Bee Inspector Visit

[rayz_x]

I'm sorry but I'm struggling to understand your logic here.

Hi Thymallus, fair point. I was trying to be a bit tactful due to a local situation. What I was trying to get at was that those who completely avoid registering their apiaries and therefore don't get inspections can be the reservoir for disease outbreaks without knowing (or possibly without caring).

Ray

 

[Tremyfro]

I have had 2 inspections so far. This is my second year. I found the inspections very helpful..lots of information about bees in general and about mine in particular. I'm afraid that I just assumed that the bees were inspected yearly....however, it appeared that someone had said I had new Carniolans and it was thought that I had imported them. I hadn't but it did lead to a conversation about imported bees which was very interesting. I don't feel that this was an infringement of my privacy...more a protection for us all.
Within the agricultural community...animals have always been tracked. This is not to catch you out...it is about tracing a source of disease so that it can quickly be dealt with. I can't understand why anyone would object to that. What I do find amazing is that it is free....

 

[Thymallus]

Hi Thymallus, fair point. I was trying to be a bit tactful due to a local situation. What I was trying to get at was that those who completely avoid registering their apiaries and therefore don't get inspections can be the reservoir for disease outbreaks without knowing (or possibly without caring).

Ray

No problem, understood.

 

[Cussword]

I'm just starting out with my own out apairies & wanted to know what was the right thing to do, not start a war.

 

[alanf]

...I'm just starting out with my own out apairies & wanted to know what was the right thing to do...

Register. It's part of being a good neighbour. Inspectors don't routinely visit unless you report something suspicious or somebody nearby has a disease outbreak. In which case you should want to proceed with caution.

As a general idea, previous reports by inspectors have taken around 20 or 25% as the estimate of unregistered hives and apiaries. They do have experience of trying to contact all local owners when investigating outbreaks so this is probably the best guess we have based on them asking about all known colonies in the area.

With various rounds of publicity and talks, I suspect the percentage unregistered is probably lower in some urban/suburban areas where there are a lot of beginners. The database started as an internal NBU exercise and was only opened to self registration some years later. Naturally the numbers registered surged until those unregistered are probably now those who won't, rather than those who have never heard of it. On the other hand I'm not aware of any mechanism of purging the records of those who have started beekeeping and given up. The BBKA estimates of membership turnover show that could be 20% or more a year. What it actually means is that the Beebase records of "apiaries within 10km" shouldn't be taken as accurate. There will be unregistered apiaries not included at whatever percentage. Against that you have to account for the "phantom" hives added every season which actually disappear after a year or two but nobody removes from the database, an inaccuracy that grows every year.

 

[Obee1]

I decided to make life easier for the bee inspector and let her keep my bees in her apiary. I'm nice like that
Actually she took them in as a personal favour not as a bee inspector.

I did however get my first inspection as soon as I registered on beebase.

 

[BeeJayBee]

It is surprising how many Local Assc. members automatically assume they are registered due to joining the association. Shame details of membership cannot be passed to the NBU.

Some associations have a tick box on the membership card which lets the membership sec pass on details to the inspectorate.

Some Queen suppliers do.. It's in their T&Cs.

I think that's because most suppliers are in the DASH scheme, and it makes sure their bees are traceable if there is an outbreak of disease in their own apiaries.

What I was trying to get at was that those who completely avoid registering their apiaries and therefore don't get inspections can be the reservoir for disease outbreaks without knowing (or possibly without caring).

The reservoir for disease might not be an apiary, it's just as likely to be a group of infected feral colonies. Drones from these colonies will travel some distance and can take disease with them and if, and when, diseased feral colonies die off their nest sites are robbed out ... and so the circle continues and you get a disease hotspot that's difficult to clear.