I've have made a few changes to the registration system and would appreciate some help testing if you haven't registered yet.
https://www.bibba.org.uk
Regards, Steven T
I've have made a few changes to the registration system and would appreciate some help testing if you haven't registered yet.
https://www.bibba.org.uk
Regards, Steven T
Worked fine
Thank you for following through the registration process.
Much appreciated.
Regards, Steven
Has BIBBA always been about breeding AMM or was it wider than that ?
In the 50 years has there been much progress?
That's not a criticism I use the work of Peter Edwards to make life easier for me
has there been any change to the beekeeping map which can be attributed to BIBBA ?
Thanks for that - glad to have made someone's life easier.
My view is that BIBBA does no really know its purpose in life.
It started, as we all know, as the Village Bee Breeders' Association - and at that time I guess that there would have been very little available other than A.m.m. - so perhaps it was not necessary to spell out 'native bees'.
This changed to the British Isles Bee Breeders' Association, which was no more than a recognition that it had grown.
The name then changed to Bee Improvement and Bee Breeders' Association - a 'politically correct' (or perhaps incorrect?)change that was seen as keeping members in Eire on board. Of course the name now suggests that the association could get involved in improving any race of bee - something that I suspect would have Beowolf Cooper turning in his grave.
So where are we now? Is BIBBA an association devoted to native bees, or just bee improvement. If the former, then perhaps the name should be changed again to reflect that; if not, then I am not sure where its future lies.
What is very clear is that the Galtee group, NIBHS, and perhaps the mooted Scottish group have a much more clearly defined purpose.
Peter Edwards
Thanks Peter I didn't know how the organisation came about
Maybe if the internet had been around for 50 years things might have moved more quickly
Is the difficulty that stipulating bees are local and AMM might be mutually exclusive in most places
Some in Bibba get hung up on 'local' but as far as I am concerned the British isles is our neck of the woods.
I seems like a difficult to resolve issue
The main problem is that these issues lead to a complete lack of progress.
From outside of Bibba it looks bizarre.
Rather than hand-wringing about 'local' what is needed is people rearing queens and multiplying good stock sourced as locally as is feasible.
if there is nothing decent in your area, get some decent stock to graft from from as locally as possible.
Rubbish in rubbish out applies to grafting and queen rearing. You need to start with a few good queens.
Whether local is 10 miles, 50 miles or 250 miles - why get hung up about it? Just start.
One argument against "parachuting" bees to anywhere is that they might be incompatible with the bees that already dominate the area. If that happens, and particularly if the bees are in the hands of someone inexperienced, then the results of future open matings could be less than desirable. This is the difficulty associated with reintroduction.
Anyone lucky enough to live in an area where there is a high proportion of native genetics has no such problem. They can breed from their purest, provided the selected bees exhibit other desirable traits, in order to eliminate the worst of their bees and can afford to bring in purer stock to sweeten the blood.
Some areas can manage to keep 2 separate isolated strains on AMM and cross breed the 2 to get within-race hybrids. These, in theory, will offer outbred vigour without the usual unsustainable problems associated with hybridisation. I haven't tried this yet but I am working towards reaching the point where we can do it here.
BIBBA don't dictate to people how they should proceed but do try to encourage them to think about what they are doing and not just buy the first thing they stumble across or fall prey to suppliers who do not consider future generations. They also encourage cooperation between the beekeepers in any particular area so that they don't find themselves pulling in different directions. The local group approach has been a consistent policy of BIBBA from the start. However individuals choose to proceed I would expect BIBBA members to have the long-term interests of AMMs at heart.
It's a fact that BIBBA members disagree about how to proceed but I can live with that as it demonstrates tolerance and thoughtfulness.
Steve
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