First reports of vast losses.

[Chris B]

Mine are looking okay, some very nice, some mediocre, but stores are lower than they should be, some desperately light and I've really got my work cut out to get round them all. It's not like I didn't feed generously last autumn either.

 

[Into the lions den]

Mine are looking okay, some very nice, some mediocre, but stores are lower than they should be, some desperately light and I've really got my work cut out to get round them all. It's not like I didn't feed generously last autumn either.

Hi Chris,

It seems to be a climatic issue. The worst losses are apparently happening in places closest to the east coast, and are by no means uniform. We have 7 poor apiaries out of 38 overwintering.

All of the bad groups are in wooden hives, none of the bad groups are in poly.
Some of the poly groups have near zero losses, even from nigh on 100 hives. The worst wooden ones are at 50% already.

ALL the bees that were on fruit farms and did not go to OSR last spring are among the bad ones. All the poly hives were on OSR.

Taking a trip south next week to Hereford area to get an idea of when flowering is going to be on the cherries, and perhaps move a few colonies around if needed..

The worst case I have heard of so far is a now 95% case, but have heard of individual apiaries in some parts turning up 100% loss rate, and others nearby with nil dead. Complex situation.

 

[Chrisfnvs]

Checked on one site last week during that warm spell ! out of 14 colonies 12 looking very strong with good stores the other two a bit light and weaker but all taking in good loads of pollen, looking good so far, will check some more at the weekend. Chris

 

[beebreeder]

I think most of us agreed that the complete cost of last summers appalling weather would not be known until all first inspections had been done. The full picture will no doubt bring forth the full picture. The press will no doubt make news of it possibly causing another surge in new beeks wanting to save the bees.
Like Pete I have had phone calls from hobbyists that have 100 per cent losses even if it is only three hives.
Interestingly on Beesource the US beekeepers are suffering the same big losses but regional again but due to last summers drought

 

[smithhive]

I think Murray may have a point with the east coast link. My most easterly site, perhaps 12 miles from the coast had 15 hives - now down to 5. How many of these 5 will survive with a fertile queen ???????

 

[Hivemaker.]

Have heard a beefarm in the south west has lost 500 and expects to lose more yet.

 

[Hivemaker.]

SOUTH Molton bee farmers have warned the industry is facing a crisis this summer due to cold conditions and dwindling bee populations.

Owners of the Quince Honey Farm are among those appealing for European funding to help re-stock UK bee colonies – or face a future of empty hives and an increased reliance on imported honey.

On Wednesday, the North Devon business hosted emergency talks with industry experts from the Bee Farmers’ Association and South West MEP Julie Girling in a bid to secure financial backing to boost colonies that have been lost or weakened due to six years of wet summers.

Paddy Wallace, who runs Quince with son Ian said they could be looking at 50 per cent losses this year.

He said: “It’s pretty much a crisis; this winter would not have been such a disaster if last year hadn’t been so bad.

“A five per cent loss is usual but last year we lost 15 per cent and this winter we have lost 23 per cent and are going to lose more because the weather is still cold and the queens have been poorly mated.

“We have 1,500 hives but as of this week we had 1,008 colonies. We need to try and split 500 hives from 1,000 which is not possible because the colonies are not strong enough to split.

“If we don’t replace stock and have another bad winter we will very quickly have no colonies at all.”

Son Ian said six consecutive poor seasons in the South West had hit honey producers hard.

He said: “Our biggest enemy is the weather; it’s been a horrendous six years.

“We had a bumper crop in 2003. It wasn’t great in 2004 but 2005 and 2006 were pretty good. Since then we’re had six really hard years.

“We have 24 tonnes of honey stored in the shed which is not a lot of honey for a business like ours. We have no surplus. If we have another year this year like last year we won’t have any honey.”

John Mellis of the Bee Farmers’ Association also appealed to Ms Girling, who has been selected as the Conservatives’ spokesman on agriculture in the European Parliament and has been leading the fight in Brussels against the decline of honeybees.

He suggested the industry needed a £1.4million injection to rebuild productive colonies, by importing queens from other countries such as Italy and New Zealand.

“It’s a huge logistic operation and we don’t have the money at hand,” he said.

“We’ve got a real problem with dead bees. Colonies have been weakened and because the queens have been poorly mated, half of our bees are not going to be viable this year.

“A five per cent loss is normal and 20 per cent would be a bad year. We could be looking at losing 40 per cent of our bees then suddenly we have a crisis – it’s a national issue.”

Ms Girling said she would speak to other MEPs to try to rally support.

She said: “All of the other European countries have similar problems in terms of stocking bees but I will speak to the minister to see if we can get any support for it.

“In terms of agricultural subsidies, £1.4million is nothing.”

Quince Honey Farm, established by Paddy’s father in 1949, employs 21 people and supplies honey to shops all over the UK although primarily in the South West.

The family business moved to the current premises in 1978, where it has since diversified become one of North Devon’s main tourist attractions. Last year, 42,000 people visited the honey exhibition.

Paddy said subsidies for bee keepers were no longer forthcoming and the business had diversified through financial necessity.

He said: “In the 1970s, bee farming was recognised by the Government as a viable agricultural industry and farm building grants were all available to commercial bee keepers. Now we’re not counted at all.

“Tourist trade accounts for 80 per cent of our business although we would prefer that a more significant proportion of our income came from the bees.

“We would like to do more with the bees, produce more honey and employ more people on the bee keeping side. There is potentially a very prosperous future for the industry.”

Ian added: “The industry needs help and it wouldn’t be to the detriment of anyone except for a couple of honey importers.

“We could easily keep 3,000 hives with some support. There are some well established honey farms and keen amateur bee keepers – we just need a little bit of support to help us restock.”
Also on this site:

 

[Into the lions den]

Been away and busy for a bit, plus heartily sick of the Brossy and pals show, so cant be bothered arguing with folks who are not here to talk about bees.............sigh.

However, still heavily involved in the losses stuff. Worst so far is one who now has only 10 left alive from 1000, albeit it has taken 2 years for that to happen, but the east of Scotland has not had two dry days together in the nectar yielding times since 2010, and even then it was a late week on the heather. Thus we are in our second spring of the troubles and ths applies down to approx Yorkshire on the east side.

Now, having limped through, the tales of 50% losses are moving to areas away from the two crunch zones, east coast fringe and SW peninsula/Wales.

Even before the nests have been opened and we know what will be found there (dud queens etc?) we seem to be running close to a 50% overall loss rate nationally. a handful, and it truly is a handful, claimng to be fine losses wise and quite quick to lecture on the poor beekeeping of others. It actually mostly appears to be microclimate luck (or lack of it).

Keep the reports coming in please. We (the BFA) are on the case.

 

[OXFORDBEE]

Been away and busy for a bit, plus heartily sick of the Brossy and pals show, so cant be bothered arguing with folks who are not here to talk about bees.............sigh.

I know what you mean. I met the farmer for the first time this year. He was drilling spring beans due to 300 Acres of rape being a total washout. Lots of farmers are drilling beans this year as they yield more ££'s than spring rape. He was going (in quite a heated way) about neo-nic beekeepers and what a pain in the *rse they are. He mentioned that my hives appear to be doing OK and he's been using neo-nics for about 10 years, so from his perspective... what exactly is the problem?? He then mentioned beeks should be doing more about controlling varroa mites and viruses and managing their bees properly! It did make me wonder what current farming feeling about beekeepers is.

The number of hive deadouts has increased by another 5. The freezing tail end of march seemed to have been too much for them. Most of them snuffed it due to isolation starvation, but they were small colonies a result of last years atrocious weather and my inability to provide any stimulative feeding in autumn due to my land rover being written off in a 3 way collision. Lugging 60l containers across fields is a pain, especially when you've only got a soft topped Mini as transport. I'm so glad the fields are a bit drier now and I'm not in a constant sea of mud.

Losses this year are way ahead of my normal expectation (about 5-10%) at about 20%. Isolation starvation and lack of winter bees due to the weather last year appear to be the main causes of hive demise. On a positive note a quick check of 40 hives yesterday showed lots of new bees pouring out onto frame top bars.....

It's very easy to be smug when you live in a good area and you've not lost any hives. I'm just grateful my losses aren't as large as others...

 

[Chris B]

Latest from my perspective - looks like about 25% losses all round and some bees looking very good now, albeit a little behind. Certainly my worst overwintering for a few years but pretty good compared to some areas of the country. Without a doubt young queens have done better for me, both in terms of survival and strong colonies in spring - that's always the case but more pronounced this year.

On a tangent - I have an interview with Radio 4 next week for a program called "Costing the Earth". They were looking for a beekeeper who moved bees to rape. The topic is going to be pesticides. They were looking for a different perspective from "neonics are killing all our bees" and that's what I'll give them more or less. But my contribrution is only a small part of the programme so I don't know where they are going. Any thoughts on what I should say?

 

[Into the lions den]

They were looking for a different perspective from "neonics are killing all our bees" and that's what I'll give them more or less. But my contribrution is only a small part of the programme so I don't know where they are going. Any thoughts on what I should say?

Hello Chris,

You seem to have come through this pretty well. Not seeing anything showing even the first signs of build up with us yet. Even today, wall to wall sun and pollen flying in, we thought we could get a start to the queen marking. Yet despite the apparent activity when we opened the first hives the clusters were still pretty tight and no sign of them opening up at all. So not ready for disturbing and closed them up and willleave them another week before disturbance.

As for what to say? Well to say other than what you actually observe would not be right. If you do not see a problem say so, and if you do also say so. I am no great fan of following party lines, or herd thinking, on such things. You are an independent thinker, and that is good, so say what you think should be said from your perspective.

 

[Hivemaker.]

He suggested the industry needed a £1.4million injection to rebuild productive colonies, by importing queens from other countries such as Italy and New Zealand.
“In terms of agricultural subsidies, £1.4million is nothing.”

If that figure includes buying package bees as well, then it would need to be a lot more than £1.4million, as that would only be enough to sort out a handful of big losses, need more like £140 million.

 

[Chris B]

Did the interview with Tom Heap yesterday. Due for air on 7th May. Bees really hate those furry mics don't they? Nothing too earth shattering, just said I don't think the neonics are having any meaningful impact on honeybees, and the honeybee population has risen alongside beekeeper population.

I reckon we've definitely turned a corner here. Bees that looked very shoddy about a month ago now have 2 frames of brood. Rubbish compared to normal seasons but they'll produce a super or two by end of July if we get the weather. I am at 25% winter losses but foraging force over the course of the season is likely to be closer to 50% down on normal due to the relatively small size of the survivors. I've got about 60 colonies that have managed to pull away and fill the box with bees, and these are the only one looking capable of a honey crop in the short term - all of them last year's queens.

 

[beebreeder]

The trouble is that with colonies still relatively small, will they be strong enough for any nectar flows when they do come, I am looking at re building my losses and it may well be a honey crop of some sort or new colonies but not both as could be done in a normal season. Unless of course we now get a wonderfully long summer!!!

 

[smithhive]

Losses looking to be in the 40 - 50 % range. Survivors pitifully weak. Hardly any O S R. Just when you think things couldn't get any worse, have any of you seen a heather moor lately.

In my area (North Yorkshire moors) , vast areas of heather have turned ginger - similar to heather beetle. According to local gamekeepers this is due to biting winds causing the heather to suffer from a form of frost bite or frost burn.

When the stems are snapped the plant appears to be alive but the keepers are unsure as to whether or not it will ever flower.

If we ever needed a miracle...............

 

[DanBee]

30-40% here and still some touch-and-go colonies. OSR just colouring up, dandelions & willow out in force. White/yellow queens heading the survivors, of which two thirds are tiny brood areas and one third are bursting double commercial deeps. One or two terminal cases of PMS, some clearly DLQ, mostly isolation starvation of tennis ball sized clusters amongst plentiful stores - oh and mice (rats?) that have chewed their way in despite reduced entrances and good condition floors.

I'm scratching my head trying to work out what was different for the survivors. Preparations for winter, varroa treatments/timings, hive configuration, etc. all pretty standard, certainly by apiary, and yet some are thriving amongst the misery. I'll raise queens from those - this year I shall mostly be making bees.

 

[smithhive]

Good point DanBee. Trying to figure out a pattern to the losses is baffling. My worst two sites are running at 66% losses whilst my best site is still 100% survival (22 colonies).

 

[Hivemaker.]

Is the below ever likely to apply to England and Wales i wonder.

BFA Restocking hardship assistance.

The BFA is delighted to announce that it has secured £200,000 from the Scottish Government to assist with restocking of hives due to overwinter losses. This will be open in the first instance to fully paid-up members in Scotland. See http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2013/04/honey-bees26042013 Consultation between BFA and England/Wales government for similar support in areas covered by DEFRA is on-going.

 

[beebreeder]

30-40% here and still some touch-and-go colonies. OSR just colouring up, dandelions & willow out in force. White/yellow queens heading the survivors, of which two thirds are tiny brood areas and one third are bursting double commercial deeps. One or two terminal cases of PMS, some clearly DLQ, mostly isolation starvation of tennis ball sized clusters amongst plentiful stores - oh and mice (rats?) that have chewed their way in despite reduced entrances and good condition floors.

I'm scratching my head trying to work out what was different for the survivors. Preparations for winter, varroa treatments/timings, hive configuration, etc. all pretty standard, certainly by apiary, and yet some are thriving amongst the misery. I'll raise queens from those - this year I shall mostly be making bees.

I think that applies to most of us Dan the question is making bees/colonies or honey as making colonies has a cost as we all know.
As far as those that survived, the main thing must be queen genetics, whatever queens we all use,.
As for government help well I wonder if as well !!!!!!

 

[OXFORDBEE]

Any news about the Scottish Bee farmers? Are they importing packages yet?