vsh - form your own opinion

[Finman]

The science is moving forward at an astonishing pace, particularly in the area of genetics.
.

Really new to me! I have a degree in genetics, in university. I should have noticed that!

But I have a skill to find out, when it it is not moving and when it is humbug and when it is hobby beekeepers' fairytales. To that I have been educated: To sieve information.
.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

To keep my mouth sometimes shut, it has never been one of my best virtues

.

You don't say!

 

[Finman]

You don't say!

In Finnish: Älä helkutissa

 

[For want of a better word]

Really new to me! I have a degree in genetics, in university. I should have noticed that!

But I have a skill to find out, when it it is not moving and when it is humbug and when it is hobby beekeepers' fairytales. To that I have been educated: To sieve information.
.

***Overheard at a meeting of beekeepers in Devon the other week... I have a case of nosema... another beekeeper said... bring it over we will drink anything!

***About as pointless as saying you have a degree in genetics from ? 50 years ago?

Mine is 17 years out of date and things have really moved on!!

Nos da

 

[Finman]

***About as pointless as saying you have a degree in genetics from ? 50 years ago?



Nos da

Do you have expire date in degrees?


.

 

[Finman]

***
Mine is 17 years out of date and things have really moved on!!

Nos da

Really!.. And still you see with bare eyes viruses from bees. That ability I should like to own.

Things are moving on... Who told it to you?!
.

 

[For want of a better word]

Really!.. And still you see with bare eyes viruses from bees. That ability I should like to own.

Things are moving on... Who told it to you?!
.

The fairies at the bottom of the garden

Nos da

 

[Finman]

The fairies at the bottom of the garden

Nos da

I hope that your wife let you indoors to sleep.

.

 

[oxnatbees]

Finman mentions, "To keep my mouth sometimes shut, it has never been one of my best virtues"

We would love you less if you were more virtuous, Finman. You ask good, tough questions, even if you are a leathery old cantankerous iconoclast.

My own view is that it is good we have a variety of approaches. I am one of the leave-alone natural beekeepers you like to tease, who looks for local fitness (a well adapted landrace of bees), then there are hard-line conventional breeders of pure races, and everything in between. We all find problems and share these and learn from them. We would learn so much less if we all did the same thing. The important thing is to admit mistakes and listen to others.

I think people are missing a point, slightly. As usual with VSH and natural selection, people are talking about slightly different things. Most of us leave-alone beekeepers are not so interested in honey, and crucially we do not move hives to follow crops. We tend to have them in a small back garden. So we don't want mixed-race bees... if someone begins using Buckfasts or Carniolans in my village, everyone's bees will be hot for a year or two. In my particular area, I don't want a fast Spring buildup because there is not so much forage in Spring here (few fruit trees etc). But the bees I have seem to get on OK without treatment; they make a little honey, which is OK for a back garden hobby; they seem to adjust their brood rearing to match the nectar flows as if they know what the flow will be in a few weeks. I am learning to reduce their swarming. For Finman, they are rubbish bees, but they are suitable for my use.

If I was a migratory beekeeper I would be more interested in large colonies in Spring, and stimulative feeding. If I kept the queen laying, I am not sure my bees would still be varroa-tolerant. If you want really varroa resistant bees, I suggest you look at Swindon Honeybees - where Ron Hoskins has been selecting for truly varroa resistant bees for much longer than LASI etc. He is a conventional beekeeper and his bees are managed like you manage your own, their VSH is very very strong.

 

[madasafish]

Ron Hoskins? IIRC his claims seem to due to other factors - not his bees..Different type of virus...

 

[Beefriendly]

So we don't want mixed-race bees... if someone begins using Buckfasts or Carniolans in my village, everyone's bees will be hot for a year or two.

I was nodding my head in agreement until this...Your local mongrels are exactly that ...mixed race bees. It's their genes that cause the bad temper in the out-crosses with "pure" race bees.

 

[colinc]

.....lights blue touch paper and.......


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[Beefriendly]

.....lights blue touch paper and.......

Why should explaining about what mongrel bees are ignite any
furor?

 

[B+.]

Why should explaining about what mongrel bees are ignite any
furor?

Some can't accept the truth. Try explaining this to the BBKA!

 

[colinc]

Why should explaining about what mongrel bees are ignite any

furor?

It always does. This bee, that breed, AMM, local, pro BBKA, anti BBKA, I am surprised we don’t have fireworks already. Excellent starter topic for it.

“When we shut lots of bees in a small box for the winter it seems to have a detrimental effect on the behaviour of the keeper”

Oh well it’s all amusing to me.


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[Beefriendly]

Oh well it’s all amusing to me.
/QUOTE]

The "debates" or the ??

 

[colinc]

Both.


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[B+.]

Both.

Some of us actually care about the topic....nice to know you consider it "sport"

 

[colinc]

Some of us actually care about the topic....nice to know you consider it "sport"

Why look if it’s not interesting. But at the moment cabin fever is turning every thread into a mud fight. When I first arrived I got involved, to my detriment. Now I follow, comment where I am interested but mostly scan to learn new stuff from the polar opposites advice. Not a reflection on the thread more on the forum and it’s inhabitants.


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[Millet]

Why look if it’s not interesting. But at the moment cabin fever is turning every thread into a mud fight. When I first arrived I got involved, to my detriment. Now I follow, comment where I am interested but mostly scan to learn new stuff from the polar opposites advice. Not a reflection on the thread more on the forum and it’s inhabitants.


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Chill man pinch of salt and all that.. you know what you know and everyone else know what they know.. inhabitants tickled me by the way..