- Joined
- Jul 5, 2010
- Messages
- 1,502
- Reaction score
- 0
- Location
- Northern Ireland
- Hive Type
- National
- Number of Hives
- >20
More likely head-in-sand beekeepers....
One of the NI outbreak areas has a number of "established" beekeepers involved. (Established like a mature oak tree, unmoving except in the event of storms, dynamite or chainsaws....) At least one of them has "always had a few bees", never takes honey off and never looks inside beehives. In this area there has been a persistent problem that I have been aware of since 2014 and one constant is a single person. To my knowledge, the problem follows their bees, their neighbour's bees and bees they look after on behalf of an older, non-active beekeeper. They also failed to disclose an out apiary when formally inspected.
From ongoing discussions, there is a knot of beekeepers who are unable to identify notifiable diseases or they do not care about them. County Armagh is apple country and I have met a lot of old farmers/apple growers who have "always had a few bees". When you chat to them, the next part of the story is that it is hard to get a swarm now-a-days and when they do get a swarm and throw it into the old box, they don't make it through the Winter..... Strangely, they can never remember the last time they bought new frames or foundation!!
I also note that it is newer beekeepers who pro-actively call in the bee inspectors. I should add that Northern Ireland has two bee inspectors with responsibility for an area similar in size to one of the regions managed by a Regional Bee Inspector in England and Wales. One of those regional bee inspectors is supported by up to 7 Seasonal Bee Inspectors. This deficiency in NI makes it difficult to manage the AFB problem. A further problem is the fact that despite being part of the UK, Northern Ireland Beekeepers are unable to sign up to BeeBase and so do not benefit from the disease notifiaction system etc.
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