- Joined
- Aug 24, 2009
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I appreciate this might not be the right part of the forum to raise this issue, but I do so in order to get the most possible reads and therefore more influence of the issue I raise below.
I have been approached by an individual who informed me that a large consignment of package bees were being imported into the UK early this spring to be placed at a location around 10 miles from my own colonies.
From the limited information I had, I have pieced together the whole story and it appears to be as below.
The Co-Op own/operate large farms at Down Ampney, near Cirencester, Glos and have set an agreement in place with a commerical bee farmer that means he will operate 300+ colonies on the site. The bees will be owned by the Co-Op and they will bottle the honey for sale in their shops.
The issue is that the hives are to be populated by New Zealand package bees which will no doubt swarm (10% ?) and therefore infect the local gene pool.
While I appreciate that imported queens have been sold in the UK for many a year I am extremely concerned as to the effect this might have on the local I(and national) gene pool.
It appears that the commercial beekeeper has said he is liasing with a local bee supplier (guess which one...he lives near Cheltenham) to source the bees but I BET MY BOTTOM DOLLAR they have no idea as to the true source of the bees.
So what do we do ? I am very motivated to raise MERRY HELL about this as I think it has real issues for the local gene pool. I am going to be contacting Paul Monaghan, Head of Social Goals at the Co-Ops head office, and also their head of agriculture. I am also trying to ascertain the person's name who has been directly involved with the agreement.
This could/has potentially damaging PR for the Co-Op, and for good reason. Obviously the bees are on order and would only be sold by the gentleman via nucs to beekeepers in the UK anyway, BUT newbeeks could boycott the purchases as it is all about knowing the source of your bees....TRACEABILITY !!!!!
Please can concerned members reply below.....we need to act fast on this !!
regards
Somerford
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I appreciate this might not be the right part of the forum to raise this issue, but I do so in order to get the most possible reads and therefore more influence of the issue I raise below.
I have been approached by an individual who informed me that a large consignment of package bees were being imported into the UK early this spring to be placed at a location around 10 miles from my own colonies.
From the limited information I had, I have pieced together the whole story and it appears to be as below.
The Co-Op own/operate large farms at Down Ampney, near Cirencester, Glos and have set an agreement in place with a commerical bee farmer that means he will operate 300+ colonies on the site. The bees will be owned by the Co-Op and they will bottle the honey for sale in their shops.
The issue is that the hives are to be populated by New Zealand package bees which will no doubt swarm (10% ?) and therefore infect the local gene pool.
While I appreciate that imported queens have been sold in the UK for many a year I am extremely concerned as to the effect this might have on the local I(and national) gene pool.
It appears that the commercial beekeeper has said he is liasing with a local bee supplier (guess which one...he lives near Cheltenham) to source the bees but I BET MY BOTTOM DOLLAR they have no idea as to the true source of the bees.
So what do we do ? I am very motivated to raise MERRY HELL about this as I think it has real issues for the local gene pool. I am going to be contacting Paul Monaghan, Head of Social Goals at the Co-Ops head office, and also their head of agriculture. I am also trying to ascertain the person's name who has been directly involved with the agreement.
This could/has potentially damaging PR for the Co-Op, and for good reason. Obviously the bees are on order and would only be sold by the gentleman via nucs to beekeepers in the UK anyway, BUT newbeeks could boycott the purchases as it is all about knowing the source of your bees....TRACEABILITY !!!!!
Please can concerned members reply below.....we need to act fast on this !!
regards
Somerford
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