Here come comes Hive Beetle !

[Beefriendly]

I do wish people would stop peddling this nonsense.

Nice and polite reply I see.
Perhaps a read of "Practise the pause" thread is in order?
Where on mainland UK can you guarantee you can leave a shed load of virgins to fly around that don't get mated?

 

[sipa]

"Home" bred queens are not available in Spring (except in overwintered Nuc's)

I'm afraid that isn't correct.
We specifically overwinter homebred mated queens for sale early in the season. Before the new season queens are available.

 

[Lancs Lad]

I do wish people would stop peddling this nonsense. There are other places in the UK where controlled matings are possible.

Totally agree with you, over wintering late bred queens is the way forward for the UK to improve our genetic pool.
I see that there is going to be a new kid on the block for homebred queens a Mr Mcgregor (ITLD) stated about his new queen breeding unit.
Will involve a lot of training, stock selection, and the establishment of a proper lab here for Jolanta to continue her work on selection of stock for the northern environment, including a lot of work on pedigrees and controlled crossing. Big moves ahead.
Quite exciting....although not so excited about how much it will all cost to set up.....
Tens of thousands, but will be a major advance against bee diseases, aggressive bees, and low productivity. Going to focus on real practical factors and not on romantic notions of perfection.

 

[Beefriendly]

Totally agree with you, over wintering late bred queens is the way forward for the UK to improve our genetic pool.
I see that there is going to be a new kid on the block for homebred queens a Mr Mcgregor (ITLD) stated about his new queen breeding unit..

I think you will find that ITLD (or Jolanta) does their queen rearing and breeding in Piedmont, Italy to take advantage of the weather.
And these queens are then imported into the UK.
He has often written that the overwintering of queens in the UK for sale in spring is not economically viable (for him at least).
Nucs are a different kettle of fish.

From his twitter feed 24th Sept this year.
"The queens for next season's breeding programme already in the process of being selected and will be in situ in northern Italy in February. Jolanta travelling abroad for a week next April to get early inseminated daughters from our own stock back for early season trialling".

 

[Walrus]

I think you will find that ITLD (or Jolanta) does their queen rearing and breeding in Piedmont, Italy to take advantage of the weather.
And these queens are then imported into the UK.
He has often written that the overwintering of queens in the UK for sale in spring is not economically viable (for him at least).
Nucs are a different kettle of fish.

From his twitter feed 24th Sept this year.
"The queens for next season's breeding programme already in the process of being selected and will be in situ in northern Italy in February. Jolanta travelling abroad for a week next April to get early inseminated daughters from our own stock back for early season trialling".

Jolanta makes lots of queens in Scotland too, and the breeding stock used in Italy is from Jolanta's queens taken over to Italy to benefit from drones being about earlier. The area in Italy is in the foothills of the Alps.

I think every beekeeper would benefit from taking some nucs through winter to be used to replace losses, expand, or for sale the following year.

 

[Fusion_power]

I think every beekeeper would benefit from taking some nucs through winter to be used to replace losses, expand, or for sale the following year.

This is the difference between a bee-keeper and a bee-haver. I can easily produce a dozen nucs to prevent spring swarming. With a bit of work, those nucs will be full size colonies by fall. I can split the nucs again in August and have 20 or 30 queenright nucs to go through winter.

 

[Hachi]

I am shocked to find that bees carrying this hive beetle are being imported, especially after reading the comments by FusionPower.

Really?? Please point us to your evidence to support that statement.

 

[For want of a better word]

Really?? Please point us to your evidence to support that statement.

It would be evident that the level of beekeeping expertise needed to cope with the small beetle in a hive would be beyond that of the average beginner.

I think that beekeepers need to consider the consequence of importing any bees with potential pests and parasites, especially from an country flagged up as having a reoccurring disease problem.

Common sense it seems it not that common!

 

[madasafish]

It would be evident that the level of beekeeping expertise needed to cope with the small beetle in a hive would be beyond that of the average beginner.

I think that beekeepers need to consider the consequence of importing any bees with potential pests and parasites, especially from an country flagged up as having a reoccurring disease problem.

Common sense it seems it not that common!

On that basis, importing queens from Scotland ,Wales and N Ireland which all have recurring AFB and EFB outbreaks should not be purchased...

 

[Erichalfbee]

Have SHB been found on imported bees?

 

[Anduril]

It would be evident that the level of beekeeping expertise needed to cope with the small beetle in a hive would be beyond that of the average beginner.

This is why we have Regional/Seasonal Bee Inspectors. Seasonal Bee Inspectors have already checked hives in the UK for SHB, mine were checked a few years ago. the Literature is available for you to read and recognise this creature and notify the bee inspectors if you have reason to believe they are in your hive. Beginners and seasoned beekeepers are in the same boat we would All be able to cope, but as with varroa there would be some who will give up.

 

[Anduril]

Have SHB been found on imported bees?

Wasn't there a scare a year or so ago which came to nothing.

 

[Erichalfbee]

This is why we have Regional/Seasonal Bee Inspectors. Seasonal Bee Inspectors have already checked hives in the UK for SHB, mine were checked a few years ago. the Literature is available for you to read and recognise this creature and notify the bee inspectors if you have reason to believe they are in your hive. Beginners and seasoned beekeepers are in the same boat we would All be able to cope, but as with varroa there would be some who will give up.

Absolutely right.
When all the SHB chat started a few years ago it was colony Armageddon. Then along came the Asian Hornet and that was The Return of Armageddon.
Not saying we shouldn't be vigilant but these things have to be given perspective.

 

[Anduril]

Wasn't there a scare a year or so ago which came to nothing.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...FjACegQIAxAB&usg=AOvVaw2rs7LsiSJwwkARoFsFxtZS
This is what I remembered, Argentinian imports.

 

[For want of a better word]

Absolutely right.
When all the SHB chat started a few years ago it was colony Armageddon. Then along came the Asian Hornet and that was The Return of Armageddon.
Not saying we shouldn't be vigilant but these things have to be given perspective.

Absolutely agree, seems all the beekeepers on here have years of experience in handling all the common pests and diseases, so anything from a beginners perspective that could be added would be somewhat superfluous.

However I went to a lecture being given by our own bee inspector and he said that although he gets to check the vast majority of hives in his area, there are some he does not get to inspect due to beekeepers not registering with him or simply hiding diseased colonies as they think they can deal with the problem without help or have their hive destroyed.
He said there were beekeepers with very many more years of experience than him who had never seen any disease in bees or may even recognise that their bees had one.
He said the small beetle could come in with containers and not necessarily on the bees.
We had the chance to see some dead beetles and photographs of AFB and EFB and Varroa mite infected colonies.

I would ask everyone to go to one of these lectures and not import live bees

 

[SDM]

Wasn't there a scare a year or so ago which came to nothing.

A shipment of queens from texas were found to contain SHB in portugal 2004. They were spotted and erradicated.

 

[Anduril]

He said the small beetle could come in with containers and not necessarily on the bees.

I would ask everyone to go to one of these lectures and not import live bees

When the risks are too high, the borders are closed, until then everyone has an informed choice. Borders will always be open in safe areas!

 

[Swarm]

Absolutely agree, seems all the beekeepers on here have years of experience in handling all the common pests and diseases, so anything from a beginners perspective that could be added would be somewhat superfluous.

However I went to a lecture being given by our own bee inspector and he said that although he gets to check the vast majority of hives in his area, there are some he does not get to inspect due to beekeepers not registering with him or simply hiding diseased colonies as they think they can deal with the problem without help or have their hive destroyed.
He said there were beekeepers with very many more years of experience than him who had never seen any disease in bees or may even recognise that their bees had one.
He said the small beetle could come in with containers and not necessarily on the bees.
We had the chance to see some dead beetles and photographs of AFB and EFB and Varroa mite infected colonies.

I would ask everyone to go to one of these lectures and not import live bees

I would say don't lose heart, there are beekeepers who do not and would not consider importing.
The stark reality is that there are many beekeepers who do.
I sympathise with your statement about years of experience in dealing with pests and disease. By far our major problem and contributory disease vector is varroa and it didn't swim here

 

[Lancs Lad]

I would ask everyone to go to one of these lectures and not import live bees

Very impressed with your learning curve.
Prost
Aclamaciones
A Votre Sante
Lloniannau
Kernewek

 

[For want of a better word]

Very impressed with your learning curve.
Prost
Aclamaciones
A Votre Sante
Lloniannau
Kernewek

Skol
Bottoms up
not to forget The Queen!