Treatment Free

[Erichalfbee]

Are there any TF commercial beekeepers in the UK
Just asking

 

[For want of a better word]

YES... I believe so....

not me!!!

 

[Jimmy]

Yes, although no treatment would be misleading. Drone brood trapping as far as I know.

 

[Noddy]

Ron Hoskins, apparently - https://youtu.be/DUFDXl8VGvs

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Ron Hoskins, apparently - https://youtu.be/DUFDXl8VGvs

She asked for commercial beekeepers not dabblers

 

[SDM]

She asked for commercial beekeepers not dabblers

And his commercial success rested on misleading folk about how he'd bred varroa resistant bees as opposed to his accidental breeding of a less virulent DWV.

 

[Poly Hive]

The only person I know of fit to answer that question is ITLD. Who is away at the moment AFIK.

PH

 

[For want of a better word]

The only person I know of fit to answer that question is ITLD. Who is away at the moment AFIK.

PH

Why?

 

[domino]

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Why?

He's just popped over to Italy yesterday I think - forward planning for next year's queen rearing.

 

[For want of a better word]

He's just popped over to Italy yesterday I think - forward planning for next year's queen rearing.

The only person I know of fit to answer that question is ITLD...


OK.... If you ask the wrong questions... you get the wrong answers!!


Chons da

 

[oxnatbees]

Ron Hoskins, apparently - https://youtu.be/DUFDXl8VGvs

I know of one other (80 hives). He says he RARELY has to treat. Started using local survivor stock when his Italians were killed by varroa in 1992-3. He says these give a good consistent crop of honey and long term, slightly more than the Italians.

There is a little-talked-about fact about non treatment. Mites need brood to multiply. Intensive honey farming uses stimulative feeding to keep numbers up, so there's always brood. Non treaters are generally also leave-alone beeks with static hives and allow their bees to have brood breaks - to match local forage patterns.

 

[oxnatbees]

And his commercial success rested on misleading folk about how he'd bred varroa resistant bees as opposed to his accidental breeding of a less virulent DWV.

Nicely trolled, libellous one. He never claimed to know why, he just claimed to have observed 2 mechanisms (chucking out infested brood and chewed mites on the baseboards). A couple of years ago a 3rd mechanism was observed in his hives, which you allude to.

 

[charlievictorbravo]

Nicely trolled, libellous one. He never claimed to know why, he just claimed to have observed 2 mechanisms (chucking out infested brood and chewed mites on the baseboards). A couple of years ago a 3rd mechanism was observed in his hives, which you allude to.

I have a lot of time for Ron Hoskins but because he's not a main-stream researcher, we tend not to hear follow-ups of his work - certainly not much heard since Declan Schroeder's work on his bees. Has he been able to replicate his success in Swindon in another geographic location or is part of his success associated with drone-flooding in that area?

CVB

 

[B+.]

. Has he been able to replicate his success in Swindon in another geographic location or is part of his success associated with drone-flooding in that area?

Do you see susceptibility to a different virus as a success?

 

[domino]

Do you see susceptibility to a different virus as a success?

I thought the discovery that the Swindon bees were essentially inoculated from the A strain of DWV by so-called superinfection exclusion of the B strain very interesting.

Not sure it has a practical application but it did appear to contribute to fewer colony losses.

 

[Poly Hive]

Why because Murray is very well networked with the big players and so is the most likely to know. It's not difficult surely?

PH

 

[fatshark]

I thought the discovery that the Swindon bees were essentially inoculated from the A strain of DWV by so-called superinfection exclusion of the B strain very interesting.

Not sure it has a practical application but it did appear to contribute to fewer colony losses.

Not really ... it was a suggestion based upon the observation, not on a formal test of virus virulence or actual superinfection exclusion. Robert Paxton has subsequently demonstrated that the A and B strains are equally virulent in side-by-side tests. This is published (at least once).

 

[domino]

Not really ... it was a suggestion based upon the observation, not on a formal test of virus virulence or actual superinfection exclusion. Robert Paxton has subsequently demonstrated that the A and B strains are equally virulent in side-by-side tests. This is published (at least once).

Thanks, I found it online (I think) https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-05596-3

Underlines the importance of keeping varroa levels low when the colony is starting overwintering preparations.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Are there any TF commercial beekeepers in the UK
Just asking

Are you talking about full time commercial beekeepers that make their entire income from their beefarming business?