British Bred Queens or Imported Queens - peoples choice?

[Stiffy]

Anybody had experience of Beckys Bees queens ??

Had some from same source, which were fine.
S

 

[foghornleghorn]

Anybody had experience of Beckys Bees queens ??

Are they all coming from the same producer in Greece, see quite a few resellers of Greek bees in the uk

 

[B+.]

Buckfast drones are always dark brown and/or with a golden ring.
workers are uniform colored with 1 or 1 and half typical orange/leather colored ring.

No serious Buckfast breeder sells any F0 queen from a line that is not breeding stable sistergroups.

Thank you. That was the answer I was looking for,
Now, if anyone buys queens that don't produce progeny like that, they can ask for their money back under Sales of Goods Act

 

[thorn]

Let's import them. There must be a few diseases and pests that we've not yet managed to infect the native stock with.

 

[Finman]

Let's import them. There must be a few diseases and pests that we've not yet managed to infect the native stock with.

Name one...

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Name one...

small hive beetle

 

[jeff33]

They're really rather good

I second that.

 

[TooBee...]

Let's import them. There must be a few diseases and pests that we've not yet managed to infect the native stock with.

That's it, at last Evolution being practiced in Beekeeping, we'll breed better bees the old fashioned way, Survival of the Fittest... what happens if they're not Fit Enough - the Bees not the Beeks

On a more serious note, it's only a matter of time before those other diseases arrive here, did I hear right that they now have varroa on the North Island in New Zealand?

 

[For want of a better word]

That's it, at last Evolution being practiced in Beekeeping, we'll breed better bees the old fashioned way, Survival of the Fittest... what happens if they're not Fit Enough - the Bees not the Beeks

On a more serious note, it's only a matter of time before those other diseases arrive here, did I hear right that they now have varroa on the North Island in New Zealand?

I do not know about Varroa in New Zealand... but AFB is running out of control in NZ according to a Kiwi visiting family in the village that I met over Christmas!

https://www.ecrotek.co.nz/news-article/new-research-new-hope-in-the-fight-against-afb

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4591231/

 

[birdsandbees]

Side stepping for a moment.

Queen rearing (not breeding) is very easy. If an Assoc is presenting it as difficult it's not an organisation to be involved with.

PH

interestingly this was s subject brought up by one committee member at our association AGM, I did mention it on another thread a while back, Michael Collier has said he will do a bit of a talk on raising a few queens at some point.

It was the reaction of some when it was proposed, like was said it has an Ora of dark art that surrounds it and many wouldn't even attempt it, daft really, Bees survival instincts do the majority of the job for you, all you do is provide them with the right ingredients.

 

[TooBee...]

I have New Zealand Italians that look just like what you describe... could have mated with Carniolians.... who knows?

Brother Adam stated that he came across three Forms (or in beekeeper terminology - Strains) within the A. m. ligustica subspecie, the leather tan (recognized as coming from the north, hence the name Ligurian), the standard yellow color (that many dark bee breeders love so much - sarc.) and then the golden Form which I see in the USA is being referred to as I think Cardovan. He clearly stated that it was ONLY the leather tan (Ligurian) Form that was resistant to the tracheal mites, the other two strains were just as bad as the British/Irish old natives.

DNA analysis shows that the A. m. ligustica is still the subspecie that contributes the most to the Buckfast makeup. As I understand it's color has never been attempted to be fixed. But getting verifiable pedigree Buckfasts (as already stated) is somewhat difficult, without a hefty price tag.

 

[Heather]

I just enjoy breeding queens from my best hive, bringing them on in an apidea, and then seeing them blossom into good queens. People know I have queens spare so I do get urgent phone calls. I am happy to help out and give them a mated or virgin ( whichever is available at the time). I don't charge, as my time is my own and nature gave to me so I give back.
But ALL home grown UK queens..

 

[madasafish]

As a point of information, the 2019 ADM was updated with the status of the Importation Ban passed at last year's ADM.

As far as EU imports are concerned nothing can happen before Brexit. Post Brexit the Government can impose a ban on EU imports but it is way down on Government priorities and nothing is likely to happen for the transition period (2 years) and ? years beyond that.

Other major imports were from Australia, New Zealand and Argentina. Same status as EU.

So basically: expect no action before 2025 at the earliest is my guess.

 

[For want of a better word]

As a point of information, the 2019 ADM was updated with the status of the Importation Ban passed at last year's ADM.

As far as EU imports are concerned nothing can happen before Brexit. Post Brexit the Government can impose a ban on EU imports but it is way down on Government priorities and nothing is likely to happen for the transition period (2 years) and ? years beyond that.

Other major imports were from Australia, New Zealand and Argentina. Same status as EU.

So basically: expect no action before 2025 at the earliest is my guess.

Is that Importation Ban just applicable to BBKA members or everyone... or is the BBKA now forming government policy?

 

[Finman]

.
What is ADM?

 

[SDM]

Why would we be expecting an import ban at all?

 

[B+.]

.
What is ADM?

Annual Delegates Meeting of the British Beekeepers Association (https://www.-------------/adm-2019)

https://www.bbka.
org.uk/adm-2019

 

[madasafish]

Is that Importation Ban just applicable to BBKA members or everyone... or is the BBKA now forming government policy?

It became BBKA policy after last years' Annual Delegates Meeting (ADM) to lobby the Government for a ban. The BBKA has no powers to ban imports - as you are no doubt well aware....
In the real world, the Bee Farmers Association (BFA) no doubt strongly opposes a ban as it is their members who are responsible for most of the imports...So no doubt they will lobby the Government accordingly.
(Sounds like a recipe for stalemate with the Government doing nothing )


>Finman
See above definition for ADM

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

.
What is ADM?

waste of space

 

[Poly Hive]

It constantly amuses/annoys me that an organisation that is effectively purely English sports the British word.

So given its lying in its name what does that actually say about the ethos?

PH