Nationwide abandoned hives.

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True enough but registration is not a great imposition and is a big help, not intrusive as they just want to know what hives are where. It literally asks your name and address, e-mail and how many hives you have, that's it. Helps the government know how many apiaries are in the area and the number of keepers. Helps track colony numbers nationwide and any changes.

You don't have to register but if you don't and you have a problem with neighbours or damage then this is a big help. If registered and someone on your property is stung or your hives are damaged you can claim on insurance, if not you can't so I thought it best. Each september you just go online, update hive numbers if necessary and hit renew.

For unregistered abandoned hives there is nothing that can be done, they can't make you register, but if the registrtation number is shown on the hives any problems and they know who to contact. The number can just be written on any one of the hives in an apiary, all in all a good thing and I was happy to do it. Any problems in an area and they can contact all people to let them know, who would't want that.

I still think for the OP's possibly abandoned hives just a note in a plastic bag should do it. If after a month or so this time of year it is still there and no response it is safe to say no owner. Left till the spring, as shutting down now, pretty much a guarantee.
 
Registration would be a pointless exercise. It is not necessary to register bloody cats that crap in peoples gardens and kill birds and other wildlife so it is highly unlikely that anyone would bother setting up a legal register of a bunch of insects that can move home at any time (and they do).
 
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I still think for the OP's possibly abandoned hives just a note in a plastic bag should do it. If after a month or so this time of year it is still there and no response it is safe to say no owner. Left till the spring, as shutting down now, pretty much a guarantee.
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Sorry its very wrong to assume/say/imply/promote that in anyway as clear cut. My winter prep is pretty much complete so I may not visit for a while. I say again, EVERTHING except the air that you breath has a legal owner. What you're implying is, if I find a very nice cottage by the sea that's a second holiday home or let, pin a note to it and thirty days later if no one has called to claim it then its abandoned. That's just poppycock. instead of writing a note why not invest a bit of time identifying the landowner and having a chat with them to identify the owner(s)?
 
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Registration is important in the EU. CAP funds are available to support beekeeping in each country depending on the number of registered hives. The registered hives in the UK have made a large contribution towards the Inspection scheme. If everyone had registered their hives we may have had a better system.
I was told that it is worth 50-60euros per hive.
 
Registration is important in the EU. CAP funds are available to support beekeeping in each country depending on the number of registered hives. The registered hives in the UK have made a large contribution towards the Inspection scheme. If everyone had registered their hives we may have had a better system.
I was told that it is worth 50-60euros per hive.
At 50-60euros per hive... I would lay odds on that there are lots of unoccupied hives about!
 
And that EU hand out no longer applies to the UK post Brexit or in 3 months time.
And I think that could be the reasoning behind the prospective compulsory registration for ANYONE keeping bees, as our HMG will be looking to fund the system we already have in place, and will in all possibility carry all the penalties for tax evasion and avoidance that seems to be the way of life for some at the moment!
 
And I think that could be the reasoning behind the prospective compulsory registration for ANYONE keeping bees, as our HMG will be looking to fund the system we already have in place, and will in all possibility carry all the penalties for tax evasion and avoidance that seems to be the way of life for some at the moment!

Well if they start trying to make me pay for a licence to keep bees there will be one less apiary in the country.
 
And I think that could be the reasoning behind the prospective compulsory registration for ANYONE keeping bees, as our HMG will be looking to fund the system we already have in place, and will in all possibility carry all the penalties for tax evasion and avoidance that seems to be the way of life for some at the moment!


Would it be worth the hassle?

28,000 BBKA members
Say 5 hives each: 140,000 hives

£10 a hive a year? £1.4 million...
Chickenfeed and when half the BBKA members leave to avoid paying..£0.7million..##

And suddenly Beebase has most people advising they have no hives..

## That's the tax a Premier League footballer pays in a month...
 
Some pople do not keep bees for honey. Some people keep bees for the environment and want to provide homes for bees and let them do their natural thing.
I do not necessarily condone it, but who is to say it totally wrong (other than the bbka, of course!). If the bees are so varroa infested and unhealthy, why are they not dead. Warre hive owners do not medicate, but rely on natural brood breaks in the form of swarming to control their varroa load.
I have numerous landowners that want nothing and value their privacy. As a result, I tread lightly and stealthy, and often do not bump into them for years. I would be really peeved to know someone has been interfering with my bees because they thought they were abandoned. The hives belong to someone.. I also do not move into houses that look abandoned...
 
and the Game Licence
 
And that EU hand out no longer applies to the UK post Brexit or in 3 months time.
It never did, the UK s allotment has always been swept up by the nbu and hence indirectly to beekeepers, in most of Europe the dosh is properly available as a direct grant to beekeepers to help with "trancehumance", roughly translates as moving bees.
 
My view is that if we sell honey to the public then hives should be registered to provide traceability for food hygiene regs, if you don't sell honey it's nobody's business what wild creatures have moved into your wooden box.
 
My view is that if we sell honey to the public then hives should be registered to provide traceability for food hygiene regs, if you don't sell honey it's nobody's business what wild creatures have moved into your wooden box.
But why should the hives be registered? Knowing that there are hives in an apiary proves nothing. I have fish in my pond, hedgehogs under my shed, toads in my long grass, grass snakes in my compost heaps and slow worms in my Cornish hedges, a myriad of birds live in the trees and a squirrel has a drey in one of my conifers; there are rats everywhere there is loose food. Only the bees produce anything that the public might want but locally-produced honey sold to local people does not require interference from government organisations any more than old plums given away for people to make jam. I do get fed up with the petty bureauocrats getting involved in what is, for most people in the beekeeping hobby, a cottage industry. If I make a wicker chair for sale locally, I am not going to go to the expense of getting a fire-safety certificate and if anyone insists that I do, I'm not going to make them anymore. Similarly, if someone starts asking me for food safety certificates for 100 jars of honey, I'm just going to throw it in the compost [for the rats], pour petrol on my beehives and call it a day. Leave the bloody hobby alone FFS!
 
My view is that if we sell honey to the public then hives should be registered to provide traceability for food hygiene regs, if you don't sell honey it's nobody's business what wild creatures have moved into your wooden box.

some countries require both registration of hives and your registration number on Hive and Jar of honey
 

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