Honey bees on Tiree?

[Richard]

Excellent news that there are now managed bees on Tiree. It must have been about four years since I was approached by a local there who wanted to keep bees but moved to the mainland before we could sort anything out for him. What are your plans to prevent inbreeding, if you started with just the one hive?

I plan to set up my first hive in Surrey later this year and to use the next 4 or 5 years until retirement to gain as much experience as possible before starting a hive on the island, but the prevention of disease and inbreeding will be priorities. I have no doubt that there will be plenty of good advice available when the time comes!
Richard

[Jon]

What are your plans to prevent inbreeding, if you started with just the one hive?

Whoops, spirit of Eric Mc Carthur again and this is the rare case which is relevant as it is a completely isolated island population.

[Trog]

One assumes it's isolated, unless ferals have survived from way back, though drones might make it from Coll. We have ferals on Mull, just over the water, thanks to the lack of varroa so if bees were ever kept on Tiree, you never know.

[marknjo]

What are your plans to prevent inbreeding, if you started with just the one hive?

Andrew sent us a second (unrelated) queen from Colonsay which we used to start a second hive. The third hive was a swarm from this second hive. We will be on the lookout for another (black & varroa-free) queen either this year or next depending on conditions.

[Stromnessbees]

Hi Richard
We keep bees on Tiree!
We currently have 3 hives in our garden in Balephuil. This will be our 4th summer of beekeeping. We started after going on a fantastic course on Colonsay with Andrew Abrahams. Andrew supplied us with a nucleus of his Varroa free dark bees.
The weather here definitely is a challenge: the hives are located in a sheltered spot but still have to be strapped down and we wrap them in the winter to keep the driving rain out. Fingers crossed they seem to be doing OK in spite of this and the machair honey is delicious!
Feel free to come and see us the next time that you are on Tiree.

Well done for keeping bees on Tiree and even getting honey from them!
I googled images of the island and they showed a lot of windsurfers but no trees, which indicates that beekeeping can be a challenge.

A lot of areas in Orkney are similar, and especially on the Outer Isles it takes quite an effort to make a success of beekeeping.