Springbank Honey forced to burn thousands of beehives

Springbank Honey forced to burn thousands of beehives after American foulbrood disease found

saw this over on social media. of course the rest of the story is not being shared, or at least i havn't seen it.
as afb management doesn't just test supers for the hell of it, no doubt they have found a lot of infected hives or high spore count in honey.
more than likely this is a case of beekeepers shortcutting beekeeping and let afb spread throughout their hives over a number of years (from experience it takes many years to get to this stage).
now its biting them in the rear but they blame everyone else instead.

sadly this is not new and is being repeated all over nz (i know of a couple myself), which in turn spreads to you.
double edge sword here is that its easy for afb to hide behind varroa problems, which we have a lot of. so you need to keep on top of both.

 

[NickWallingford]

From what the Mgmt Agency said, a decision to act on something other than clinical symptoms of AFB would (1) only be made by an AP1 (not one of the AP2 inspectors that you generally deal with) and (2) only happen after a combined history of increasing AFB findings and multiple instances of serious non-compliance. Given the recently publicised instance I am confident that the Mgmt Agency will have ensured a well-documented decision process.

The Foster Test has the potential to be a real game-changer for the PMP. Testing honey and bees with a culturing method has been accepted as 'valid'. I believe qPCR has the potential to both inform a bkpr about a hive's likelihood of clinical signs, as well as provide the PMP with a tool to be used as has seemingly been done in this case.

 

[tristan]

From what the Mgmt Agency said, a decision to act on something other than clinical symptoms of AFB would (1) only be made by an AP1 (not one of the AP2 inspectors that you generally deal with) and (2) only happen after a combined history of increasing AFB findings and multiple instances of serious non-compliance. Given the recently publicised instance I am confident that the Mgmt Agency will have ensured a well-documented decision process.

while i'm sure that is the case, they could do with a pr campaign to make sure everyone understands that. it would go a long way to ease the concerns.
you have to keep in mind that there is people out there deliberately making misinformation up and they have gotten a head start on this.

The Foster Test has the potential to be a real game-changer for the PMP. Testing honey and bees with a culturing method has been accepted as 'valid'. I believe qPCR has the potential to both inform a bkpr about a hive's likelihood of clinical signs, as well as provide the PMP with a tool to be used as has seemingly been done in this case.

beeks tend to forget that the old culture method was in use for a very long time. however my understanding is its limitations was the sampling, which excluded it uses on equipment.
pcr enabling testing of equipment is an absolute gamechanger, it closes that loophole.

 

[Bron]

As an person who tries to be optimistic, I’d rather put my faith in the AFBMA rather than the rhetoric we have heard from the man on social media. I believed right from the beginning that if you’d been ordered to burn, there was more to the story. The MA, within the privacy restrictions, has tried hard to reassure beekeepers that this is indeed the case.

I had my daughters in-laws here for a visit, their take on what they’d seen on tv & social media was interesting, they have no knowledge of beekeeping, other than as grateful recipients of the golden bounty. They were concerned 😧 that their was no ‘insurance/payment’ for burnt afb hives, based on what they’d seen the felt that the ‘poor’ beekeeper had been hard done by. I explained that in order to have afb supers then there were undetected afb hives. We then had short educational discussion about charlatans, posers & ppbk. My work was done.

We need to educate, one person at a time if need be, bees don’t need saving, beekeepers do, sometimes from other beekeepers. Plant bee friendly plants, beehives take a lot more work, and aren’t garden ornaments. It’s been my catch cry over the last 4 years.

We have to stick together, support those that support us.

 

[Mummzie]

While that incident was getting media attention, I gave a talk to a group of long retired business people.
I was asked about it and was able to convey that the reporting was one sided, only half the story was getting airtime and it was akin to feeling sorry for someone who had proceeds of crime confiscated.
If there is a positive to come from this- its been the opportunity to educate.

 

[Annika]

While that incident was getting media attention, I gave a talk to a group of long retired business people.
I was asked about it and was able to convey that the reporting was one sided, only half the story was getting airtime and it was akin to feeling sorry for someone who had proceeds of crime confiscated.
If there is a positive to come from this- its been the opportunity to educate.

I see June 18th more orders to burn, in his "hospital" apiary. Including pallets and unused treatments. He's still asking for public help and saying the inspectors ordering the burn are competitors. Sigh. .....

 

[Alastair]

Move infected hives to a hospital apiary? Brilliant 🙄

Perhaps he is one of these guys who thinks his bees can recover from AFB, or he thinks he is breeding an AFB resistant strain.

As to being "ordered" to burn unused treatments, if he is referring to unused mite treatments, no AP2 would have ordered him to burn them. It is outside their scope which is AFB. If the treatments were expired a suggestion may have been made, but that would be as far as it would go. If he wants to use expired treatments, his problem.

Course if the treatments were for something other than mites and illegal, possibly a different story.

But bottom line I believe nothing that comes out of this guys mouth.

 

[John B]

If those pellets had infected hives on them then they absolutely could be a new source of infection. If the burning of unused varoa treatments was ordered then that would be completely out of order but I find that very hard to believe.
Assuming that Stephen was lying on that video then perhaps it is time for the management agency to take a case of defamation against him.
Surely there is no privacy issue if someone says that you did something and you actually didn't.

 

[tristan]

whats the bet that it was "used treatments to be burnt".
that would make more sense. beeks leaving strips on the ground, or reusing them (which would not surprise me).

 

[John B]

Given that all his hives are supposed to be organic I wonder where those strips came from.
As for hospital apiaries I have seen one of those before and much to the owner's surprise none of the 40 heavily AFB infected hives recovered although they did go from being infectious to sterile after the judicious use of a match.

 

[tristan]

Given that all his hives are supposed to be organic I wonder where those strips came from.

staples?

As for hospital apiaries

quarantine sites are not that uncommon if your dealing with multiple afb sites and especially with migratory beekeepers.
easy to move all the hives from those sites to one site and deal with them there. then you can put clean hives into the cropping location (and hope the source has gone).
its not a bad way of doing it because odds are there is sub clinical hives that will go full flown over the next few seasons. it keeps those hives out of circulation.

for eg we had a couple sites get hammered by afb and it was easier to put what was left into one site.

 

[Alastair]

I see June 18th more orders to burn, in his "hospital" apiary. Including pallets and unused treatments. He's still asking for public help and saying the inspectors ordering the burn are competitors. Sigh. .....

I didn't find this video, anyone got a link?

 

[Annika]

I didn't find this video, anyone got a link?

The videos are on his Instagram page. I think you can view on a browser if you don't have the app. But don't quote me on that. The treatment he held up were sealed packs of formic pro. The hospital was were weak hives or hives that needed checking went. Didn't seem like much bee activity happening at the site. Although it has been cold.

 

[Annika]

The videos are on his Instagram page. I think you can view on a browser if you don't have the app. But don't quote me on that. The treatment he held up were sealed packs of formic pro. The hospital was were weak hives or hives that needed checking went. Didn't seem like much bee activity happening at the site. Although it has been cold.

Disclaimer, the more videos of this guy and his operation will have you disliking him even more.

 

[tristan]

Disclaimer, the more videos of this guy and his operation will have you disliking him even more.

is that even possible ?

 

[John B]

The management agency has stated categorically that they would never issue a destruction order on unused gear.
Stephen has stated several times that they have.
This leaves three options. That one or the other is lying or that there is some serious miscommunication going on.
The whole thing is really a bit of a sad mess . It's time it went away.

 

[tristan]

The whole thing is really a bit of a sad mess . It's time it went away.

trouble is its not going away anytime soon. its doing the rounds with the anti-govt, anti-social, crowd. now we have non-beeks trying to tell beeks what to do.

 

[Alastair]

The management agency has stated categorically that they would never issue a destruction order on unused gear.
Stephen has stated several times that they have.

Marco would not have publicly said that without first checking with his AP2's to be double sure that did not happen.

I know which one I believe. We are dealing with a guy who claims being forced to burn ten thousand boxes, which seems a nice round number. He adds that they are worth $2 million. IE, $200.00 each. When questioned about that he responded that he has them on the books for $200.00 each. Point being, having them on the books for $200.00 each, does not somehow make them worth $200.00 each. What it does tell us, if his claim they are on the books for $200.00 each, is there is some very dodgy book keeping going on.

I just sold off a bunch of good used honey boxes with 10 frames for $40.00 each. And they were in better condition than the ones shown in Stephens video, that's where the market is right now. I have seen them advertised on Trade Me for 1/2 that.

 

[Annika]

staples?


quarantine sites are not that uncommon if your dealing with multiple afb sites and especially with migratory beekeepers.
easy to move all the hives from those sites to one site and deal with them there. then you can put clean hives into the cropping location (and hope the source has gone).
its not a bad way of doing it because odds are there is sub clinical hives that will go full flown over the next few seasons. it keeps those hives out of circulation.

for eg we had a couple sites get hammered by afb and it was easier to put what was left into one site.

Yes, but usually with the intention that burning is the next stage. Clearly this person does not want to burn.

 

[Bron]

The one really good thing about a small family run business is that you know everything is done to the same standard because we are the skin in the game. We employ no staff.

To me as soon as it’s not your (families)hands and eyes in your hives, then something can be lost. We don’t take staged photos and videos of our family working, it’s actually what we do. The only unshared job is the Office Administrators job! My No. 2 daughter would be the best OA, way better than me, but currently she’s got a life away from her home town. My only hope is Riley (6) can be trained to be the future OA! Quinny (4) has not the temperament for it.

Obviously, not looking, or not understanding what you see doesn’t mean it ain’t there. Doing nothing ain’t gonna solve any problems you perhaps didn’t want to know you had.

Hopefully, some of coming from Mr “I’ve been victimised” is actionable. I’ve seen better behaviour from a class of 6 year old boys! I’d love like John, to see this go away. I also think that APINZ needs to speak up. Their silence has gone on long enough.

 

[The Management Agency AFB]

Kia ora koutou,

Thank you for the support all of you have provided. We realise there have been many questions around this particular beekeeper; most of which we have answered through the Industry announcement documents. Something that keeps coming up repeatedly is whether new gear was instructed to be destroyed.
We would like to assure everyone that when Notices of Direction for destruction get created, these are always for used AFB-infected hives and associated used beekeeping equipment. At no point has the Management Agency ever instructed a beekeeper to destroy new gear, including for the current situation.

Secondly, a Notice of Direction will always have consequences of not complying with the Notice stated at the bottom. It is a legal document and is no different to any other legal documents that state penalties. By law, the Management Agency has to state those consequences. The approach is that when a beekeeper is issued a Notice to destroy, they have 7 days to comply and confirm it has been done. The majority of beekeepers follow this with no issues. Many beekeepers contact the Agency to clarify their understanding and do not action the Notice until that clarification has been sought. Examples could include inability to find a suitable burning spot. It is preferable to us if beekeepers contact us early about logistical issues; this is still noted as willingness to comply with the Notice.

If a beekeeper is ever in doubt, it is best they wait until they have heard back from the Operations Managers and clarified their understanding, before actioning the notice. If the query comes to us outside business hours, the Management Agency will get back to the beekeeper the next business day.

Thirdly, a Complaints Management policy does exist and can be found here: https://afb.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Policy-0032-Policy-for-Complaints-Management.pdf

We realise the social media posts are upsetting and has generated interest from non-beekeepers around the world. The Industry documents and all the newsletters are open access: AFB PMP Newsletters | The Management Agency, National American Foulbrood Pest Management Plan New Zealand
We encourage you to share these wider within your networks.