This only applies to imports from third countries - not for intra-community trade.Originally Posted by The Drone Ranger
This only applies to imports from third countries - not for intra-community trade.
Thanks Duncan good point
Didn't the Portugese small hive beetle incident start with an American queen import?
Last edited by Rosie; 16-09-2014 at 08:51 PM.
A good SHB reference here{
http://www.extension.org/sites/defau...Beetle_IPM.pdf
The buggers even beg food from workers!! These beetles have no shame.
That is indeed an excellent read, many thanks. Something to go back to when we need a reference. One thing I noted is the discussion on preferred soil types. That echoes some advice I was given earlier by one of the sensible, bright, well-informed people in the Scottish Government (you know who you are!). There is a Jamie Ellis paper that describes their preferences and the sandy soil business is the first SHB myth to be debunked on here. It is soil moisture that helps them complete their life cycle, not sandy soil. In fact that may be one reason for them being less of an issue in Africa and some other places with habitually drier soil. Doesn't bode well for us then.
New catchphrase: The beetles know best .....
G.
Steve, yes, the Portugal case involved queens imported from Texas.
Things I've learned today include information that they are still trying for eradication and have a team of Italian national and EU specialists (from France) on the ground helping the locals. Also that there is a 100km cordon banning trade in bees as well as the 20km radius search for migratory colonies that could have been in range of the site. Clearly the authorities have been planning for such an incident and know very well what they need to do, although whether or not they are successful containing this outbreak is yet to be seen.
I was at a couple of talks given by Jamie Ellis a few years ago. I think that is where is saw the beetles begging food from the bees. Tom Seeley was on the bill as well so that was a good day out.
The vast majority of beekeepers would get behind an import ban if it meant we could keep out SHB so we should be lobbying hard for that.
Some chilling words from this commentator on Apitalia, via Google Translate.
http://www.apitalia.net/it/attualita_scheda.php?id=1604
That of 'small hive is, therefore, a new pest of beehives to be added to the many that already exist. The possibility that this tremendous haunter of the hives can spread to the national level is very high, especially as there is reason to suspect that it is already widespread in southern Italy for at least a year, but its presence has never been reported in the last season. To confirm this, the sudden surge in purchases of coumaphos in the last year by beekeepers Calabria. But the problem also concerns that nomadisti from Sicily to Calabria in the Marche are abandoning the fear of seeing their apiaries destroyed due to the discovery of 'small hive, according to the protocols provided by the Ministry of Health.
Haunter of hives.
That could catch on
Chilling indeed, we can safely assume the cat is well and truly out of the bag.
How can these coumaphos purchasing beekeepers look their neighbours in the eye? (or is it a shrewd move on their part making the beetle so widespread there's no point in a destruction policy on their hives?)
re. the preference for sandy soil, its a reference often made by real life beekeepers living with the pest (see a recent post by Mike Palmer on the shb thread on the bkf)( perhaps it should be "bigheaded beekeepers know best")
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