrelevant of its merits.

If local mongrels as carp just breed carp, it doesn't matter as long as you have "records" showing 3 generations of carp.

 

[For want of a better word]

Shocked and stunned the BBKA have an agenda that they are pursuing irrelevant of its merits.

If local mongrels as carp just breed carp, it doesn't matter as long as you have "records" showing 3 generations of carp.

Quite so.
Tis an anathema it seems to Bee Improvement and bee breeding not to encompass such in a bee breeding certificate,
Just an add on to general husbandry... for all that is worth!

Myttin da

 

[B+.]

Quite so.
Tis an anathema it seems to Bee Improvement and bee breeding not to encompass such in a bee breeding certificate,
Just an add on to general husbandry... for all that is worth!

Myttin da

It seems to me that, this local mongrel fascination they seem to have would also exclude anyone breeding A.m.m., Buckfast, etc too.
Let's suppose I bought in A.m.m. from Colonsay. I then inseminated daughter queens with semen produced by other A.m.m. (from Colonsay or elsewhere)....and did that for several generations. Would I not be disqualified on the same grounds? They aren't bees from my area so I should be.
In any case, I think it is completely unacceptable to make changes to a brief and apply them retrospectively.
I was the first of 4 candidates chosen to participate in the pilot. I wonder how they got on. If they're as happy with the process as I am, the BBKA would be well advised not to offer it next year.

 

[Finman]

.
How you are going to use your certificate?
.
To print it onto your car door?

 

[B+.]

.
How you are going to use your certificate?
.

The way I feel right now, I might use it as toilet paper.

 

[Finman]

.
I feel that you have a Society, which uses its resourcers that way. They have too few to do.

We have Queen rearing courses. I am sure that professional new breeders do not need that kind of certificate and neither need 2 hive owners.

Queen breeding is very tiny part of beekeeping.



Next certificates would be hyper insulating hives or mix sugar syrup.
.