Small hive beetle in mainland Europe.

[sunhivebee]

The Italian beekeepers seem to think the same, not anti import, but i think this country needs to ban all imports from such places, until we actually have SHB ourselves at least.

A stop on bee imports from the areas where SHB has been found would seem desirable. Willl the BBKA not urge for such a ban, if encouraged by at least some of its many members? The SBA, to their credit, have resolved not to sit on the fence regarding this issue. From their recent Council Meeting "'The SBA urges that all possible measures are taken to prevent the introduction of small hive beetle into the UK. These should include a cessation of trade in live bees from the rest of Europe for 2015 until the true spread of the pest is better known."

Anyone feeling strongly about this might wish to sign this:

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petiti...eading-to-britain?source=twitter-share-button

 

[pargyle]

A stop on bee imports from the areas where SHB has been found would seem desirable. Willl the BBKA not urge for such a ban, if encouraged by at least some of its many members? The SBA, to their credit, have resolved not to sit on the fence regarding this issue. From their recent Council Meeting "'The SBA urges that all possible measures are taken to prevent the introduction of small hive beetle into the UK. These should include a cessation of trade in live bees from the rest of Europe for 2015 until the true spread of the pest is better known."

Anyone feeling strongly about this might wish to sign this:

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petiti...eading-to-britain?source=twitter-share-button

I agree ... have signed but not a lot of signatures so far on there ...

 

[Hivemaker.]

Anyone feeling strongly about this might wish to sign this:

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petiti...eading-to-britain?source=twitter-share-button

That is the same petition as we already have on this thread, what a coincidence....http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=32004

 

[sunhivebee]

I agree ... have signed but not a lot of signatures so far on there ...

Nearly 600 isn't too bad. But considering the membership of the British Beekeeping Association, one could surmise that some pressure could be exerted if people were willing.
We can all be grateful to the initiator of the petition, Bill Rintoul, for making it easy for us to cast a vote on the issue.

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petiti...eading-to-britain?source=twitter-share-button

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I agree ... have signed but not a lot of signatures so far on there ...

Nothing like a bit of apathy, I've signed and passed it on. I'm sure Nigel Farrago will make a great prime minister

 

[sunhivebee]

Nothing like a bit of apathy, I've signed and passed it on. I'm sure Nigel Farrago will make a great prime minister

He'll stop bee immigration, for sure

 

[pargyle]

That is the same petition as we already have on this thread, what a coincidence....http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=32004

It's one of the odd things about the forum ... I usually just hit the 'New posts' button but sometimes it doesn't always pick up all the threads ... I often browse from my iphone and I wonder if it's something to do with that ? I was away for over a week when the other thread was active and I never saw anything for it ...

 

[MuswellMetro]

Nearly 600 isn't too bad. But considering the membership of the British Beekeeping Association, one could surmise that some pressure could be exerted if people were willing.
We can all be grateful to the initiator of the petition, Bill Rintoul, for making it easy for us to cast a vote on the issue.

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petiti...eading-to-britain?source=twitter-share-button

600 hundred will have Little effect as it is less than one vote per constituency, i am sure you could get 600 signature for almost anything if you knocked door to door, people sign just to get rid of you

 

[Hivemaker.]

Willl the BBKA not urge for such a ban, if encouraged by at least some of its many members?

I really don't know, i am not a member of the BBKA, so your guess would be as good as mine.

 

[mbc]

I really don't know, i am not a member of the BBKA, so your guess would be as good as mine.

Once we've got the bloody beetle, sure as eggs is eggs they'll pretend they did everything in their gift to stop it coming.

Perhaps they should do something, anything, just to make this more plausible, but maybe they have already muddied the water enough to pass it all off as a rotten melon, "nowt we could do about that, now is there". Pathetic!

 

[domino]

Reading up on this soil seems to be quite important in the Beetle's life cycle. I wonder if that means some parts of Europe will be harder for these things to breed than others.

 

[thenovice]

Reading up on this soil seems to be quite important in the Beetle's life cycle. I wonder if that means some parts of Europe will be harder for these things to breed than others.

I wondered the same and if concreting the surface beneath hives would decrease reproduction efficacy.

 

[domino]

I also note that EU member state Malta have banned bee imports from Italy, which would suggest that it's legal within the EU.

 

[Oscarmonster]

I wondered the same and if concreting the surface beneath hives would decrease reproduction efficacy.

I've heard reports of SHB larvae squirming a hundred yards across concrete under lab experiments.

 

[thenovice]

I've heard reports of SHB larvae squirming a hundred yards across concrete under lab experiments.

to be expected but that means 100 yards to be eaten by birds. maybe keeping chickens around the hive would bring some relieve?

 

[Erichalfbee]

I signed earlier in response to the other thread.
This one has prompted me to email our BKA sec and ask her to circulate all our members encouraging them to sign.
Perhaps we could all do that.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I did it immediately

 

[Erichalfbee]

Good piece in Gwenynwyr Cymru by the way JBM

 

[alanf]

I wondered the same and if concreting the surface beneath hives would decrease reproduction efficacy...maybe keeping chickens around the hive would bring some relieve?

Dr Jamie Ellis was recently in the UK talking about SHB. He went from the University of Florida to South Africa to study the beasties in their original habitat, so has more than passing aquaintance. He tells of some live specimens they had in their second floor lab (IIRC). Returning one morning they found larvae crawling all the way down the concrete stairs and out the door seeking ground to pupate in. In practice, a) a good stretch of concrete is not a barrier and b) they usually set off under cover of darkness.

Concrete under the hives would have to be as wide as a major runway to have much effect, and chickens might pick off some but most will get past in the dark.

I'm paraphrasing as I recall it but his general message was that, in the US at least, beekeepers have learnt to live with SHB. They do well in warmer climates with moist soil. While we in the UK can provide moist soil they're actually likely to be more of a problem long term in Italy. Much as they're a greater pest in the southern US states such as Florida and Georgia than they are further North. What beekepers in the US do is keep numbers down with one or more of various traps sold commercially or home made, you can see them listed by US based suppliers like ML. Keep the empty space in the hive down to a minimum and the bees can keep limited numbers of beetles under control themselves.

BTW: Latest Italian numbers show a few more detected as of 21 Nov, extending the Southern boundary of the original outbreak area in Calabria. Still only the one apiary in Sicily. http://www.izsvenezie.it/index.php?...al-situation&catid=119:-beekeeping&Itemid=893

 

[sunhivebee]

I really don't know, i am not a member of the BBKA, so your guess would be as good as mine.

The BBKA appears to be "deeply concerned", mainly about the importation of fruit and stuff from the area concerned. It makes you wonder why it's called hive beetle; to me it implies that it has a preference for hives. So why not ask for a temporary bee import ban. Are there some other interests involved? If so, are members' interests duly represented?
This is the last statement found on twitter http://www.-------------/files/pressreleases/small_hive_beetle_update_oct_5,_2014_1412506899.pdf . Maybe there are updates by now.

Basically, it's a matter for the members to make their views/preferences known, as Erika said earlier. There must be plenty of them on this forum.