Live package bees from Western Australia

[user 23149]

Some beekeepers do import from Europe and I think that's where we first got varroa. I don't believe bees should be imported into any area that isn't nearby. You may be a reputable beekeeper and are sure you have 'clean bees' but there are many non-reputable beekeepers happy to pass on substandard bees with infections to make a quick buck.

Also, local bees will be used to the local weather. Although the Australian bees may be productive, they may not do well in our climate.

Personally I feel no bees should be imported to the UK from outwith the UK to ensure the safety of the local bees.

 

[ericbeaumont]

beekeepers do import from Europe

Queens only.

many non-reputable beekeepers happy to pass on substandard bees with infections to make a quick buck

Not sure how you know this for certain, Kimberley, or how widespread the practice, and even if it were true, that method would finish a business pretty quickly.

 

[Wilco]

never mind the fact that there is no evidence, not even in a book written by a New Zealander and extolling its virtues (an interesting read BTW - gifted to me by a fellow forumite Amazon.co.uk )pointing at eating the damned stuff being of no more benefit than putting jam on your toast

Yes, the data is about use for wound management with infected wounds. There is some published evidence suggesting heather honey may be superior to manuka.

Yes I should imagine anything useful might be rendered useless by stomach acid?
There’s always the adage that the worse something tastes the better it is for you?

If nothing got past the stomach acid then it would be impossible to get food poisoning and the only way our guts would get colonised by microbes would be through a rear attack.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Yes, the data is about use for wound management with infected wounds. There is some published evidence suggesting heather honey may be superior to manuka.

Manuka's anti microbial properties were actually 'discovered' by a Welshman, Peter Molan, a bio chemist who emigrated to New Zealand in the early seventies, seeing the possibilities of the stuff as a wound dressing, he sent samples back to his brother in Wales, a consultant who worked in the burns unit at the University Hospital who observed it's miraculous effect as a burns dressing.

If nothing got past the stomach acid then it would be impossible to get food poisoning and the only way our guts would get colonised by microbes would be through a rear attack.

you can stick that up your.............

 

[Erichalfbee]

If nothing got past the stomach acid then it would be impossible to get food poisoning and the only way our guts would get colonised by microbes would be through a rear attack.

I was alluding to Manuka’s anti microbial properties. I know that some folk use it during throat radiotherapy to some effect. Proper honey is also possibly good but it’s full of enzymes which are pretty irritant.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I was alluding to Manuka’s anti microbial properties. I know that some folk use it during throat radiotherapy to some effect.

If I recall my school biology classes (the official ones, not the ones attended up at the athletics track) what you swallow goes through the throat before reaching the stomach and as Manuka has only been proven to work as a topical treatment, it's effect is probably because it coats the throat as they swallow it.

 

[pargyle]

I can't believe that being true about Kale

Its lovely if you cut into thin strips and deep fry it ... you've never lived till you have tried it.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Its lovely if you cut into thin strips and deep fry it ... you've never lived till you have tried it.

Yes takeaways sell it as seaweed

 

[Hebeegeebee]

Hello Fellow beekeepers

The Western Australian beekeeping industry is investigating the potential for supplying package bees to the UK in April and May

Western Australian bee genetics are Old English black bee and golden Italian. Similar to the UK .Are very good honey producers with Western Australian beekeepers having the highest production per hive in the world.

Live package of 4 pound bees and mated queen is expected to be available , deliverd to the UK for 200 GBP

Distributioen through stablished beekeeping businesses offering package bees is preferred.

It seems to be a NO from this lot!
Seems like you've opened a hive and a sh***y colony leaps out at you from the frames!
Beware of the little bu***rs who try to go into your boots and into your cuffs!

 

[mychale]

Above someone mentioned Dutch elm disease and it was the import of logs containing an effective insect vector and a strain of the fungal pathogen which was the problem, not soil. However the global trade in animals and plants has caused immense problems. Where did ash dieback originate from?

 

[Helmb1360]

Bees with no exposure to varroa?
Wonder how they would fare?

Bees shouldn't be shipped around the world thats how problems start

 

[pargyle]

Above someone mentioned Dutch elm disease and it was the import of logs containing an effective insect vector and a strain of the fungal pathogen which was the problem, not soil. However the global trade in animals and plants has caused immense problems. Where did ash dieback originate from?

Importing contaminated soil ?

 

[steve1958]

Honey can be imported into Western Australia as long as it has been heat treated .

Bees can be imported as long as they have been heat treated

 

[Worldsend]

Manuka's anti microbial properties were actually 'discovered' by a Welshman, Peter Molan, a bio chemist who emigrated to New Zealand in the early seventies, seeing the possibilities of the stuff as a wound dressing, he sent samples back to his brother in Wales, a consultant who worked in the burns unit at the University Hospital who observed it's miraculous effect as a burns dressing.

you can stick that up your.............

Used with great effect re bed sores to treat my brother at a hospital in Cardiff in 1980

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Where did ash dieback originate from?

England probably - they always seem to have problems with ashes

 

[mychale]

Importing contaminated soil ?

It probably arrived in the UK on infected plants from Europe (around 2012, maybe earlier) into tree nurseries but may have crossed the over into Norfolk as airborne ascospores. It was first detected in Poland in the 1990s but probably arrived into a neighbouring state from Asia on stock of a resistant ash species, Manchurian ash. It has spread across Europe since both by airborne spores and by movement of plant material. The message is the same however, don’t move live stuff across geographic boundaries. Soil however is often a reservoir of numerous microorganisms and should be moved around with caution.

 

[JamezF]

Bees can be imported as long as they have been heat treated

I'll break out the flame thrower...

James

 

[Gaz63]

Interesting comments from a range of angles.

I keep colonies in both countries. I think the west Australian gentleman saw that nucs are very expensive in the UK (£275) is a cable of sending you a package for a 75 quid discount. At the end of their season they have a lot of very healthy bees going to waste. But you know what he’s probably quite robust in character so isn’t too bothered about lots of misinformed commentary. WA sent you some beef a few weeks ago. It wasn’t horse from Europe and the amount of tonnage is limited and tariffs attached. Don’t confuse WA with the EU.

I’ll keep the conversation to bees and not the carbon emissions that go into you car engine or car body - or in fact the oranges, bananas and vegetables, seeds you get from elsewhere. Let alone all the other infected stuff we (when I’m home we let in). I say we - because I come home a lot. And have 20 years keeping bees in both countries. Make your own clothes?

Considering I share hives with family in England and WA. That UK nucs (consisting of a mixture of UK and European DNA - are almost identical to WA bees). That the bees in WA from the South West are free from most diseases and pest that UK have. If we get AFB we have to destroy, bees and boxes.

West Australian beekeepers are much smaller in number than the UK offical numbers and there is a very small number of commercials- so he is very unlikely to be able to corner the UK market. You joke.

Its not a bad deal - a least I can get a decent spring build up in April/May with clean bees - either with a WA queen in a package or not (I’m sure he could arrange that to). I could put in a Buckfast (mixture of old English and Ligurian I understand) / created by a German monk in Cornwall. Acarine disease you sent to WA. Varroa came from Asia not Europe.

If I do come across the fella who made the offer - I’ll apologise to him on behalf of the Brit’s. Obviously some people are a little stressed about the mess we find ourself in at home. You got cheap packages from EU for a long time. You still get them from NZ. Queens from numerous countries.

 

[Newbeeneil]

Just popping out to get some popcorn, don’t start without me!

 

[ericbeaumont]

carbon emissions that go into you car engine or car body - or in fact the oranges, bananas and vegetables, seeds you get from elsewhere ... Make your own clothes?

You miss the point, Gaz: when it's possible to reduce carbon emissions, do so. Clearly, with bananas or (at the moment) petrol, we have no choice unless we give up both.

When buying bees we can impact the environment by 3,500 miles, 350 or 35. What is the most ethical, least-worst choice?