Beeks not in Associations

[North End Bees]

Bob, why not speed up the job and set up a WhatsApp group instead? You'd all chat in real time, post photos and send info links. We have them for apiaries, Committee, Trainers, and at the honey co. we use them to send in apiary reports.

Good idea.

Or if you've not yet met local beekeepers in person (maybe joining after Covid stopped meetings?) could you start a thread on here asking if local beeks would be interested?
There are lots of forum members here from the W. Sussex area. Maybe they already have a chat group you could join?

 

[Swarm]

Few associations demand beekeepers do anything in a certain way unless you are on their apiaries. What we really need is the government to make it a legal requirement to register on BeeBase so the NBU has a complete picture of where everyone is. Often when their are EFB outbreaks it is the unregistered, un inspected apiaries that allow a disease to persist in areas.

Sadly, it's the way EFB outbreaks are dealt with that allows the disease to persist in an area ......year after year after year. I could name a couple of apiaries, registered ones, where EFB has been lurking for over ten years. Imagine getting the email warning every year or every other year and you know the source, it's the same as last time. I would be questioning the SBI about their approach towards dealing with it as a shook swarm on to 'clean' kit is obviously achieving nothing

 

[B+.]

Sadly, it's the way EFB outbreaks are dealt with that allows the disease to persist in an area ......year after year after year. I could name a couple of apiaries, registered ones, where EFB has been lurking for over ten years. Imagine getting the email warning every year or every other year and you know the source, it's the same as last time. I would be questioning the SBI about their approach towards dealing with it as a shook swarm on to 'clean' kit is obviously achieving nothing

Isn't this how ITLD overcame EFB? I wouldn't call that "achieving nothing".

 

[Murox]

Do you have a seasonal bee inspector? Do you receive communications from NBU on feeding (when necessary), disease, and other matters related to bee husbandry?

Question 1 = actually I have no idea, maybe who knows ?
Question 2 = refer to most of post number 43.
Granted it potentially offers information.

 

[Pembroke]

I think there is a place in the UK for a national register of beekeepers ... I am on Beebase and a member of an association and I don't object to my details being retained - but, the difficulty of any national register is enforcement and cost. Unless there is a benefit to the Government it's not going to happen and if you want to make it compulsory then you have to have some means of enforcement - which has a cost - and no Government is going to institute a regime of national registration if it requires a nett drain on finances !

So ... it ain't gonna happen.

<snip>

With the majority of beekeepers buying at least some of their equipment it would be quite simple for any supplier to be required to record your registration number against any purchases. All it would then take is a court order from the NBU to see their database. Or as the NBU already has the statutory right of entry to an apiary they might not even need a court order.

 

[Swarm]

Isn't this how ITLD overcame EFB? I wouldn't call that "achieving nothing".

No idea but I wouldn't call it a success when the same apiaries keep going down. That's been going on for nigh on twenty years with the one location, if it were mine I'd have burnt the lot, torched and disinfected the ground and started again at a new site with new kit.

 

[B+.]

Question 1 = actually I have no idea, maybe who knows ?
Question 2 = refer to most of post number 43.
Granted it potentially offers information.

Yes. OK - point made.
What about the SBIs work in destroying Vespa Velutina nests?

 

[mbc]

Ask not what your beebase can do for you, but what you can do for your beebase

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Question 1 = actually I have no idea, maybe who knows ?
Question 2 = refer to most of post number 43.
Granted it potentially offers information.

But being in Scotland, it's a bit different the NBU inspectoreate only covers Wales and England

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

With the majority of beekeepers buying at least some of their equipment it would be quite simple for any supplier to be required to record your registration number against any purchases. All it would then take is a court order from the NBU to see their database. Or as the NBU already has the statutory right of entry to an apiary they might not even need a court order.

Of course they would, it's not entering an apiary is it? it's gaining access to a third party's record of a customer's private details. It would take rafts of legislation and half a lifetime probably to enable all that.
And what if someone's auntie wanted to buy them a smoker as a Christmas present>

 

[Murox]

Yes. OK - point made.
What about the SBIs work in destroying Vespa Velutina nests?

The Non-native Species Secretariat has responsibility for helping to coordinate the approach to invasive non-native species in Great Britain. So SBI's assisting in the detection and eradication of the Asian Hornet is to the good.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I would be questioning the SBI about their approach towards dealing with it as a shook swarm on to 'clean' kit is obviously achieving nothing

Shook swarm seems to be the answer for everything with the NBU at the moment, unfortunately the BBKA ethos has got right into the soul of the organisation the last few years.
There is a leaning away from S/S (for foulbrood) with the inspectorate and a feeling that a straight destruction is much more effective.
The trouble with shook swarming an EFB colony is that, it's pointless doing it in isolation at an apiary.
What you get when you S/S a hive is a cloud of totally confused and distressed bees milling around, their fresh 'home' is at first lacking the scent and pheromones to attract stray bees back so you have beees trying to beg their way in to whatever colony they come across - EFB usually flares up in stressed busy colonies at the height of season, so no colony is going to turn away a young, fit nurse bee which would take the stgrain off an overworked nursery, so next thing, they have just taken in a 'Typhoid Mary' into their midst.
I think for shook swarming to have any effect, it has to be done to every hive in the apiary.


So.......... that's my only justification for conducting a shook swarm chucked out the window - happy days

 

[B+.]

The Non-native Species Secretariat has responsibility for helping to coordinate the approach to invasive non-native species in Great Britain. So SBI's assisting in the detection and eradication of the Asian Hornet is to the good.

Indeed. The NNSS have the responsibility but it's the SBIs who are actually doing the work. I don't know how you view this, but, I view it as a benefit. They didn't have this co-ordinated approach in France and Vespa Velutina rolled over the entire country.

 

[Ian123]

I joined the local BKA in order to meet other beekeepers in the area. Of course, Covid put the mockers on that idea, so I setup a mailing list for members to ask questions, share knowledge, etc. (a sort of cut-down version of this forum). Unfortunately, I've failed to persuade the committee of the benefits of my mailing list, so I'm currently the only one in my personal echo chamber!
All the knowledge in the division flows from the centre outwards (eg. very good speakers at the monthly Zoom meetings), but I am looking for somewhere to just chat with fellow beeks in my area.

Point them this way there’s plenty here who cover the spectrum of different beekeeping styles and some good 1s in each camp.

 

[Murox]

Indeed. The NNSS have the responsibility but it's the SBIs who are actually doing the work. I don't know how you view this, but, I view it as a benefit. They didn't have this co-ordinated approach in France and Vespa Velutina rolled over the entire country.

Good point, it's a benefit

 

[Amari]

Good point, it's a benefit

Yes, it's taken a lot of 'Patience' to convince you...

 

[HughMann]

Bob, why not speed up the job and set up a WhatsApp group instead? You'd all chat in real time, post photos and send info links. We have them for apiaries, Committee, Trainers, and at the honey co. we use them to send in apiary reports.

WhatsApp is NOT safe, so don't bank on anyone who knows about security joining in - Is WhatsApp Safe? 5 Security Threats Users Need to Know About

 

[BigAshW]

And what if someone's auntie wanted to buy them a smoker as a Christmas present>

I'd tell her to get me the ETNA and send it to mum's address to put the feds off my trail.....

 

[BugsInABox]

WhatsApp is NOT safe, so don't bank on anyone who knows about security joining in - Is WhatsApp Safe? 5 Security Threats Users Need to Know About

I think anyone that I knows about security would laugh at this webpages warnings.

1) Hardly WhatsApp’s fault if someone sends you a phishing site link. Shall I refuse Royal Mail on simple grounds of what might be sent to me.
2) You can turn back ups off if you’re worried that what you store in it might lead to embarrassment/arrest/compromised-national-security etc. Or if you just want to.
3) Facebook data sharing - not in the uk or Europe yet but yea current t&c allow it. As your messages are end to end encrypted sharing is limited to metadata, no one can see your message contents. Why is that dangerous?
4) Fake News & Hoaxes - surely the irony isn’t lost. This page is fake news and a hoax. Anyway see point 1.
5) Turn status listing off pretty easy and if you don’t what’s shared is minimal and only with your own contacts.

Rather than it’s not safe maybe WhatsApp presents some mild privacy concerns would be a fairer thing to say.

 

[Swarm]

Shook swarm seems to be the answer for everything with the NBU at the moment, unfortunately the BBKA ethos has got right into the soul of the organisation the last few years.
There is a leaning away from S/S (for foulbrood) with the inspectorate and a feeling that a straight destruction is much more effective.
The trouble with shook swarming an EFB colony is that, it's pointless doing it in isolation at an apiary.
What you get when you S/S a hive is a cloud of totally confused and distressed bees milling around, their fresh 'home' is at first lacking the scent and pheromones to attract stray bees back so you have beees trying to beg their way in to whatever colony they come across - EFB usually flares up in stressed busy colonies at the height of season, so no colony is going to turn away a young, fit nurse bee which would take the stgrain off an overworked nursery, so next thing, they have just taken in a 'Typhoid Mary' into their midst.
I think for shook swarming to have any effect, it has to be done to every hive in the apiary.


So.......... that's my only justification for conducting a shook swarm chucked out the window - happy days

Frank mentioned precisely that at one of our talks and showed graphs that proved destruction was a far better approach, it was working. That was a couple of years ago now, I have to keep remembering nothing happened last year so it was quite a while ago. Two notifications since that talk and no doubt there will be another this year or the next. Luckily, my mate has topography on his side but still gets the obligatory visit most years.
I'm as big a fan as you of S/S and thinking about it, they abandoned it as a method of tackling CBPV for the very reasons you've highlighted. I can't understand why the same shouldn't be the case for EFB.