Bio security

[thurrock bees]

admin, could you add a ignore button please?

 

[victor meldrew]

admin, could you add a ignore button please?

Go to user cp , click on the offending subscriber in edit ignore list! simples.!

John Wilkinson

 

[Apis]

"THE LAW OF DARWIN SUGGESTS THAT THERE ARE SOME WHERE IN THE BEE KINGDOM A VARROA MITE RESISTANT BEE"

Not necessarily, Amm could just as easily be a stepping stone to varroa world domination.

It just makes me glad I don't have a sister!

 

[Tom Bick]

This may be obvious but the only way we can have a varroa free hive without the need for chemicals and drastic action is to develop a very house proud bee that wont tolerate anything in the hive except themselves and the occasional beekeeper. This may happen with the Darwin theory or selective breeding (I think research is going in this direction)

 

[thurrock bees]

Go to user cp , click on the offending subscriber in edit ignore list! simples.!

John Wilkinson

thank you john

 

[hedgerow pete]

so any way lets stop all this darwin and hedgerow stuff and get back to issue in hand bio security,

What you realy need to do is have a look at your set up work out how or whom will or could transfer a issue to you and put in place some way of preventing it,

clean overalls, or disposable ones, new or cleaned gloves etc

now this can go slightly off here as i shall now mention a double edged issue,

apairy visitors.

if you have one what should we do , I belive that any beek worth his salt would never feel offeneded if asked to wear another suit of equipment other than his own and i dont belive i have ever meet anyone that did not agree with what i was trying to prevent. but there are the odd ones out there, so send them away with a bee in there ear

 

[Bcrazy]

I have been talking to some American beekeepers about Varroa. They inform me that there are small groups of beekeepers in the Mid West that do not have a Varroa problem as there bees will not allow the mite to settle in the hive. It's a sham but I can't get a queen from them.

Regards;

 

[ian]

Hi BC

Do you want Africanized bees!!!!!!!!!

They also deal with SHB.

It's also been wispered some would consider them the solution, but you won't keep them in your garden.

Regards Ian

 

[Bcrazy]

Ian

You have lost me mate!

Regards;

 

[Bcrazy]

Post by Ian,

Hi BC

Do you want Africanized bees!!!!!!!!!

They also deal with SHB.

It's also been wispered some would consider them the solution, but you won't keep them in your garden.

Americanised bees ; they do not use ABees.

SHB; so? It does not mean we have to have queens from them with SHB so what's the point you are trying to make.

African Bees could not last in this country because of the damp and cold weather in winter. I believe it was Prof. Ratnicks who mentioned that fact.

Regards;

 

[Somerford]

To pick up on a few of the points raised.

While I acknowledge your effort on getting a varroa free hive Pete (your words), I personaly would find 10 hours painstaking work checking each bee beyond me. Multiply this by many hives and I would question the benefit vs time (my view)

I was re-reading the BBKA notes on Apiary cleanliness and I wonder again whether that extent is necessary on every visit or something to be used as and when an outbreak occurs.

The thing about bees is, like humans and any other animal/insect, there are diseases etc that go in circles, ie they reappear when triggered or critical mass occurs (Swine flu, F&M, etc) and I worry that any attempt to stop nature in it's tracks could be a) futile, b) dangerous

Yes, I know we have vaccines for many animal diseases, but the major reason for nothing similar for EFB/AFB is the worry of contamination of honey & wax (which is odd considering we routinely treat cattle with antibiotics!!)

Perhaps we need to push for an effective treatment rather than a cure by flames and then the whole 'bio security' issue will become a thing of the past ?

regards

S

 

[ian]

Hi BC

Sorry we appear to have crossed wires!

"Americanised bees ; they do not use ABees"

I have never heard the term Americanised bees before, that's a new one on me. I can however assure you that plenty of beeks in the states,southern areas in particular have Africanized bees. Africanized are those bees that have happily been termed killer bees by the press and spread up through Southern and Central America.

Nor did I say we would get SHB from them or their queens, I said Africanized bees are tolerant of them(the last thing I would suggest is to bring queens in from the U.S)

And whilst Prof Ratnicks may have said African bees would not survive in the U.K there are Monticola(African) bees being used in Scandinavian countries.
NATURES FULL OF MANY SUPRISES

The point I was trying to make however(and misssing by a mile
Was that Africanized bees are tolerant of mites and many other pests, and you will find plenty of them in certain parts of the U.S


Regards Ian

 

[Somerford]

The point I was trying to make however(and misssing by a mile
Was that Africanized bees are tolerant of mites and many other pests, and you will find plenty of them in certain parts of the U.S


Regards Ian

indeed, it is the agressive nature of the Africanized bees that is thought to be a factor in this.....

....perhaps a test using a colony of nasty bees in the UK this season would be interesting - load it up with varroa and see what happens ?

regards

S

 

[ian]

Hi Somerford

Thanks for that, for a minute I thought I was going around the twist. I think AHB may also have a shorter brood cycle plus frequent swarms and absconding.

In Some areas were I have managed to look at these hives they tolerate Varroa well and after the initial collapse of EHB wild colonies and manage have rebounded but they really will go for you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Any way I am of to see what species Americanised are.



Regards Ian

 

[BKF Admin]

Would AHB have a smaller mite load due to the fact they invade other hives kill the queen and take over thus breaking the brood cycle?
They also build comb less than 5mm,would this make a difference?

 

[ian]

Hi

I don't think there is any REAL data to suggest that a smaller cell makes the difference, but a shorter brood cycle would. Some have suggested though that the one leads to the other.

I know AHB are known to take over EHB hives but I don't know how another AHB hive would react(badly I presume)

I think it is a collection of various traits that will help.


Regards Ian

 

[Bcrazy]

Hi Ian,

Play on words, that's fine.

I meant to say Africanised not Americanised. My humble apology to you but please could you bee a bit more open in your responses so we all know what your saying, instead of trying to guess.

Regards;

 

[Bcrazy]

Hi Ian,
Just to bring you up to speed re Africanised bees;

According to a University of Florida economic analysis from the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, Africanized honey bees are not adversely affecting the North American honey industry. Though the bees ruined domestic hives and damaged profits in South and Central American when they arrived in 1956, the analysis shows the little or no impact on North American honey profits. Report Analyst Charles Moss says a more pressing economic concern for beekeepers is Colony Collapse Disorder, a phenomenon that has reduced the U.S honeybee population by roughly a third every year since 2006.

Regards;

 

[hedgerow pete]

thanks Bcrazy

 

[drex]

To try to get back to HP's initial thread idea. I know very little about bees, as I am a complete newcomer, but am enthusiastiic to learn, and am finding this forum tremendously useful. However because of my work I do know a lot about disease.

I would draw a parallel with TB and smallpox in this country. At one time TB was virtually eradicated through better nutrition and living standards ( good food and accomodation), social hygiene - " no spitting in public places" ( I remember those signs on the buses when I was a lad)( good apiary hygiene and practices), antibiotics, and vaccination. However as immigration has increased, and poverty returned in some areas the disease has returned and is now again quite common, and is much more resistant to treatment!!

Take smallpox, it was eradicated in this country, until it escaped from a research lab in Birmingham about 20 years ago. Mercifuly through tremendous effort the outbreak was contained and eradicated.

We are animals, bees are animals. The same rules apply. It takes a long time to eradicate disease totally, which brings problems of it own ( like resistance), and the approach is always multi pronged, then it can so easily re-appear. Sometimes we just have to live with disease and minimise the damage it does. First the disease needs to be understood, and there seems to be large gaps in knowledge about bee diseases.

As to breeding, that would take some time to be effective , unless one went down the GM route!!! ( enough said).

Sorry if you find this irrelevant, but it is just my take on a fascinating thread.