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Thread: Co-op Imports New Zealand Bees

  1. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Adam View Post
    Neil, I thought carnis were not hign propolis producers - mine aren't.
    I was told the opposite, but just doing a bit more reading, low propolis does generally seem to be a commonly accepted benefit.

    This hive almost literally drips with the stuff, I'll take a picture of the hive tool and gloves after the next inspection.

    Whatever they are, they're evil little buggers. On an apiary that's open to the public, I don't see that as being a problem to be perfectly honest and they're packing in the honey at the moment so I'll put up with the "you want some attitude" for a while longer I think.

  2. #12

    Red face Bene

    I only have one queen that looks like this out of 20
    The last one that showed up was in 2005 I had 2 that year.
    There must have been an Italian great great grandparent somewhere in my bees.
    She is very beautiful though and it's one of the pleasures of life to get a surprise once in a while.
    I just hope she sorts out the chalkbrood her mother left behind she was pretty dark

    It's great to see how reasonable and tolerant people are on the forum
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  3. #13
    Administrator gavin's Avatar
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    I have a hive which has parentage from your bees and looks quite Italian. I'd have thought that stock in your photo has Buckfast in its parentage? Not necessarily from a queen you introduced, could be that the genes came from drones in your areas. Buckfast usually have those orangey bands together with the broad grey bands on the tail.

    PS We're all reasonable and tolerant, aren't we?!

  4. #14
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    We're beekeepers, of course we aren't

  5. #15

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    Gavin

    I do know a beekeeper who had two buckfast colonies not far from me (that was 2003)
    Haven't kept in touch
    So you could be right there
    As long as this queen and her kids play nicely she can stay

  6. #16

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    Even the big queen producers like easybee have given up and are importing queens now.
    Personally if I was buying a nuc I would like one with an overwintered queen and bees she had raised herself.
    The current advice is to get one with this years queen.
    This years queen could have no relationship to the bees in the nuc
    That advice puts the commercial bee suppliers who sell nucs in a bind they can't get early enough matings so they import.
    I don't know why they don't breed their own queens for honey production though.

  7. #17
    Senior Member Adam's Avatar
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    Default propolis

    here's a goopy propolis picture
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  8. #18
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    Mine aren't a million miles away from that

  9. #19
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    Calum, you will not get a decent grant to breed AMMs on an isolated island en masse. I know because I live in just such a situation: No honeybees here except mine, and no grants either. I asked: a grant might be possible had I successfully established a business and could provide data that showed it was sustainable, and the grant would be for expansion that provided at least 1 additional full time employment or FTE. Unfortunately that full time job I want to create is mine, and apparently that doesn't count. It is a real struggle learning to understand how to best site apiaries, when to intervene (eg early spring supplemental feeding), how to manage mating, and above all where to get pure amm guaranteed disease free (no disease or pests at all that I can see - just a bit of wax moth). Until I can increase my number of colonies and obtain more diverse blood-lines I am forever on the brink of wipe-out. I'm aiming to get to 15 or 16 colonies at 3 or 4 apiaries (all 3miles or more apart), and achieve this within another 2 possibly 3 years, partly by breeding, partly by introducing nucs. That's a lot of money and effort, but the biggest worry is whether a supplier will actually supply, and at the right time of year, and be good specimens and not just cast-offs, and be disease free. Still sound like a dream job?
    Last edited by Neonach; 07-08-2011 at 10:26 PM.

  10. #20
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    Hello Jonathan and welcome. How long have you been keeping bees and how do you get on in the far west? How many colonies do you have just now? Can be a bit touch and go even in the Inner Hebrides!

    I think most of the AMM in the varroa-free areas are originally from Colonsay, because for a time that was the only place to get them. Here on Mull the numbers of colonies are increasing rapidly but we're not remote enough to avoid some mixing with the local mongrels whose origins go back to pre-varroa days when bees were brought in from other parts of the UK.

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