Irish Beekeepers facing 'meltdown'

[user 6228]

Thin wooden boxes dont have enough survival margin...

if the weather goes bad
or there's a touch of disease
or some parasites
or some pesticides
or the Beek slips up with anything through inexperience, forgetfulness, ilness, or ignorance

The colony is up against it and often suffers and dies....

 

[sipa]

Thin wooden boxes dont have enough survival margin...

if the weather goes bad
or there's a touch of disease
or some parasites
or some pesticides
or the Beek slips up with anything through inexperience, forgetfulness, ilness, or ignorance

The colony is up against it and often suffers and dies....

I also Agree with this, that's why I'm all Poly, cheap as chips too !

 

[For want of a better word]

Here we go again with misinformation from Icanhopit - get your information correct about imports - they are NOT a separate species! Haven't you been able to understand this after all the time you have been a beekeeper?

Separate species?

According to Cooper until 1858 the ONLY sub species of bee in the British islands was Apis mellifera mellifera



Any IMPORTED bee could be the vector of virus



The BBKA advises against importing any bees queens or otherwise

 

[Tribesman]

I'm situated in south Galway, in the west of Ireland. At Christmas 2012 I had 34 colonies, all bursting with bees and with loads of stores, all in polly national hives or polly 6 frame nooks. By the first week of may 9 were surviving. All the colonies that died without exception were headed by queens that were born between the first of June and the 20th of august 2012.
4 of the surviving queens were born in may 2012. The remaining survivors from 2011.
There is almost no tillage farming within reach of my bees just grassland, so I'm not inclined to blame chemicals or pesticides at all for the losses. The queens that died mostly seemed to be very well mated as they had a great brood pattern in most cases.
All circumstances considdered I'm thinking that the cold spring and the late arrival of any pollen source is what did away with all the younger colonies!

 

[Finman]

Separate species?

According to Cooper until 1858 the ONLY sub species of bee in the British islands was Apis mellifera mellifera




Dear God! Save Irlanders from Iancopit, please!






.

 

[madasafish]

Separate species?

According to Cooper until 1858 the ONLY sub species of bee in the British islands was Apis mellifera mellifera



Any IMPORTED bee could be the vector of virus



The BBKA advises against importing any bees queens or otherwise

But the BBKA :

do nothing to promote UK queen rearing

and know well that if there were no imported queens then most new beekeepers - and more than a few commercial one - would be unable to restock after a terrible winter

 

[Finman]

do nothing to promote UK queen rearing

Every beekeeper has swarms and you should inspect them every week.

When you have swarm cells there, change the larvae. Get larvae from good hives from neighbours and you bees stock will be as good as it can. And it doies not work, that you have a sick hive and you rear a new "own" queen there. It is a profound mistake in animal production. But if you want to spoil your yard, that is then best way.

But it demands that the style to nurse must be changed. One small brood box, excluder and 2 supers does not work. Swarms escape and the whole year's work.

You can keep with this style same bee stock which you bad kept 50 years ago in skeps.

Small brood champers, small winter balls, early swarming and the key factor that losses are big. New queens mate freely and stock will be what ever.

You cannot keep 2 box layer in one box. Nothing good in it.


I know it. Old shool beeks in Finland tried to keep modern queens in old type hives, and the result was zero. It was 50 y ago. No one here keep those cottage type hives any more.

.

 

[Chris Luck]

Grey squirrels, always Grey squirrels!!!!!!

You throw it all away without a thought and then you can't get it back.

For Finland it doesn't matter, they don't have native bees, it was always imports.

Chris

 

[Ruary]

All circumstances considdered I'm thinking that the cold spring and the late arrival of any pollen source is what did away with all the younger colonies!

but add in the lack of forage during the last 'summer' and autumn
Ruary

 

[Finman]

Grey squirrels, always Grey squirrels!!!!!!

You throw it all away without a thought and then you can't get it back.

For Finland it doesn't matter, they don't have native bees, it was always imports.

Chris

You again enjoying your life with your stupid comments. Check you medication finally.


What then? 10 years ago it was believed that Apis mellifera has developed in France. How it emerged there, don't ask.

Even squirrels in England are from America. We have red squirrels.

Even Irish people have arrived from Spain.

 

[Finman]

but add in the lack of forage during the last 'summer' and autumn
Ruary

Ruary is right about nutrition

it is hard to understand nutrition issues of bees, it has known since 1953 when Austrian professor De Groot published his pollen researches. Very few understand what means "amino acids".

http://www.honeybee.com.au/Library/pollen/nutrition.html

Since then it has been known, that the better the protein content of bee, the better it stand long winter stresses.

There is quality differencies in pollen too. US vanishing bees tells, that multifloral pollen is important. It is not only "much pollen". One pollen type is not enough to keep colonies in condition.

The fact is that larva feeder bees die before winter. If they do brood along winter, the bees may live but their nutrition is very poor.
Your habit in UK all the winter encourages brooding and they are short of pollen then. Bees are really in bad condition if they are born in the middle of winter.

I can see in your beekeeping styles big mistakes, because you have not real winter. Bees are active and they burn them selves to fginish. It has been too easy to keep bees in UK. Even bad quality bees stocks survive there. NZ bees die all in Finland.

I can tell what ever to you, and you do not mind because UK does not need other countries' knowledge.

You should learn much things but you are too proup to learn anything.
That is the biggest problem in UK. And you have not your own beekeeping reseach there. Very few country has.

.

 

[Finman]

.
One basic problem in USA winter losses is that country is big.
Hives are wintered in south and moved along summer towards the north.
Same Florida package bees are kept in Alaska and same uninsulated boxes.

USA does not have bee strains which have adapted to over winter in different parts of country. Continuous queen flow from Hawai makes sure, that it is difficult to over winter hives in north.
Amazing 60 kg food/ winter are recommended by university.

Alaska university tells that there is no better economic alternative to over winter package bees than kill them.

I think, that a big beekeeping business is behind all this, because to breed over wintering bee stock is not difficult. The borders of Canada were closed 40 years ago and then they must develope their own system when Floridan beekeepers nor allowed to come to Canada with their hives.

It happens so that beekeeping society does not support such university studies what are againsta professional businees. It is same with varroa cure methods.

If you read US queen sellers, no one sells good winterers for short summer northern areas.

.

 

[Chris Luck]

You again enjoying your life with your stupid comments. Check you medication finally.


What then? 10 years ago it was believed that Apis mellifera has developed in France. How it emerged there, don't ask.

Even squirrels in England are from America. We have red squirrels.

Even Irish people have arrived from Spain.

I think it's time you stopped being rude and treated other people as equal adults Finman.

You're starting to go too far calling people stupid, so let's have an end to it now.

Chris

 

[sipa]

Give the bloke a break eh ?

English is not his first language, so the use of nuance and inflection isn't going to happen thus there is no subtlety in his writings, just very direct comment.

I agree that Finnman does seem somewhat frustrated by his inability to get his points across correctly.

Frankly, I'd rather have open and heartfelt opinions voiced than some of the real crap posted on this forum !

 

[Finman]

I think it's time you stopped being rude and treated other people as equal adults Finman.



Chris

Cris. Could you stop that blaa blaa. I cvannot change you and you cannot change me Mr. France. You just concenrate to me and you have nothing to say about beekeeping. Retire and bee happy. Just be and be yourself and letothers live their life, Mr France.

You have no signs of adult sings either. You are like street dog of village.
I know your style,. Nothing to learn from you. Save your ideas to somebody else who needs your senior advices.

."Finman. why you are rude"
"Look at me how happy I am".

Oh, I piss in my dirty pants every time when I read your life story. What I have lost! To be Crish in France! Gimme second life!

 

[Finman]

I
You're starting to go too far calling people stupid, so let's have an end to it now.

Chris

What about you, Mr France?

 

[Finman]

.
And about bad last years....

If we think about beekeepers who have lost too much hives and they surely have had enough experience, so what have happened in hives?

No need to go further. Last summer, winter and spring must explain things.
Of course if more years give support to findings.

- First, it was bad late summer and bees were not in good condition when they went to winter.

- The winter was more severe than usual, and bees must be in cluster longer time than normal. Those bees stocks, which does not stand that weather, they suffer from many things.

- if bees have brood in winter, they do not get pollen and drinking water, larvae will be destroeyd and feeder bees have lost their ability to live long.

- I have had opportunity to rear couple of hives over winter. They came over winter but they collapsed durin spring. They were not "long living type" to stand 3 months sping. They burned themselves to end before normal when they were not in rest mode.

- Brood break in spring. Bees start to rear brood. Then weathers continue bad too long and bees must stop brood rearing-. After that new bees did not emerge and nursing bees wilt away.

- That wilting system I noticed this spring in lartge scale. I give old honey to hives.Many got nosema from it. Spring was long and difficult. They could not start brooding for nosema and worker bees wilted away. I saved the queens and I give new bees to them. Now those nucs have 4-6 boxes and honey about 50 kg.

 

[user 6228]

You again enjoying your life with your stupid comments. Check you medication finally.


What then? 10 years ago it was believed that Apis mellifera has developed in France. How it emerged there, don't ask.

Even squirrels in England are from America. We have red squirrels.

Even Irish people have arrived from Spain.

Red Squirrels are native to the UK ... they're now confined to the north of England. The most Southerly population I believe is Ainsdale just north of Liverpool.
in some parts of the country Grey Squirrel eradication programs are in progress

 

[user 6228]

Give the bloke a break eh ?

English is not his first language, so the use of nuance and inflection isn't going to happen thus there is no subtlety in his writings, just very direct comment.

I agree that Finnman does seem somewhat frustrated by his inability to get his points across correctly.

Frankly, I'd rather have open and heartfelt opinions voiced than some of the real crap posted on this forum !

Finman gets too many breaks and he hides his knowledge of the English language.

 

[user 6228]

Ruary is right about nutrition
...And you have not your own beekeeping reseach there. Very few country has.

.

The UK has Universities doing research into HoneyBees. Sussex is one of them.