Bees Starving

[beebreeder]

Its just Friday, my wife was sat in a waiting room yesterday (thursday) and picked up the Sun newspaper, evidently there was an article in there stating tht bees are starving because there are too many hobby beekeepers in London and there is not enough pollen and nectar to go round, she said this comment was made by someone from the London Beekeepers Association, has anyone else read this article, or did we have another April 1st!!!!!

 

[HollyBee]

I know on the Urban Beekeeping site they were issuing a starvation warning but this was due to the bad weather a few weeks ago.

There are quite a few colonies that I know of which didn't make it through the winter but the bee inspector for the south east is happy for more hobby hives to be placed in London and I would have thought he would have had an idea of how they are doing.

Our bees are fine and we are technically in London (Greater London) we even stole honey in October from them - wild comb which had to go. They survived that and we didn't feed them as much as we would have liked.

 

[REDWOOD]

Didn't know people still read the Sun newspaper because of fabricated reasons like this. Stopped reading newspapers and watching TV news for years for this reason, Totally fabricated sensationalized bias rubbish. The older you get the wider your eyes open

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Didn't know people still read the Sun newspaper because of fabricated reasons like this. Stopped reading newspapers and watching TV news for years for this reason, Totally fabricated sensationalized bias rubbish. The older you get the wider your eyes open

can't even use the sun to line the budgie's cage - the bird refuses even to sh!t on it

 

[Luminos]

can't even use the sun to line the budgie's cage - the bird refuses even to sh!t on it

 

[Tom Bick]

Its just Friday, my wife was sat in a waiting room yesterday (thursday) and picked up the Sun newspaper, evidently there was an article in there stating tht bees are starving because there are too many hobby beekeepers in London and there is not enough pollen and nectar to go round, she said this comment was made by someone from the London Beekeepers Association, has anyone else read this article, or did we have another April 1st!!!!!

It may well have been an April Fools joke and I never read the article but if correct the article should have referred to Central London and London Beekeepers are about as central as you can get. Greater London is a very different animal and perhaps has some of the best and varied forage available.

I know a beekeeper in central London who has seen his yield go down year on year and he has some of the best sites available.

I may not be correct on this but I get the impression that the Italian bee is very popular in central London and perhaps a good bee given the close proximity of people and bees but along with large colonies and their appetite they will perhaps need more feeding

The bees this winter and along with central London’s micro climate would have been very active and this would have perhaps put even more pressure on feeding and I bet a good few colonies starved in Central London

You never know it might have been The Sun That Done It

 

[Polyanwood]

...... the Sun newspaper, evidently there was an article in there stating that bees are starving because there are too many hobby beekeepers in London and there is not enough pollen and nectar to go round, she said this comment was made by someone from the London Beekeepers Association, has anyone else read this article, or did we have another April 1st!!!!!

It is true. This is what the London Beekeepers say. We think that there are many too many bees in London. We are very concerned that honey yields are falling year on year. ( Average 31 lbs per hive in greater London, and we believe much lower in Central London.....and falling). There are especially too many bees in Central London. Some beekeepers are feeding their bees ALL YEAR AROUND! We are particularly unhappy about people putting bees on roof tops in the City... simply misguided, bad for bees and bad for Londoners. High absconsion and die out rates and low yields. Insufficient forage...... and now the most tricky bit....so many honey bees is not great for some other pollinating insects which really are in danger.

We say this because we love bees and whilst we will continue to train and mentor new beekeepers as we love beekeeping and think all beekeepers should be properly trained and supported we think we don't need anymore beekeepers in London. Do you understand how many bees there are? There are 449 apiaries (apiaries, not colonies) within 10km of my apiary in Dulwich according to Beebase.

We are becoming champions for forage as well as bees and best practice in beekeeping

 

[YorkshireBees]

There are 449 apiaries (apiaries, not colonies) within 10km of my apiary in Dulwich according to Beebase.

OMG

That certainly puts things into perspective, my 3 apiaries have 112, 116, 124 apiaries within 10KM radius respectively.

 

[waverider]

Polyanwood:Why don't you then reduce your 10 colonies to 5 to contribute to your cause?

 

[thorn]

Polyanwood:Why don't you then reduce your 10 colonies to 5 to contribute to your cause?

Unnecessary and offensive.

 

[Polyanwood]

I have thought about having fewer colonies, but one of the issues is that there are loads of beginner beekeepers and not enough experienced beekeepers to teach them. In order to learn the hands on skills, I let students open my hives and I don't want the same hive opened again and again.

 

[beebreeder]

A comercial beekeeper friend of mine in this area has found in some sites and these are rural sites that he has halfed the colony number on site and at seasons end still had the same honey yield and being commercial half the colonies equals half the time spent on inspections.
I have not been near London in over 20 years but like I say my wife read the article in a waiting room, we do not even have a newspaper

 

[sandysman]

Just doing a course at the moment and had a talk from the National Bee Inspector, the guy in charge of the Regional Inspectors. It's true! We were shown a map displaying the apiaries registered with Beebase. London was awash with apiaries and that's only the registered ones.

 

[Baggyone]

I would reduce my number of colonies if I only got 31lb of honey off each producing hive on average.

Why cause yourself more work than necessary.

Baggy

 

[Hivemaker.]

Too many beehives in London? surely not. We had a long thread about this a few months back... and i said i thought there were far too many,but was told by several on this forum that i was talking crap,that London is a bottomless pit of forage for bees and there could never be too many beehives.

 

[Tom Bick]

If the Central London Beekeepers think the average Greater London yield is 31 lbs then that’s fine with me less chance they will move their hives out of Central London.

The spring crop is a big part of London and this year has failed and I wonder if this is what has triggered this article and another similar mentioned on another thread but there will be a pay off for all the rain and good times will be ahead over the next few months.

I don’t count honey yields as a mark of success and the whole extraction is a bit of a bind but expect a reasonable amount again this year despite the bad start.

 

[oliver90owner]

Let's face it there hasn't been a lot of forage anywhere this year - until this last week. Certainly not a crop, so far!

Average crops could be declining for several reasons, not just over-stocking the area. It could be the reason, but I would keep an open mind on it for a while. The commercial beeks are likely correct re their crops, so there is a resonable probility of it being correct to a certain degree.

 

[BeeJayBee]

Let's face it there hasn't been a lot of forage anywhere this year - until this last week. Certainly not a crop, so far!

True, and in all fairness RBIs emailed to tell us to feed our bees or risk starvation. It isn't just London where there's been a poor Spring so far.

 

[richardbees]

The spring crop is a big part of London

Tom - sure, but there are plenty more nectar sources now following on.......my bees are going like demons as suburbanites will insist in planting all-season flowering shrubs in their gardens! Soon the blackberry brambles will be in flower on railway embankments...etc etc

......not forgetting the Chestnut and Lime trees....then the ivy blossom.

London provides a never ending nectar source.

Richard

 

[Hivemaker.]

London provides a never ending nectar source.

Thats just what i was led to believe....keep piling as many colonys into London as possible,there can never be too many for such an abundant never ending source of nectar.