Vanishing of the bees

[For want of a better word]

Thursday 24th March 7pm Callington Town Hall

Plan
BEE​

Vanishing of the bees
Around one fith of UK honey bees were lost in 2008/9
This film provides an eye opening account of the shocking truth behind the declining bee population

ETHICAL SCREENINGS BY THE CO-OPERATIVE
an exclusive member benefit



Has anyone seen it?

I'm going to go in disguise an ask a question as to the Co-op farm and IMPORTED BEES!

 

[Hombre]

Why would you want to go in disguise - raincoat? Not that sort of film.

 

[peteinwilts]

I'm going to go in disguise an ask a question as to the Co-op farm and IMPORTED BEES!

troublemaker!

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

Quite why some people feel the need to belittle the co-op when they are obviously trying to be positive and supportive of beekeeping is absolutely beyond me. They may not be perfect, but theres not many that are!

 

[Poly Hive]

I agree.

Further where are these figures that show bees declining?

The very membership of this forum puts the lie to it all. It's spin and stats as far as I can see. Utter rubbish to be honest. And who has been so very busy shouting about it for their own reasons.... the BB** is who.

So what bees declined over one winter... it happens, it has happened for donkeys years, you get a time when a group for lack of a better word get to that age when they think ok time to give up and do. Or worse they think I might manage another season and are not fit to look after their hives and the hives die off. This is quite normal.

What is quite abnormal in the UK and it seems esp in England is a sudden upsurge in the popularity of the craft. How long it will last remains to be seen but right now I suspect that the numbers are as high as they have been for long enough.

I get so fed up with people doom saying all the time. A bit of positiveness would be so very beneficial.

PH

 

[Storm™]

Oh my god

If you lot could see Callington. To say it's one street of shops is an over exaggeration. Its one half of a street about 200 yards long - ginsters down the road which is in decline if not closed by now - a petrol pump - and a couple of antique shops, and of course the obligatory Tesco. Blink and you would miss it and be two miles out of town. On the outskirts it has a matt, "wipe your feet on your way out and will the last person leaving please turn out the light". Christ Launceston is a metropolis in comparison and launceston is lmao,  a town in deep decline through lack of interest.

 

[Dishmop]

Who is it that says there are less bees than there used to be?
The man next door... the local Beek group or an official world wide body?

I heard that since the law changed in New York to allow bee keeping, there are now millions of beeks there......(might have been millions of hives) so thats a lot more than before....
how many on this forum have started in the last year or less?

Its been said on here several times by members that thier local beek group has a waiting list for new members...

I am inclined to think some of the doom and gloom is centred around the American bee industry where they move their hives thousands of miles backwards and forwards to the Almond harvest.
One program I watched showed a woman who's bees had been overwintered in a huge warehouse...... They loaded them up onto trucks and shipped them to the Almonds. When they got there they found that a large number of the hives were dead anyway.... Any desease they may have had has therefore been brought to an area where other beeks from other parts of the US have also brought thier hives.
In this country when we had foot and mouth.. farmers couldnt even move their cattle across the road to another field...

 

[Poly Hive]

Precisely.

A guy in the states use to say he could get any number of colonies to your property on the mainland states with in 48 hours of your phone call.

Any number! These people work in tens of thousands. Yet he said any number....

Stressed to death is the answer and until they wake up they are going to have issues.

Here is rather different.

PH

 

[Rosti]

I went to see the co-op film when it first came out (I think March 2010), it was accompanied by a post film debate and had Co-op and conservationist reps up on the stage to field questions.
The film was a product of it's time and focussed very heavily on the US situation, something that has been debated on the forum in the past and is generally recognised as having little relevance to UK beekeeping and certainly UK 'hobby' beekeeping. The film was probably outdated as soon as it was released but still out shone the post film debate which was poor, given the speakers were poorly informed (IMO).
I am sure the film and initiative was well intended but CCD has not happened here (and given why it happened in the States, would not happen here). Through awareness or what ever UK hive numbers do seem to be in a strong position currently. The mistake is that the film is still being shown as if it it current, it isn't and for a UK audience probably never was.

 

[Chris Luck]

I'm in complete agreement with PH on this and it's exactly the same here in France.

People open their mouths and talk crap without actually engaging their brain, then in some cases along come the journalists who know nothing about the subject and type or point their camera and the whole thing becomes a self perpetuating myth.

Unfortunately I now find web sites springing up on almost a daily basis from individual bee keepers and bee keeping groups that spout this fiction on their front page.

The mass movement of hives and associated practises are another matter I suspect.

Chris

 

[greatbritishhoney]

Whilst I agree with most of the comments, we have to be careful not to be complacent here - we don't know for certain what causes CCD in the US and therefore we can't categorically state that it'll never be a UK problem.

 

[nelletap]

Surely this underlines a benefit of the Co-op - they are in even small places and any customer becomes a member for free and gets a share?

They have to be commercially viable but they do seem to do more than other supermarkets with local and environment issues.

Tricia

 

[BobH1]

Who is it that says there are less bees than there used to be?

Not the BB** - they say the number of hives increased from 40,000 in 2007 to 80,000 in 2009

 

[Poly Hive]

They have rather changed their tune then as their theme was woe is us.

PH

 

[Chris Luck]

Not the BB** - they say the number of hives increased from 40,000 in 2007 to 80,000 in 2009

So a simple case of supply and demand?

Chris

 

[Dishmop]

good excuse to up the price of honey I suppose.....

 

[Chris Luck]

Only if you can convince people that cheap or cheaper imports aren't as good.

Chris

 

[For want of a better word]

Blimey... all I posted was the fact that the Co~OP are screening a film on bees in Callington

I know Callington is not the center of the universe, but it does stage a Honey Fair every year that the tourist flock to, the schools have an excellent ofsted report and the pasties (Not the Ginster ones made for the less discerning great unwashed... a Cornish export we are not particularly proud of !) from the highstreet baker are the best ever!

However........ my question is, has anyone seen this film, would I be dissapointed, and what questions should I ask.

Did the BBC show this recently?
Truck loads of bees being transported to their death in the Nevada dessert/
Container ship loads of shaken up brood exported from OS across the Pacific?


I need councilling!

 

[Rosti]

my question is, has anyone seen this film, would I be dissapointed, and what questions should I ask.

Yes! Seen it, you’ll find it interesting but likely question it’s relevance to the UK; see post #9!
You could ask what parallels they regard as relevant to the UK hobbyist and 'honey farm' model compared to the primary migrant pollination model focussed on in the film

Film focussed on 2008 stats, what is the UK update on losses and causes
See if you can get any more out of them on the point they make about poor genetic diversity, or their proposals, I couldn’t. They also talked about local genetic breeding to local conditions and multiple controlled breeder lines, but they didn’t say they were going to impose that on their supply chain or how they would promote that view in a wider sense. Can’t remember much more.

In fairness to Co-op, their stance is fully consistent with their approach to trading, over the years I have worked within their supply base they have always maintained a high environmental and ethical awareness and expectation.

 

[For want of a better word]

Yes! Seen it, you’ll find it interesting but likely question it’s relevance to the UK; see post #9!
You could ask what parallels they regard as relevant to the UK hobbyist and 'honey farm' model compared to the primary migrant pollination model focussed on in the film

Film focussed on 2008 stats, what is the UK update on losses and causes
See if you can get any more out of them on the point they make about poor genetic diversity, or their proposals, I couldn’t. They also talked about local genetic breeding to local conditions and multiple controlled breeder lines, but they didn’t say they were going to impose that on their supply chain or how they would promote that view in a wider sense. Can’t remember much more.

In fairness to Co-op, their stance is fully consistent with their approach to trading, over the years I have worked within their supply base they have always maintained a high environmental and ethical awareness and expectation.

Thanks Rosti... that was the info I was looking for, may well go along and see the film

An St*r* in deepest darkest Kernow, didn't ya know the South West is a playground for the inhabitants of the Home Counties, the center of the universe where ALL the wealth is?
Been to Padstowe or Rock lately?
Shame on you !!!