Bee imports post IWD

[mbc]

yep, I have said the same on a FaceBook post, I've little experience in this field but the only possibility I could come up with was Queen Banking over winter, not sure how this would work with winter clustering etc?

Best place I could think of to bank queens overwinter is in nucs and of course they get going laying in these both autumn and spring so they've spent a fair dollop of their oomph by the time you're ready to use them.

 

[sipa]

And ALL farming subsidies will be phased out by 2027 and replaced by " link farmers’ payments to environmental standards."
QUOTE]

British farmers will always be subsidised by government. They might change the name, mechanism or calculation but it will always happen.

 

[Ian123]

try that am sure there wa an older piece as well but just google it up

https://www.researchgate.net/public...e_climate_and_its_effect_on_queen_performance

 

[Stiffy]

Best place I could think of to bank queens overwinter is in nucs and of course they get going laying in these both autumn and spring so they've spent a fair dollop of their oomph by the time you're ready to use them.

And there lies the problem, Beefarmers need queens early and as young as possible. I think some hobbyists fail to understand, Beefarming is not a game or hobby it is how a living is made ........or not
S

 

[For want of a better word]

And there lies the problem, Beefarmers need queens early and as young as possible. I think some hobbyists fail to understand, Beefarming is not a game or hobby it is how a living is made ........or not
S

Aye, very true... you just have to cut the cloth according to its weave!

Yeghes da

 

[mbc]

And there lies the problem, Beefarmers need queens early and as young as possible. I think some hobbyists fail to understand, Beefarming is not a game or hobby it is how a living is made ........or not
S

Beefarmers dont necessarily need them, its just those with a management system geared for that that do, plenty manage breeding their own stock.

 

[Finman]

Beefarmers dont necessarily need them, .

It depends what kind business mixture they do.

 

[Stiffy]

Beefarmers dont necessarily need them, its just those with a management system geared for that that do, plenty manage breeding their own stock.

I would imagine that the management system is driven by economics and practicality.
If a beefarmer is spending time breeding queens they are not doing something else and they would only need a few ‘normal’ summers to end up with a lot of poorly mated queens.
I know which system I would favour
S

 

[For want of a better word]

I would imagine that the management system is driven by economics and practicality.
If a beefarmer is spending time breeding queens they are not doing something else and they would only need a few ‘normal’ summers to end up with a lot of poorly mated queens.
I know which system I would favour
S

No surprise then that many Beefarmers are investing their time and hard earned cash learning the skills and drills of Instrumental Insemination.... and producing excellent stock.
AND passing those skills and enthusiasm onto the next generation through the Beefarmers Apprenticeship Scheme.

Yeghes da

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Beefarmers dont necessarily need them, its just those with a management system geared for that that do, plenty manage breeding their own stock.

Saw that demonstrated in the visit to Keith Dickenon's setup on Tuesday - makes increase by making splits from his swarm preparation colonies and doesn't buy in queens.

 

[Into the lions den]

No surprise then that many Beefarmers are investing their time and hard earned cash learning the skills and drills of Instrumental Insemination.... and producing excellent stock.
AND passing those skills and enthusiasm onto the next generation through the Beefarmers Apprenticeship Scheme.

Yeghes da

Not many. not even ONE of my immediate circle of associates do it. Its fashionable, especially in the amateur circles right now but economic it definitely aint. It also seriously concerns me as regards the potential for a very rapid onset of inbreeding. Small scale beeks doing II from within an already small gene pool is a big problem in the making.

Will be having the skills trained for in house....BUT...this will strictly be for breeder lines only which will be for open mating for production colonies. Have seen the low vigour mess that inbreeding can give rise to.

Despite being in the chair at the time the apprenticeship scheme was launched I chose not to participate at all...have since run across some of those apprentices..and glad I did not. The opinion of some of the bigger bee farmers is that its turning out people with the wrong ideas.

 

[TooBee...]

...
Despite being in the chair at the time the apprenticeship scheme was launched I chose not to participate at all...have since run across some of those apprentices..and glad I did not. The opinion of some of the bigger bee farmers is that its turning out people with the wrong ideas.

From reading this I understand that it's not the skills or experience of the "apprentices" that you are less than impressed with, but the "ideas" that they are expressing?

May I ask what these "ideas" are?

Surely these ideas would (or should) be based on the sound practices of the commercial beekeepers that they apprenticed underneath? Commercial Beeks would not teach their apprentices about the importance of using small cells and other such fluff, commercials would by virtue of their existence and continued survival be forced to have their beekeeping practices firmly rooted in practical aspects as opposed to lofty ideals, like 'we need to ban imports and use natives (whatever they may be)', etc. OR maybe I have completely misunderstood the apprentice scheme entirely???

PS: I will take no offense and understand if you choose to not reply to this Post on a public forum, sometimes it's better to just leave as is...

 

[Stiffy]

Not come across any of the apprentices but I believe it’s a work in progress and not surprised there are a few ‘problems ‘ with the initial groups. The company I work for has (mostly) stopped hiring newly qualified PhD students and returned to hiring people on attitude and aptitude qualities
S

 

[Hivemaker.]

Not come across any of the apprentices but I believe it’s a work in progress and not surprised there are a few ‘problems ‘ with the initial groups.

I have, and there were only seven in the initial group, not aware of any problems with at least three of them, know there stuff with regards any aspects of bees and bee farming and extremely hard working.

 

[SDM]

Saw that demonstrated in the visit to Keith Dickenon's setup on Tuesday - makes increase by making splits from his swarm preparation colonies and doesn't buy in queens.

This perpetuating his swarmy tendancies and reducing harvests doesnt sound like smart commercial practice to me

 

[SDM]

No surprise then that many Beefarmers are investing their time and hard earned cash learning the skills and drills of Instrumental Insemination.... and producing excellent stock.
AND passing those skills and enthusiasm onto the next generation through the Beefarmers Apprenticeship Scheme.

Yeghes da

I can think of ONE that claims to use exclusively ii queens. Who are the many ?

 

[MuswellMetro]

I have, and there were only seven in the initial group, not aware of any problems with at least three of them, know there stuff with regards any aspects of bees and bee farming and extremely hard working.

from what i have heard, most of the follow on year intake have ended up going to new zeeland

 

[Hivemaker.]

from what i have heard, most of the follow on year intake have ended up going to new zeeland

They all get (or did) the opportunity to go to NZ to work on a bee farm for a couple of months, all as part of their apprenticeship, if they wish to go.

 

[For want of a better word]

I can think of ONE that claims to use exclusively ii queens. Who are the many ?

Reading the Case Study articles in BeeFarmer over the last couple of years many more than just one.. not all exclusively using II as the only method of producing good stocks, but using II to produce good breeding lines all the same.

The four Beefarmer apprentices that I have met work hard and really do know their stuff... wish such a thing was available when I was younger ( a lot younger) as I would have leapt at the chance ... instead of wasting 7 years training for a job in medicine that was not there!!!

Chons da

 

[Stiffy]

I have, and there were only seven in the initial group, not aware of any problems with at least three of them, know there stuff with regards any aspects of bees and bee farming and extremely hard working.

Probably had a good mentor and parentage
S