setting up mating apiary

[Finman]

.
10 kg honey is worth £ 100. You get two good queens with that.... And save all that living and driving trouble

 

[jeff33]

I am sure you must have shares in every mated queens selling business Finman! I see your point but I am not doing it for money so I don't mind sacrificing a honey crop. I almost break even on a season and it's a hobby I really enjoy.

 

[jeff33]

Well it was going to be a nice little project until BeeBase returned a 71 apiaries within 10 km radius of the chosen site......I guess I better place my orders in then!

 

[Hivemaker.]

Well it was going to be a nice little project until BeeBase returned a 71 apiaries within 10 km radius of the chosen site......I guess I better place my orders in then!

Jeff, you could learn to do instrumental insemination, it is dead simple, really easy to do... and does not need to cost very much.

And don't believe all that beebase stuff.

 

[Brian Bush]

Well it was going to be a nice little project until BeeBase returned a 71 apiaries within 10 km radius of the chosen site......I guess I better place my orders in then!

Many of the sites on BeeBase will be unused as you cannot remove them once they are on there. I have 2 on there myself that I have not used for 5 years. It does appear to be a very high density on a par with Buckinghamshire. Mating queens whose offspring can be evil makes life difficult for us all. You could invest in an II course and equipment and then you would have good control over your breeding stock. Ask Santa???
Merry Christmas, Brian

 

[jeff33]

Thanks both, it could be the way forward, I will look into it (although its too late now to ask Santa). Have a good Christmas and prosperous new-year

 

[Swarm]

Only 71 apiaries? My home apiary site is still on Beebase and it tells me there are 110 within 10k.
The info on their site is next to pointless.
There are terrain features to factor in, valleys, rivers, not to mention your neighbouring beekeepers and where they keep their bees and what bees. If these beekeepers are keen to improve local stock, you could form a small group and work to a common goal. Other association members interested? They can join in and your idea sounds less unachievable.
Associations should be encouraging more of this.

Incidentally, one site I was looking at quite favourably has 80 apiaries within 10k, supposedly. The area is a dead end, steep sided valley with one little village at the top of it. It's two miles down the valley to the next village or one little road takes you up on to the mountain top and it's miles to anything from there across remote moorland which certainly ain't bee territory. Where are these other apiaries? They are probably in adjacent valleys.
A circle on a map doesn't mean a lot.

 

[Beefriendly]

A circle on a map doesn't mean a lot.

Yes, take beebase with pinch of salt, it's used in calculating numbers of hives per UK which determines how much lucre we get form EU.
Virgin queens remaining unmated will mean a lot more...

 

[Finman]

.
10 km radius is unpractical measure. 20 km from edge to edge. 1/2 hour to drive car .

.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Only 71 apiaries? My home apiary site is still on Beebase and it tells me there are 110 within 10k.

Yes, I think one or two of mine are listed as having over 100 - haven't a clue wherre they're supposed to be, as you say, some are long abandoned and in some cases you may get the same site listed twice with successive beekeepers.

 

[Eyeman]

Yes, I think one or two of mine are listed as having over 100 - haven't a clue wherre they're supposed to be, as you say, some are long abandoned and in some cases you may get the same site listed twice with successive beekeepers.

As beebase inspect these registered sites when there is a foul brood outbreak I suspect they may have another list of sites with more up-to-date info otherwise the bee inspectors are wasting lots of time.

 

[SDM]

Many of the sites on BeeBase will be unused as you cannot remove them once they are on there.

You can however move apiaries. Dropping them in the Irish sea should lower hive density and point out a pretty big flaw in the software.

 

[Finman]

I and it's a hobby I really enjoy.

The more I get honey, the more I enjoy. I rear 90% out of my queens, but there there have been times when I need to change my bees' genepool.

I buy every year couple of queens to test are they better than my recent. Otherwise beekeeping after 55 years would be boring, same chewing.
.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

As beebase inspect these registered sites when there is a foul brood outbreak I suspect they may have another list of sites with more up-to-date info otherwise the bee inspectors are wasting lots of time.

I think every SBI gets to know the unoccupied sites - if you are on beebase, you have a means of contact, so a simple email or phonecall can tell them whether there are bees on that site - but SBI's can't change the records either so they still show up on the database.
The SBI (being a member of our BKA) officially inspects the training apiary every year - it's a good teaching day for the beginners, there are four beekeepers currently using the site - the association, me as a member as some of my hives are used to teach, the feral beekeeper (He has grandfather rights unfortunately) and an association member who is housing his bees there temporarily. There are at least three others registered to the site but haven't kept bees there for years (all have given up beekeeping, one is in a care home and one dead I think) yet we cannot have them taken off the list.