That'll be the end of that income stream for those poor sods. I guess many Italian beekeepers will be having their colonies destroyed pretty soon, I cant imagine the heartbreak and trauma will be nice, I know of a few ex dairy farmers who have had the stuffing knocked right out of them when they've lost their herds to tb or foot and mouth.
Those beekeepers and their families will be in my prayers.
How can you say that when we already have the sentinel apiary program ? (otherwise known as the horse has bolted program)
I imagine an immediate ban on bee imports from Italy will be put in place, but considering the size of the queenrearing industry they have, unless those operations are given massive assistance to diversify, those queens will find a way of getting everywhere by the back door regardless, that is the depressing bit, it could hardly have found a worse place in Europe to get a foot hold, I bet theres bee exporters having their sales inventories investigated thoroughly to try and track where bees from this region have already gone as we speak.
Well - it was eventually going to arrive at some time in europe or the UK through bee imports or soil imports. For the last 2 years Ive been ready for it. I've got my traps already prepared and bought a load of boric acid (yes, yet another acid to add to the beekeepers arsenal ) before prices go sky high. The acid is cheap to buy but no doubt when it is reformulated into "Hivevar, Beetle gone strips (BGS), Hive Beetle gel, Beetle gel, Hivegaurd, Hive beetle clean, Hive drench, hive wipe, Borohive, beetle catch, hive trap, beetle juice or some other catchy name it will quadruple in price
I beleive Varroa is a cuddly kitten compared to this bad boy
Some of the video footage on you tube is really revolting. It does not take that long to destroy a hive
Hope you are right MBC but the authorities should do everything possible to prevent the arrival of a new pest.
It likely has to potential to do a lot of damage in the South of England where it is a bit warmer than oop north.
Despite the clear assurance of one large scale bee-farmer that it'll never be a problem in the UK I can't help but think that you're probably right Jon, at the very least we probably need to assume the worst. One thing for sure, we will see for ourselves in time.
-----------
I was intrigued to read a post on biobees earlier which stated that a lot of German beekeepers overwinter their colonies in Italy. Hadn't realized that previously.
We have a few bee dealers in Ireland who bring in Buckfast queens and packages from Germany.
The bee farmers will not say anything which might jeopardize their current right to move bees packages and queens from one jurisdiction to another.
Bookmarks