LASI hygienic queens....open for business

[BKF Admin]

those funds are not a bottomless honey pot, they have there limits, sales of the bees would go back into said honey pot to try and ensure it dose not run out as if it did research would stop until the next funding became available.
even then to get the funding a lot of work would need to be done in order to show research was moving forward in order to stand a chance of gaining the funding

The point of my post was that other European countries have funding for hive loss from Brussels yet the UK government divert the UK funds to research.

The bbka will not argue the fact as they get funding already from memberships and chemical companies.

Beekeepers are being charged for Queens they have already paid for.

 

[B+.]

Beekeepers are being charged for Queens they have already paid for.

You make a very good point. Beekeepers in other countries receive help towards the cost of capital equipment and stock that we don't receive.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Salamagundy

Thanks for the explanation fo the work at LASI. I have some queries that you may be able to answer;

1. Ron Hoskins at Swindon Bees describes his bees as hygienic in as much as they chew or otherwise damage phoretic mites - something like 85% of all dropped mites are chewed. He thought this was what was preventing his bees from succumbing to Varroa without chemical treatments, until the virologists from the MBA discovered the Type b DWV was apparently protecting his bees too. What is you view of this different form of hygienic behaviour and the viruses that accompany it in the Swindon Bees?
2. Has LASI done any work on viruses in its bees? In other words, do you know if your bees have have Type a, Type b or Type c DWV?
3. Do you know if the prices for LASI's queens are based on an analysis of cost or what the market will bear?

Regards

CVB

The first two are questions I was hoping to ask next Saturday

 

[B+.]

The first two are questions I was hoping to ask next Saturday

If you are going, please also ask where they acquired their breeding stock and how they maintain the line (i.e. what race of bee is it and if they are using II to maintain the line. If so, how many family groups are they using to postpone inbreeding depression?)
From what I have read on the website, no information is given about the racial origin of the line or what other traits they are breeding for. There was a trend a while ago to select bees that bit as these were thought to attack mites. It just bred bees that showed aggressive tendencies to humans too.

 

[Erichalfbee]

If you are going, please also ask where they acquired their breeding stock and how they maintain the line (i.e. what race of bee is it and if they are using II to maintain the line. If so, how many family groups are they using to postpone inbreeding depression?)
From what I have read on the website, no information is given about the racial origin of the line or what other traits they are breeding for. There was a trend a while ago to select bees that bit as these were thought to attack mites. It just bred bees that showed aggressive tendencies to humans too.

We need a list of stuff to ask.
We might end up monopolising the floor

From what I have read on the website, no information is given about the racial origin of the line or what other traits they are breeding for.

I asked this on their Facebook page but got no reply

 

[justsmith]

This might be a daft question, but how offen do drones from these hygienic bees pass on that trait to local bees?

 

[B+.]

This might be a daft question, but how offen do drones from these hygienic bees pass on that trait to local bees?

Not daft at all. Look up work by Prof Kaspar Bienefeld on maternally selected traits. The way I know of doing it is to breed drones from queens possessing these traits and mating them with queens produced from mother queen displaying similar traits. The heritability can be quite low for some traits but suprisingly high for others

 

[chrisb]

It's a fair point, maybe it's just to make sure they get a half decent home?

Like you should never give away kittens or puppies maybe? Even if you want rid of them.

A modicum of cost might ensure not any old numpty orders a queen?

BUT £500 ?!?! YIKES

That's the most expensive bee I've ever heard of!

Option of £20, £45, and £500.

£20 for an unmated queen ? £45 for mated ? so not that big an aim at helping to save stocks
and all those above well sorry thats out of the hat

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

If you are going, please also ask where they acquired their breeding stock and how they maintain the line

If they are breeding from Ron Hoskins' bees, then according to Prof. Steve Martin the records weren't up to much which is where they had a bit of a struggle.

 

[chrisb]

The point of my post was that other European countries have funding for hive loss from Brussels yet the UK government divert the UK funds to research.

The bbka will not argue the fact as they get funding already from memberships and chemical companies.

Beekeepers are being charged for Queens they have already paid for.

correct, but we are talking UK !
it is about time they do what EU do and stop the deviation from the principle concept

why can government not help subsidize the sales of these at the least? also if they were given away free imagine the out cry from breeders !

 

[Hivemaker.]

correct, but we are talking UK !

And if we come out of the EU we will carry on getting the same as now.

 

[B+.]

And if we come out of the EU we will carry on getting the same as now.

Nothing - but that has nothing to do with the EU. Our own government is diverting the funds

 

[Hivemaker.]

Nothing - but that has nothing to do with the EU. Our own government is diverting the funds

Exactly - so regards the point we are discussing for beekeepers and any help in that respect, there is no incentive to staying in, we get nothing either way.

 

[chrisb]

Nothing - but that has nothing to do with the EU. Our own government is diverting the funds

I agree
like I said " it is about time they do what EU do and stop the deviation from the principle concept "

 

[charlievictorbravo]

The first two are questions I was hoping to ask next Saturday

JMB

Perhaps you could give the rest of us who cannot get to the meeting some feedback afterwards?

Thanks

CVB

 

[Salamagundy]

I sent a list of the questions raised to Professor Ratnieks - he may respond to some of them on the LASI website. Just to put things in context, the main subjects of his talks next Saturday will be research into disease control and understanding and improving bee foraging.

 

[Itchy]

Aren't these just bees that are keen to remove dead pupae?

 

[REDWOOD]

Funds and investors always demand a return of some sort.
What's the point of a virgin queen when all worker bees are fertilised from any old drone, or do they come with a bag of drones


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[Erichalfbee]

What's the point of a virgin queen when all worker bees are fertilised from any old drone,

From the LASI website

Research at LASI has shown that hygienic colonies do not sting more or show reduced calmness during hive inspections, and that hygienic workers do not mistakenly remove healthy brood, meaning that hygienic behaviour is not costly to the colony. We have also shown that open mated queens reared from highly hygienic colonies give rise to highly hygienic colonies. To have highly hygienic colonies, it is not necessary to mate queens via instrumental insemination, making things much simpler for beekeepers and queen rearers. Our research, for example, shows that queen rearers in Britain could supply open-mated hygienic queens bred from locally-adapted bees.

 

[REDWOOD]

Mmm


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