EFB in Scotland

[Finman]

.
Mcgrecor says that italian bee does not get honey in scotland. what is the basic problem to that
italian be works well even in polar circle.

basics
poor pastures
slow build up - cold hives - lack of spring yield
non insulated hives
south habits of bee strain

 

[gavin]

Norton:

I've discussed the susceptibility of different bees with Murray. He says that in his operation the more native stocks look worse (I'm not surprised, this is a new disease in the area and so adaptations to EFB are sparse) but also that in another operation it was the Buckfast stocks that were particularly susceptible. This is all anecdotal, and I'm aware that there are different types of Buckfast out there, but it is not just as simple as 'native stocks are susceptible'. Old reports (middle of last century) suggest that for AFB (which has been around our area for a very long time) native stocks do show resistance. I think that it is all a case of 'select and ye shall find'.

Finman: our summers are often cool and damp. Italians can do well in a good summer, but in general the native and near-native types do better. Why? They are longer-lived and so do better on the brief good spells we tend to have, and they will forage in cooler windier conditions than the continental races. When you go south especially into SE England, these traits become less important.

all the best

Gavin

 

[Poly Hive]

Odd how weather keeps cropping up here.

The Black bee as Gavin says has had a long history with AFB and is also know to have a weakness towards EFB.



PH

 

[Finman]

The Black bee as Gavin says has had a long history with AFB and is also know to have a weakness towards EFB.


PH

Every bee race has. I have not seen before that there are AFB-bees somewher. Just urban story.

Gavin's story is odd in many ways. Scotland is a colder place than´Finnish Lapland?

 

[Finman]

Odd how weather keeps cropping up here.

The Black bee as Gavin says has had a long history with AFB and is also know to have a weakness towards EFB.



PH

I have not met researches that some bee race or strain is tolerant tp AFB.

 

[gavin]

Every bee race has. I have not seen before that there are AFB-bees somewher. Just urban story.

Hi Finman

Not an urban story, a rural one. Casual observations from the local bee advisor who retired in the 1980s. He knew of a long-infected site where he could get access, and the bees were still thriving there when he was finally able to see them. Also reported, I'm told, by Margaret Logan, the bee advisor at the North of Scotland College of Agriculture, where PH worked for a while in later decades. There is a report somewhere by I haven't found it yet.

Apart from that, it is common for AFB to affect only some of the hives in an apiary even when it has been present for years.

There are also more recent papers on the resistance mechanisms some bees show towards AFB, one I recall from Denmark.

all the best

Gavin

PS The comments on the performance of ligustica are not just the opinion of local hobby beekeepers but the opinion of a large-scale commercial beekeepers with infinitely more experience than myself. Perhaps your Finnish summers are more continental than ours?

 

[MuswellMetro]

Every bee race has. I have not seen before that there are AFB-bees somewher. Just urban story.

Gavin's story is odd in many ways. Scotland is a colder place than´Finnish Lapland?

i thought it might be more rain in Scotland, but looking at the weather data, helsinki seems to have SUMMER "average" rain and temperature similar to Edinburgh ,though glasgow has 50% more rain, it is warmer

 

[Finman]

Perhaps your Finnish summers are more continental than ours?

Normally we have only one yield month and it is the whole July.
Blooming is very concentrared and abundant. To get 50-60 kg per hive it needs 2 weeks sunny and dry in July.

In August what they get, it goes to raise bees. In June hives are not normally cabable to forage surplus. They spend everything to raise new bees.

However, cold is not a reason why Italians not get honey enough.

*****************

But that AFB. If you have AFB resistant bee stock, why you burn your hives. Just put a new queen inside and it will be healed like with EFB.
I suppose that you love to burn everything. You need only a reason.
.

 

[Finman]

.
My brother moved to North Sweden 1970 and he had Italian bees there 20 years. In those days Swedish had "national" tiny hives and german black "national" bees. They used very few Langstroths.

He got as good yields as I because there was no other hives to forage flowers.

He have there 2 months longer winter than I have.

The place is Piteå between Luleå and Umeå. Å= river.

But but the one fact: Luleå, Sweden's Sunniest City.

Wind comes over mountains from Norway to Sweden and dry up before coast.

.

 

[Poly Hive]

Gavin et all.

I didn't work per see at Craibstone I ran it as a commercial operation.

I had full access though to all the stored paper work, and read avidly. Marvelled at the original slides that found Acarine, and read forty years of the ABJ and Gleanings.

I was in the fortunate position offshore to be able to do considerable reading both on and off shift, and used the time so.

Bernard told me of that AFB situation and also mentioned Peggy Logan in that regard who was as previously mentioned an excellent and very astute beekeeper as was Bernard himself.

Not all knowledge is on the web and in research papers which in turn does not invalidate it.

PH

 

[Finman]

.
Here is a new report from Scottish beekeepers 2009
DISEASES AND PESTS

http://www.scottishbeekeepers.org.uk/learning/documents/Chapter6 2009.pdf

Within the UK AFB is a notiable disease, and so must by law in Scotland be reported to the
local SGRD ocer when it is detected. Local Bees Ocers are also obliged by law to seal up any colony
known to be infected with AFB, to kill the bees, usually by introducing petrol through the feed hole,
and to destroy all the bees and combs by re at night when no robbers will be
ying. The remains must
then be buried in a pit. The hive boxes themselves may be kept for re-use if desired, but they must be
disinfected by scorching with a blowlamp.
Note also that spores of AFB may be carried on apiary equipment such as hive tools, gloves
and smokers. Any metal items can of course be disinfected either by prolonged boiling, or by scorching,
but clothing is more dicult, and gloves and cover cloths in particular might be best burned after they
have been in contact with AFB.
Because of the rigorous destruction policy, outbreaks of AFB in this country are now thankfully
rare, but it is essential to remain vigilant. An outbreak did occur in Perth in 2005.
************
Some races of honey-bees have been found to have an innate hygienic behaviour, so that they
make determined and successful eorts to clean out the remains of infected larvae. Some of these races
can tolerate infection with AFB, and in parts of the world where AFB is endemic, eforts are being
made to breed such strains up so that no other treatment is necessary.

 

[MuswellMetro]

.


Wind comes over mountains from Norway to Sweden and dry up before coast.

.

i've only driven up as far as Sundsvall in late June, lots of sunny weather,suprised how dry and hot it was, but expensive beer,

i then crossed the mountains to Trondheim then to Narvik only to find the main road had been wiped out during winter and had been regraded .It was a very rough gravel road ...but we had a Landrover, so no problem

Always wanted to get to Finland as my uncle died in Hospital in Ii, Oulun Laani, Finland after the un successful 1940 British Raid on Narvik in WW2

 

[Finman]

.
Interesting stories about battles in Narvik harbour during summer 1940.
I tryed to find some mentioning about English soldiers in Ii 1940, but no sign.