Is it time to stop importing live bees?

[gp125john]

Over the next few months and years DEFRA will have all sorts of issues to work out regarding imports and exports of live animals to and from Europe.

It strikes me that most of the problems we have with the honeybee in this country are due to imports, in terms of genetics, pathogens and parasites. We have not helped them or ourselves much at all.

Imported queens however offer short term convenience early in the year.

Is it time to ask DEFRA to help us breed our own queens from UK stock and stop most imports to reduce future issues.

 

[Poly Hive]

What issues precisely? "genetics, pathogens and parasites" and which ones would they be?

Not a BIBBA member by any chance?

PH

 

[SDM]

Over the next few months and years DEFRA will have all sorts of issues to work out regarding imports and exports of live animals to and from Europe.

It strikes me that most of the problems we have with the honeybee in this country are due to imports, in terms of genetics, pathogens and parasites. We have not helped them or ourselves much at all.

Whist we maintain parity with EU regs there is absolutely nothing for DEFRA to change.

Other than the obvious one, varroa.
What are you talking about ?

 

[Ian123]

You can’t stop imports from producers in countries that meet the regs, and after all these years do we have even 1 uk bee breeder that is a comparable to dozens in even just the EU. As to Defra breeding bees.....lol

 

[For want of a better word]

A novel new virus that wipes out all Apis mellifera species... that could be quite devastating!
Just one hiding in a container escaping somewhere on the A2 or M1, or in the top pocket of a beekeeper returning from anywhere.
That is if there are any beekeepers left standing after the Corona virus pandemic.

Extinction Rebellion rather than the BIBBA or BBKA groups methinks?

 

[For want of a better word]

Over the next few months and years DEFRA will have all sorts of issues to work out regarding imports and exports of live animals to and from Europe.

It strikes me that most of the problems we have with the honeybee in this country are due to imports, in terms of genetics, pathogens and parasites. We have not helped them or ourselves much at all.

Imported queens however offer short term convenience early in the year.

Is it time to ask DEFRA to help us breed our own queens from UK stock and stop most imports to reduce future issues.

John... that was a very brave post for this forum, most will agree with you, but many of the ol' dinasores who post with regular monotony ... will be all over you like the Corona virus!

Good Luck Indeed

 

[Ian123]

Often missed argument, like it or not some would bring in bees illegally it’s a fact!! Having the option for imports from regulated sources helps prevent illegal imports. Old dinosaurs or not maybe just those that have been around long enough to realise the quality of what’s available here or from abroad bee breeding research in the U.K. is way behind!

 

[For want of a better word]

Often missed argument, like it or not some would bring in bees illegally it’s a fact!! Having the option for imports from regulated sources helps prevent illegal imports.

Must be PANTOMIME SEASON... OH NO IT DOS'NT!

 

[Poly Hive]

Can we be honest please here.


Bee breeding does not exist in the UK. Sad and embarrassing but true.

PH

 

[foghornleghorn]

Can we be honest please here.


Bee breeding does not exist in the UK. Sad and embarrassing but true.

PH

Except for a few exceptions like b+ and hivemaker

 

[ismail akyüz]

For the last three years, I have not taken any bees from outside, not the bees I brought from outside, but the daughters born in me are melt, you will produce more yields when you produce your race that dominates the climate of the region.

 

[Beefriendly]

For the last three years, I have not taken any bees from outside, not the bees I brought from outside, but the daughters born in me are melt, you will produce more yields when you produce your race that dominates the climate of the region.

Not in the UK ismail and certainly not in the region where I live. The local bees here are pitiful, aggressive and frequent swarmers. I import bees from all over Europe and they consistently wipe the floor with the locals, The queens are fecund, the honey yields prodigious. They are lovely bees to work with and rarely swarm.
I can't buy or breed bees this good in the UK, the genetic starting material simply isn't available. Although it doesn't stop a load of "ban the imports" brigade from lying that it is.

 

[Parsonage Bees]

Having left the EU it may be just as easy to import bees from the rest of the world. Turkey, USA, Russia, maybe China? Places where the cost of living is lower and the product cheaper, generating more profit. Wasn't this one of the promises the country voted for?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Over the next few months and years DEFRA will have all sorts of issues to work out regarding imports and exports of live animals to and from Europe.

It strikes me that most of the problems we have with the honeybee in this country are due to imports,

I would like to substitute “Beekeepers”

I have had queens from Hivemaker and have always been pleased with them. They do better than any of my local bees but surely Pete must top up his genetic material from abroad?
I am trying a Zucht Buckfast this year and really looking forward to the experience.
For me it’s a hobby not a crusade

 

[Ian123]

Except for a few exceptions like b+ and hivemaker

For starters what bee races do they mainly deal in!! And even by there own admittance you will find them producing very limited numbers compared to the big carnica groups in b+ case or a company like buckfast Denmark in Hm’s case.

 

[ismail akyüz]

we are always other bees, our country more than Italy and Germany gets the Queen Bee, a German friend here gets it, I live in the Mediterranean climate for the Italian line works better, my compatriots in the North work with the Russian carpat bee, but I do not buy bees from outside my own bee production myself and I am very pleased

 

[mbc]

Can we be honest please here.


Bee breeding does not exist in the UK. Sad and embarrassing but true.

PH

There are individuals and groups in most if not all associations across the land who undertake bee improvement aka breeding.
You don't have to work for NASA to be an astronomer.

 

[masterBK]

How would you feel if you were responsible for importing a major disease or pest previously absent from the UK ? Someone initially brought Varroa here which has cost us all in terms of lost colonies, time, trouble and expense. If we stopped imports I'm sure people would step into the gap and use the opportunity and demand to develop perfectly good strains of queens in the quantities required. They might not be available so early in the year as the imports but this is overcome by selling over wintered queens for those that need them in spring.

I haven't purchased a queen during the last 35 years and rear about 50 or so every year from my selected queens and I am fairly happy with most of them (I do have to cull those that I feel are not up to the job or have other undesirable traits).They may not be as productive honey wise as the imports but do OK and are hardy (and don't eat themselves out of house and home), reasonably well behaved and don't swarm at the drop of a hat.
If I can do it, I'm sure many in the forum can.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Just a couple of questions
If there were an outright ban how would it impact UK honey production and if there were a significant shortfall where might commercial companies using honey in their products source a replacement?
If that replacement were much cheaper, say, would it be a permanent arrangement?

 

[madasafish]

Just a couple of questions
If there were an outright ban how would it impact UK honey production and if there were a significant shortfall where might commercial companies using honey in their products source a replacement?
If that replacement were much cheaper, say, would it be a permanent arrangement?

I understand ITLD imports his own queens - bred in Italy from his own stock - at a cost around £10 per Queen..

You can buy Slovenian queens for under £15 each iirc...

I cannot see many UK queen producers making profits at those levels.. The combination of a short season and UK labour costs would, I suggest, make it uneconomic...

When you have 3 -4 months to raise a queen and the weather is variable in summer, the risks of a poor season could wipe out a large scale UK Queen producer...

Something BIBBA tends to ignore - I suggest because they largely are hobby beekeepers and not people whose livelihoods depend on bees.

To make money in large scale queen rearing in the UK, you need first of all luck with the weather... You cannot buy that..

And if you try rearing late in teh season, luck with wasps which can easily decimate mini nucs. (I speak from bitter experience)..


I personally would make money from overwintered queens.. £89 from a UK supplier...

Anyone paying that price for a queen has got to be desperate...if it's a common or garden queen.