http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/ne...tre/95386.aspx
I'm assuming this is still KVH (who I thought had gone bust and were selling all their kit) producing this. If so.....aaaaargh!!!
Scottish parliament honey
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/ne...tre/95386.aspx
I'm assuming this is still KVH (who I thought had gone bust and were selling all their kit) producing this. If so.....aaaaargh!!!
Last edited by drumgerry; 12-01-2016 at 05:59 PM.
Since when are honey bees endangered in Scotland.
Oh well I'm trying to give the Parliament more of an insight (as I see it) on their FB page
https://www.facebook.com/scottishpar..._t=photo_reply
Last edited by drumgerry; 14-01-2016 at 12:55 PM.
Do you actually KNOW the origin of the bees they placed there? Is it just rumours and tittle tattle?Originally Posted by drumgerry
FWIW I have NEVER sold any bees, imported or otherwise, to Kelvin Valley honey.
That is not to say they are not imported, just that I have no direct knowledge to say they are. It is perfectly possible that they get them either from another importer or from a secondary vendor.
However, again with no actual knowledge of the bees involved, it is important to remember these bees are more or less in a public space, and unless you want Claims Direct or similar coming hounding you, you must be very careful about the temperament of stock placed in such a location, or have very good insurance.
The local stock I have met round Edinburgh both to the east and west were decent enough bees and considered gentle *by their keepers*, but from what I saw I would not have thought them safe in a semi public location.
The business model of people paying to have bees on their premises or to sponsor hives is very interesting but I doubt its sustainability long term once the fashion fades and folk realise that honeybees are actually far from endangered, as the alarm stories only focus on losses and treat them as cumulative rather than taking account of the new colonies established each year.
When I get to my office I will post a link from France to show what some of these types of enterprise aspire to, and can be taking in 1000 euros and more per hive from concerned and supportive individuals, and still keeping most of the honey too. Nice work if you can get it but the admin must be terrifying.
Last edited by Calluna4u; 15-01-2016 at 09:10 AM.
As to the origins of their bees they're Buckfasts. Maybe you can point me in the direction of a Scottish origin supplier of these? I can think of one who trumpets british origin but whose claims, lets just say as this is a public forum, have been undermined. In any case I was careful not to say that the actual bees were imported. I said they were non-native which is true. I also said that KVH were well known importers - they may not be so directly but at second hand which may have been the more accurate thing to say.
Not sure I'd agree that making outlandish and false claims about "saving the bees" in order to rake money in is "nice work if you can get it". It does us all a disservice that these lies by these companies have taken such deep roots in the public consciousness.
Not sure what I'm looking at there. Is it a French enterprise along the lines of KVH?
Interesting, after a bit of digging, to find the "parent" company of KVH has gone into administration. After having been in receipt of hundreds of thousands in grant money over a few short years
The lowdown - https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/c...filing-history
[QUOTE=drumgerry;33952] Maybe you can point me in the direction of a Scottish origin supplier of these?QUOTE]
Myself? Our strains J7, J7A, and J25 are all Buckfast. Damn good and very well suited to our area....and yours btw.......several daughters of J7 got a cracking crop at the heather near Kincraig in 2015 and are into winter on 8 and 9 seams of bees in a Langstroth. We have supplied them to several people who are equally happy.
However, an AMM bee they most certainly are not. Also its a side alley, as there is absolutely no chance that the Kelvin Valley bees are of these lines.
Also........please don't dismiss the 'undermined supplier' as all bad. He uses two very good breeders in the UK to supply him with queens, Michael Collier, plus one other I know of, and might also sometimes get from Ged Marshall. Both use bees that are well suited to the UK climate.
Whilst its just plain daft to use bees that are poor performers in an area, the term locally adapted is misused to mean native types, and I have seen plenty Amm that were rubbish in this area, and plenty stock of non local origin that is brilliant and cross well.
Ok so we've established that you haven't supplied them.
Perhaps they used Ged Marshall. Doesn't he import his breeder queens from Keld Brandstrup in Denmark? And regardless both he and Michael Collier are not in Scotland.
Not going to get into what strains do well or not C4U or whether or not imports are bad. It seems that this subject is gone round the houses pretty regularly on here with no resolution. You have your opinion, I have mine and so be it.
Last edited by drumgerry; 15-01-2016 at 11:47 AM.
parrainer une ruche particulier - un toit pour les abeilles - adopter une ruche
1.Vous choisissez le nombre d'abeilles que vous souhaitez parrainer par tranche de parrainage de 4 000 abeilles (une colonie d’abeilles comprend environ 40 000 abeilles).
2.Nous installons votre ruche chez un de nos apiculteurs partenaires installés sur le territoire français. Il prend soin de vos abeilles et récolte votre miel.
3.Votre nom ou personnalisation de votre choix est inscrit sur les pots de miel, ainsi que sur la page du site à droite de votre ruche (sauf avis contraire de votre part).
4.Les photos de votre ruche sont visibles sur notre site internet.
5.Vous recevrez chaque année vos pots de miel, témoignage de votre engagement en faveur des abeilles et de la protection de l’environnement.
6.Vous pouvez déguster votre miel !
Vous parrainez Vous recevrez Le montant de votre parrainage est de
4 000 abeilles 6 pots de 250g par an 8 €/mois TTC soit 96 € sur une année
8 000 abeilles 12 pots de 250g par an 14 €/mois TTC soit 168 € sur une année
12 000 abeilles 18 pots de 250g par an 20 €/mois TTC soit 240 € sur une année
16 000 abeilles 24 pots de 250g par an 25 €/mois TTC soit 300 € sur une année
The list of names beside each hive is the list of sponsors of each colony.
They have divided the colony up into notional 4000 bee segments, based on mid season populations of (apparently) 40000.
Sponsor your 4000 bees and you pay 96 euros a year. Ten sponsors per hive equals 960 euros, for which you get 6 250g pots of honey and can follow YOUR sponsored hive on the website.
There are quite a lot of hives there, and if you click on the apiculteurs link you can see there are a lot of people doing it all over France.
Last spring we saw similar in Spain. As usual we are way behind the 8 ball in this country.
Do I agree with the idea? No. Do I think its is honest? No. Would I do it? No. ..... but...there are a LOT of people out there who have heard all the crisis talk and are happy to put in some lolly to making themselves feel good, and some businesses happy to relieve them of it. You focus on Kelvin Valley. What about Plan Bee?
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