As you said earlier, money's not everything...Originally Posted by Jon
Profits, schmofits
As you said earlier, money's not everything...
Sort that out with the farmers.As you said earlier, money's not everything...
You sort it out with the beekeepers.
vote for a ban.
The beekeepers are fine. UK and Irish bees are doing very well.
I more than doubled colony numbers this Year and got 400lbs of honey and 50 mated queens.
How did your neonic free Orkney bees do this year?
My understanding is that there is really no reliable system for assessing the numbers or health status of UK or Irish bees. The data have no sound basis. So many colonies have never been included and there's no accounting system for feral bees, or bumbles etc.How can you assert that 'bees are doing very well'?
I hope they are , but how you know that, I don't know.
Here in Orkney it's been a very poor year as far as sunshine, warmth, blossoms etc are concerned.
Again, I cannot offer any certain statistics other than to guess that bee yields are likely to have been as reduced as silage, hay, barley, beef and lamb.
Last edited by Johnthefarmer; 28-11-2012 at 02:07 AM. Reason: pedantry
You mean you don't even know how the bees on your own land produced this year - honey, queens, nucs?
Easy metrics to get your head around.
The stats for the Uk are quite clear. Colony numbers are increasing and have been for a few years now.
That's not the question you first asked.
I would have to check with Doris for a full anaysis of all our colonies. I do know that the hives on my farm produced a suprisingly good honey yield and we have more colonies now than in Spring.
Still, I can't see how you're so sure about increasing UK colonies. There are probably more notified,accounted for colonies than previously, but what does that really mean?
It means that these stories put in the press about carnage and bee Armageddon are not accurate.but what does that really mean?
The National Bee Unit (NBU) estimate that honey bee Colony numbers for England and Wales are 250,000 and 272,000 for the UK as a whole. They do not have records for other types of bees and bumbles as far as I know.
Which equates to roughly a 20% rise since the 1980, despite a probably continuing fall through the 1980s and 1990s. What this means is that Lord Melchett of the Soil Association was 'at it' in front of the UK Parliament Environmental Audit Committee last week. He talked about a catastrophic decline in bees since neonics came in, continuing the decline caused by habitat loss up to that point which apparently then stopped, and that is la-la land stuff. Fabricated, wishful thinking, makey-up, thing I-first-thought-of stuff. Invented. With bees, you can make stuff up and tell it to our MPs and somehow that is all OK because you represent the Soil Association. Its all there for all to see in the video.
They were also told later about the unequivocal decline in bumble bees, especially in parts of England, and the two or three species that have gone extinct. One may have been rediscovered I believe. The finger was pointed at pesticides, and the habitat loss and climate change contributing to those losses not mentioned by that speaker. No mention of the range expansions of some of the common bumble bees further north, and no mention of the new species that has colonised England and Wales right through the period of the neonic holocaust. This was the guy talking who discovered the new species.
Today the industry representatives and Dr Connolly of Dundee step up to the plate. Should be interesting viewing.
Can't wait for part 3. Got my popcorn ready!
From a local perspective our association who have recorded the number of colonies in the association for about the past 5 years have recorded increases in colonies every year over the 5 years. If I can get the numbers I will calculate the % increase to see if it compares with the national average. There is certainly no bee armaggeden in our area
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