Co-op Imports New Zealand Bees

[Jon]

And that same active East Midlands group had to abandon a mating site when a load of EasyBee Carnica nucs were brought into the area iirc.

[mbc]

there are no others in the area to affect.

??!!

And that same active East Midlands group had to abandon a mating site when a load of EasyBee Carnica nucs were brought into the area iirc.

"No man is an island" is especially true when talking about bee breeding.

[fatshark]

How different is the climate in Aberdeenshire vs. West coast islands? Colder and drier vs. warmer and wetter I presume. If the Amm were succumbing to damp (in Aberdeenshire) then it must be surely worse on Colonsay? I can't imagine the Amm stocks on Colonsay - which I believe are mainly in cedar - suffer anything like 40% losses.

[drumgerry]

Aberdeenshire is a pretty huge area Fatshark. In terms of habitat it varies greatly from the coastal areas through the agricultural belt (where you find Craibstone where PH and B Mobus were located I believe) down to the very Highland areas around Braemar. But overall I'd say it's significantly less wet than the west coast. Most of the rain that falls comes from the west and a lot of that gets dumped on the Cairngorms before it arrives. I'm a native of Glasgow and when I first moved here (meaning Moray/Aberdeenshire) I couldn't believe how dry it was in comparison to my hometown.

[fatshark]

I lived in Glasgow for nearly a decade and evolved gills. I now have to do my beekeeping without gloves as I can't get any to fit properly …

ManFromAtlantis.jpg

[drumgerry]

Well at least you get to go to the Oil Barons Ball every year!

[Bumble]

Rather unfair criticism as as far as I know there is no one in the area with bees apart from one other person who is running bees I supplied him with.

Then you must live in a very remote area of the East Midlands, because even where we live there are around 150 registered apiaries within the 10km DEFRA radius.

The carnies produce nice colonies and I have no issues with selling them on. I am honest unlike some and tell them what to expect and give my number for advice? I am no snake oil merchant for info.

The heading of this sub-forum might give you a clue as to why you are being challenged on your enthusiasm for carnies!

Which is why I commented, and also because BKAs in and around my area do their utmost to encourage their members to buy local bees. If new beekeepers are buying locally then they expect to get just that, and not get a colony that's a single generation away from an import.

@ Fatshark. We found the east of Scotland significantly dryer than the west, although coastal areas do get the Haar in the summer.

[Adam]

If a beekeeper is keeping bees in a 'difficult' location, i.e. somewhere that's very wet, cold or both, isn't the best policy to breed from the survivors and losses will reduce over time as bees better adapted to the conditions will survive and even flourish. Then they become native over time.

[Rosie]

I agree with the gist of your post Adam but to me "native" means Amm and something like Amc can never turn into Amm although I accept that it could become just as well adapted as Amm over a long enough time.