so what's your secret to successful beekeeping

[Chris Luck]

From The Native Irish Honey Bee Society:



'Piece of piss" ? - try getting your queens mated with our British weather, other than in an exceptional year (like this one promises to be). I think you'll find that's why the demand exists, why prices are high, and why people keep importing queens.

Wasn't there a commercial bloke last year, somewhere in the UK, who had to import 100's of colonies from mainland Europe after sustaining mega-losses, 'cause there wasn't a UK supplier ?

We have much the same weather conditions here and the losses were exactly the same here for that winter, so what? It's no more than you would expect if colonies double every year when they swarm and should average out over a ten year or longer period.

Look at the colony growth figures for the UK, it's a simple case of supply and demand and importing Queens is often cheaper, people in France do it as well although I question how they manage to loose so many of their colonies when I always have too many and struggle to shift any even at €150 for complete hive, supers and bees.

However none of this alters my answer as to how I keep my bees which was the pertinent point.

I leave them alone as much as possible, rarely need to interfere and can make most judgements by external observation, maybe a peep in the BB without removing frames and only then if required a closer look.

I never ever use any treatments either artificial or so called natural.

Basically I don't play with them.

Being able to do something doesn't mean you have to.

Chris

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Thymol

 

[Eyeman]

"Third of all honeybee colonies in England did not survive winter. British Beekeepers Association attributes worst losses since survey began to washout summer leading to long winter, exacerbated by late spring."

'Piece of piss" ? - try getting your queens mated with our British weather, other than in an exceptional year (like this one promises to be). I think you'll find that's why the demand exists, why prices are high, and why people keep importing queens.

Wasn't there a commercial bloke last year, somewhere in the UK, who had to import 100's of colonies from mainland Europe after sustaining mega-losses, 'cause there wasn't a UK supplier ?

What do you expect if you are relying on imported queens who are not used to our climate !
There is a lot to be said for the non-prolific local strain as an ideal hobby bee.
The sort of problems you guys are having would have put me off beekeeping years ago.
Alec

 

[Little John]

We have much the same weather conditions here and the losses were exactly the same here for that winter, so what? It's no more than you would expect if colonies double every year when they swarm and should average out over a ten year or longer period.

Look at the colony growth figures for the UK, it's a simple case of supply and demand and importing Queens is often cheaper, people in France do it as well although I question how they manage to loose so many of their colonies when I always have too many and struggle to shift any even at €150 for complete hive, supers and bees.

However none of this alters my answer as to how I keep my bees which was the pertinent point.

I leave them alone as much as possible, rarely need to interfere and can make most judgements by external observation, maybe a peep in the BB without removing frames and only then if required a closer look.

I never ever use any treatments either artificial or so called natural.

Basically I don't play with them.

Being able to do something doesn't mean you have to.

Chris

I was answering the post that I answered - how you choose to keep your bees may be pertinent to you, but it doesn't interest me in the slightest.

Alec: What do you expect if you are relying on imported queens who are not used to our climate !

Couldn't agree more. (I was replying to Chris in a rhetorical manner, by the way)
I now keep Blacks as they survive well in the damp conditions of the South Lincs Fens. The recent Co-op/BIBBA survey revealed a >90% AMM gene concentration around here, as high as in West Wales, Northern Ireland and the top of Scotland, which are renowned for our native Black Bees. My guess is that this is due to the extremely damp conditions we have over winter, due in part to a very high water table.

 

[Chris Luck]

Sorry to have rattled your cage, I was answering the OP question, however I completely agree about local bees that have evolved more or less to suit local conditions although local conditions aren't really a constant, not here anyway with huge variations in the weather from one year to another and major changes in habitat and forage.

Chris

 

[Finman]

.
My secret is to find best pastures every year. It is quite difficult job, but best sites give 3 times more yield than others.

.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

so what's your secret to successful beekeeping​

Having a large shed that SWMBO is afraid to go into, and a separate bank account

 

[Cazza]

so what's your secret to successful beekeeping​

Having a large shed that SWMBO is afraid to go into, and a separate bank account

Ditto but swap S for HWMBO in my case.
Cazza

 

[lukestew]

so what's your secret to successful beekeeping​

Having a large shed that SWMBO is afraid to go into, and a separate bank account

HAhahah thats excellent.....im looking at building a bee house/shed

 

[REDWOOD]

location and some sunshine