Fair weather Beeks as Opposed to us Foul Weather Beeks!

[BrianO]

In Italy at moment,

God the difference, days of 26 degrees plus, no wind, loads of flowers still out.

Ivy just in flower

So many types of monocrop honey in shops , kilo jar of honey, multi floral local
€ 9.00 !! And it's gorgeous !

Some of what I have seen

Coriander
Orange,
Forest Honeydew,
Acacia,
Lemon,
Heather,
Chestnut,
Eucalyptus,
Lavender
Rosemary
Strawberry Tree ( Arbutus Unedo )
Thistle

It's a different world !!



When I think of the summer just gone and the constant dissapointment on daily checking the weather to usually see gusty winds and temps 15/16 degrees and rain ... Ahhhh !!

 

[Swarm]

Never mind mono crop, any crop would do this miserable year.
Thanks for making us feel better ...........

 

[For want of a better word]

Easy....keep bees that are adapted to the local environment......

Yeghes da

 

[Thymallus]

Like your local new Zealand Italians?

 

[For want of a better word]

Like your local new Zealand Italians?

Yep... after 100 years of adaptation in New Zealand to a climate similar to the one here in the Tamar valley.... possibly why they do so well!

Probably would perish in the cold damp and windswept Yorkshire dales!

Yeghes da

 

[Thymallus]

Yep... after 100 years of adaptation in New Zealand to a climate similar to the one here in the Tamar valley.... possibly why they do so well!

Shame the approx 10,000+ year adaption of the local Cornish AMMs can't keep up with them (occasional years excepted).

 

[For want of a better word]

Shame the approx 10,000+ year adaption of the local Cornish AMMs can't keep up with them (occasional years excepted).

Simply a stupid statement!
Taken out of context.

My point is that honeybees do adapt to their local environmental conditions over time.
The case in point is that honeybees taken from the Ligurian area of the Mediterranean have adapted to different climatic and environmental conditions over time .... NewZealand... that has a similar Maritime Temperate climate to here in the Tamar valley.
Despite retaining their Mediterranean brooding patterns which can cause colony collapse at times of low forage in this area, they seem to have adapted reasonably well, and do not suffer from the effects of introgression by constant importation of Mediterranean type bees, in fact may benefit from some hybrid vigor due to this unabated importation of bees of Mediterranean origins.

Our Native Cornish variety of Amm have been pushed to the Western margins and Islands of the UK, mostly it seems by beekeepers constantly being bombarded by propaganda over the last 70 or so years that they would get more honey from imported and hybridised bees, to the extent that one famed beekeeper, whom I hold in the highest regard, declared that Amm had all but been wiped out.

I keep both types of bees in different valleys locally, and the Amm this year have thrived, whereas the NZIs have suffered very badly due to the June,July,August ""GAP""

My point is that bees that do well in one area of the UK.... or even wider Europe, may not do well in another.... until they have been given time, quite a long time to adapt!!!



Mytten da

 

[Thymallus]

My point is that honeybees do adapt to their local environmental conditions over time.

We are simply selecting traits we find desirable.
Adaption requires selection pressure.
Keeping bees in hives, feeding them when hungry treating them against varroa doesn't provide this necessary pressure. You need to release them into the wild and then it might work. The few studies that have been done on feral colonies tend to show they are a small and sickly bunch.

 

[madasafish]

We are simply selecting traits we find desirable.
Adaption requires selection pressure.
Keeping bees in hives, feeding them when hungry treating them against varroa doesn't provide this necessary pressure. You need to release them into the wild and then it might work. The few studies that have been done on feral colonies tend to show they are a small and sickly bunch.

Never seen/heard of any feral colonies round here despite regular travels through local woods.. Beekeeping in hives is struggle enough..

 

[masterBK]

Beekeepers can apply selection pressure (albeit artifical selection) by only breeding from those that come through winter well on minimum stores, collect more honey without turning it all into brood at inapropriate times, that don't dissipate all their strength by swarming, those with no obvious susceptibility to diseases etc and culling those queens whose colonies seem less adapted to our way of beekeeping. If beekeepers in an area all agreed to select with the same aims in mind it wouldn't take many years .

 

[For want of a better word]

Interesting topic... selection pressure.

Without throwing the usual hissyfit about native bees... I think there is definite anthropological evidence to show that beekeepers in the West of the country... Wales, Cornwall the Isles off Scotland and of course the Isle of Man and possibly Eire have indeed selectively bred the best of their bees.... and as generally the Mediterranean hybrids and their ilk were not available to them, due to media isolation, affordability or simple Celtic stubbornness.

Therefor introgression simply did not occur... why bring in something better, when what you already have out perform at every turn.

How often have I heard the older generation of beekeepers ( in Devon and Cornwall) say... tried them yellow / foreign/ Abbey bees.... brooded up like mad then ate all their stores.

Discuss!

Yeghes da

 

[For want of a better word]

Beekeepers can apply selection pressure (albeit artifical selection) by only breeding from those that come through winter well on minimum stores, collect more honey without turning it all into brood at inapropriate times, that don't dissipate all their strength by swarming, those with no obvious susceptibility to diseases etc and culling those queens whose colonies seem less adapted to our way of beekeeping. If beekeepers in an area all agreed to select with the same aims in mind it wouldn't take many years .

Hit the nail on the head!!!

Feral or wild living colonies only reflect the local population of bees escaped from captivity by local beekeepers.
There are no feral bees in the UK... but there are many feral colony sites!


Yeghes da

 

[madasafish]

Beekeepers can apply selection pressure (albeit artifical selection) by only breeding from those that come through winter well on minimum stores, collect more honey without turning it all into brood at inapropriate times, that don't dissipate all their strength by swarming, those with no obvious susceptibility to diseases etc and culling those queens whose colonies seem less adapted to our way of beekeeping. If beekeepers in an area all agreed to select with the same aims in mind it wouldn't take many years .

The chances of that happening appear to be zero..Our Association Apiary - near black bees ex Ireland - was invaded by a Buckfast swarm from a local beekeeper under 400 meters away.. I inherited it at great personal costicon_204-2 to preserve the Apiary stock

 

[For want of a better word]

The chances of that happening appear to be zero..Our Association Apiary - near black bees ex Ireland - was invaded by a Buckfast swarm from a local beekeeper under 400 meters away.. I inherited it at great personal costicon_204-2 to preserve the Apiary stock

I thought one was supposed to prevent the ******** colony from swarming by killing her in th Spring and buying in a nice new imported F1 hybrid !

Yeghes da

 

[thorn]

Easy....keep bees that are adapted to the local environment......

Yeghes da

Mine are true Yorkshire bees, too tight to give honey away.

 

[For want of a better word]

Mine are true Yorkshire bees, too tight to give honey away.

Bet they are good at cricket!

Yeghes da

 

[mbc]

or simple Celtic stubbornness.

That's me that is

 

[Thymallus]

If beekeepers in an area all agreed to select with the same aims in mind it wouldn't take many years .

You were making a strong case for artifiical selection up until this point.....

 

[Thymallus]

How often have I heard the older generation of beekeepers ( in Devon and Cornwall) say... tried them yellow / foreign/ Abbey bees.... brooded up like mad then ate all their stores.

Discuss!

Yeghes da

Never let facts get in the way of a good prejudice.
While people continue to repeat mis-truths and distortions, we will not progress in any direction.

 

[For want of a better word]

Never let facts get in the way of a good prejudice.
While people continue to repeat mis-truths and distortions, we will not progress in any direction.

Are you talking about Yates and the Basic Beekeepering Exam study notes... or inventing a few mistruths and prejudices of your own?

Nos da