New BIBBA website

[The Drone Ranger]

Hi mbc
on the commercial beekeeping operations, if you support that activity thats fine
But nobody can complain that their breeding programs have been torpedoed by an influx of foriegn bees and in the next breath direct hundreds of hives full of self same bees to somebody else's back door
If you can make sense of that you will be doing better than me

When I go anywhere with my wife she always has a firm opinion "it's this way we need to go "
"i'm sure it's over here" etc
BUT over the years I have learned that she is mostly wrong.
In fact she has not the slightest talent for finding her way round nor any sense of direction whatever.

You can't tell her this, otherwise she will tend to overreact

So I have learned over the years to just ignore her advice on the basis that if you are trying to get somewhere its better just to follow your own path rather than be lead in circles by someone who hasn't a clue where they are going but thinks they have

I will leave the readers of this thread to make a judgement about whether there is any logic in any of the arguments they have read or whether they might just find themseves following someones advice who is more clueless than they are

[mbc]

Hi mbc
on the commercial beekeeping operations, if you support that activity thats fine
But nobody can complain that their breeding programs have been torpedoed by an influx of foriegn bees and in the next breath direct hundreds of hives full of self same bees to somebody else's back door
If you can make sense of that you will be doing better than me

When I go anywhere with my wife she always has a firm opinion "it's this way we need to go "
"i'm sure it's over here" etc
BUT over the years I have learned that she is mostly wrong.
In fact she has not the slightest talent for finding her way round nor any sense of direction whatever.

You can't tell her this, otherwise she will tend to overreact

So I have learned over the years to just ignore her advice on the basis that if you are trying to get somewhere its better just to follow your own path rather than be lead in circles by someone who hasn't a clue where they are going but thinks they have

I will leave the readers of this thread to make a judgement about whether there is any logic in any of the arguments they have read or whether they might just find themseves following someones advice who is more clueless than they are

Lol.
I'm not quite sure whether you're calling me clueless or accusing me of offering advice, either way I had to laugh at the "she will tend to overreact", very familiar !
As to commercial beekeeping activities and breeding programs being mutually exclusive, I have a diametrically opposite view which is that it is only from broad bases of consistently monitored stock that the best breeding material will be selected.
I also have an issue with the idea that commercial beekeepers are automatically going to be inconsiderate towards their amateur beekeeping neighbours, its not the money and film star lifestyle that draws people to keep loads of bees, its the love of them.

[The Drone Ranger]

Hi mbc
none of the above really I would say you are very clued up
but look at it this way
Say I wasn't happy with my hybrid bees
I answer the call to arms and decide to become a BiBBa member and breed AMM bees
I look for leadership and find some - the route I am led to take is local bees and breeding for maximum purity
I then find the glorious leader arm in arm with a huge importer of bees
Those bees surround my embryo breeding project threatening it's very existence
so I move house to the top of a mountain on a heather moor
My erstwhile leader then follows with a load of mates who put their bees on the heather
I lose faith in the leader and buy a nice Carnie queen
The wrath of the righteous decends on my head I am a wrecker ruining the gene pool ?

I wake up in a cold sweat but realise it was all a hideous nightmare -- relief
I haven't bothered with AMM I haven't wasted years trying turn the clock back to the dawn of beekeeping
I haven't been led into the futility following the glorious leader
Like the charge of the light brigade (should that be dark brigade) bad choices made by good people have unfortunate consequences

I'm with Reggie Perrin " who ever heard of the persecution of the apathetic by the bone idle"

[Jon]

As CJ would have said, I didn't get where I am today by humouring carnica.

[The Drone Ranger]

As CJ would have said, I didn't get where I am today by humouring carnica.

Brilliant LOL!

[drumgerry]

it is only from broad bases of consistently monitored stock that the best breeding material will be selected.

I agree MBC but I think if we're talking about AMM then you'll be looking in vain for your "broad base" to come from the commercial sector. As far as I can see they please themselves and take no account of the rest of us. They might love bees but they love their bees.

Interested to hear what the "naive elitist ideas" are and who they originate from in your opinion.

[The Drone Ranger]

I agree MBC but I think if we're talking about AMM then you'll be looking in vain for your "broad base" to come from the commercial sector. As far as I can see they please themselves and take no account of the rest of us. They might love bees but they love their bees.

Interested to hear what the "naive elitist ideas" are and who they originate from in your opinion.

Misprint that should say native elitist
Drumgerry you have the right Idea
When you bought that II kit I thought the "cria has gone loco"
Turns out you were right it is the essential ingredient
You can have seance without a Ouija board but it's better with
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/Ouija-Boards-/102515/i.html
here's a link for said board which might come in useful for contacting sources of pure AMM stock

[Jon]

sources of pure AMM stock

plenty over here.

When you bought that II kit I thought the "cria has gone loco"
Turns out you were right it is the essential ingredient

Very useful ingredient but I would say working with a local group is a more important factor.

[The Drone Ranger]

plenty over here.


Very useful ingredient but I would say working with a local group is a more important factor.

You could be posting your frozen drone sperm next year

[Jon]

You could be posting your frozen drone sperm next year

Apparently it keeps pretty well at room temperature for a week or two.
Gerry has probably read up more about it than I have but I did have someone send me a load of links and documents on II a couple of years ago.
definitely something I will get into at some point. One step at a time.