Chris Manton

@austincwb What did he say?

@ElmTreeBees The results I'm seeing is what you'd expect with bees that do show VSH generally, firstly surviving then thriving so expect (even if I buy queens in) that the percentage of VSH resistant bees increasing longer term. Interesting Bob Binnie's recent comments on Amitraz.

Decent bit of brood in this double brood langstroth. A fair few like this....The bee season is definately going. Supers and moving to out apiaries within 10 days or so.

I've seen some good, some bad & some ugly hives today (not efb ugly, thankfully). 48 hives / 7 non layers (15%) With that loss ratio in mind & shaking out the limp-alongs we're talking around 1000 colonies. Last year we had around 1400 in Spring. Thats 30% less colonies (roughly) Assuming we're not going to get a brilliant season (last year WAS brilliant) then it's perfectly realistic to expect around 40% LESS honey than last year. Crumbs. Better get those bags of rice & beans ready.

ABUNDANT pollen & nectar comimg in from the Willows at the mo... Boxes ON!

This is our 'tippy' truck for hard to reach wet areas. I'll see if I can post a video of if in action if I get a chance. It has some positive reviews from the team but I've yet to use it. Around here the ground has firmed up quickly!

@austincwb Are you treating your resistant strain? That's a pretty good result. I hear stores of bigish losses in some areas of the country. Maybe your bees will be the last ones flying when the amitraz era ends!

@ElmTreeBees Not fully treatment free but heading in that direction interestingly about 20% of stocks are now my resistant strain. Losses over winter stand at around 15% including drone layers.

I do know Chinese producers pull unripe frames & extract 'on the fly'. I find it a bit difficult to get my head around this but if labour is cheap and it probably cuts swarming... or reducers the need for expensive equipment... Mechanic drying (nectar) as opposed to bee induced drying (honey)... is the former still honey? Again not sure, it's a technicality which I confess, confuses me.

@GwenynGruffydd The question is... is it fake? Difficult one! It sure tastes the same & is very bland!

A strong article by The Grocer . Well written and highlights the problems within the honey sector. Focusing on the issues with imported honey, authenticity and testing. You’ve got to ask yourself….if mechanically dried “honey” comes in to the UK at around 0.80p a kilo. How on earth are beekeepers making a living from that….how is it even possible to produce it and ship it to the other side of the world for that price? Finally how on earth is there an unlimited amount of that honey available to buy? Very pleased to see a big food industry voice highlighting these issues. They even got threatened with Legal action from one PR executive for asking hard questions!! Great job. 👍🏻🐝🐝 thegrocer.co.uk/analysis-and-f… @TheGrocer

1st starve out of the year. (Was a) good colony, young bees tried to snap back but short by around 2 weeks. Mitigating factors, awkward site, old brood comb so limited usable space- full of pollen Ultimately though; beekeeper error.

Almost all beefarmers use apivar, often exclusively. It will be no great surprise if/when resistance develops. Once it happens it'll devastate the industry, mark my words. Honey price will rocket & demand will sink to new lows because we won't be able to compete. Too much labour involved for OA & apiguard will crush late crop yields (and has questionable efficacy). I reckon around 10-15yrs so many of the current beefarmers will be retired (or dead).

@debates1989 Great to meet you, not sure anyone uses Apivar up here in the North

Losses, we're at the worst weve been for over a decade. Currently 17.49% losses. Last year was around 6%, Im hearing the same throughout with no obvious cause. Anyone else experienced this? Still not even out of the woods yet either.. 🐝

@HerringGeo55486 Very wet Winter but early Spring looks sonewhat promising. Don't seem to have a problem with loss of pollen & nectar around here. Pollen subs make very little difference.

@ElmTreeBees Are you having a wet early spring there? We are in Texas and heavy rain springs, like last year, really take their toll on the bees due to the loss of pollen and nectar.

Ground is drying incredibly quickly. This is fantastic news.

Getting some light colonies now *on the edge* of starvation. Only a couple of sites have put on a bit of weight. Probably saved around 10 so far. Curse of the National boxes & or underfed for what ever reason.

I think we'll probably looking at £400 nucs soon... Making up bees... walk in the park... dealing with customers...no chance!

Howard is doing a fantastic job of servicing the extract line. Look at how much propolis the uncapper gearing has picked up!

Feeling quite smug about bringing colonies back from distant apiaries after seeing the surging price of diesel. Will probably bring more back if inflation creeps up. If we have +4% inflation that will make a real term cut of around 35% since 2019.... Will nominal price of honey increase? Not sure. If not, I suspect uk production to fall significantly. There's a lot of grey hairs in the industry and not many young people wanting to bulk produce honey. It's hard work & barrier to entry to be competitive is now enormous. That's my opinion, anyways.