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.

 

[Bee Real]

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.

I wouldn't call that apiary an hospital apiary it looked more like a morgue/cemetery apiary. How was he planning to resurrect dead hives? Perhaps he should clarify in his videos if AFB was found at that apiary

 

[Bee Real]

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.

Beehive burning causes spat between apiarist and agency

In this article Marco said it doesn't make sense to destroy new gear... If I receive a notice to destroy new gear, I would try to seek clarification with whoever issued the Notice first. Why would I destroy new gear and then post something on social media playing victim....

 

[tristan]

just to give some idea of how stupid things are at the moment, i just saw a social media video from one of the almost local commercial beekeeping companies. they are 3rd generation beeks, always regarded as been very good.
but they put up a video of them harvesting and shortcutting the afb inspection. the single most important inspection you can do, and they short cut it by doing single frame inspections. plus they must think its normal enough to put it on social media.
that company was also one of the ones worried about the foster test finding afb spores and putting them out of business. now you can see why that might be a concern to them.
the silly thing here is what money do you save shortcutting inspections? practically nothing.
risking their entire business for nothing.

i'm aware of another crowd that has done similar, and now they have afb randomly popping up.

@The Management Agency AFB

 

[Bee Real]

just to give some idea of how stupid things are at the moment, i just saw a social media video from one of the almost local commercial beekeeping companies. they are 3rd generation beeks, always regarded as been very good.
but they put up a video of them harvesting and shortcutting the afb inspection. the single most important inspection you can do, and they short cut it by doing single frame inspections. plus they must think its normal enough to put it on social media.
that company was also one of the ones worried about the foster test finding afb spores and putting them out of business. now you can see why that might be a concern to them.
the silly thing here is what money do you save shortcutting inspections? practically nothing.
risking their entire business for nothing.

i'm aware of another crowd that has done similar, and now they have afb randomly popping up.

@The Management Agency AFB

You should forward the video link and any other info to the AFB Agency. It may explain the prevalence of foulbrood in those companies....

 

[tristan]

You should forward the video link and any other info to the AFB Agency. It may explain the prevalence of foulbrood in those companies....

i don't think that company has an afb problem, that i know of. with their good reputation i'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.
i'm just trying to highlight how close to the edge beeks are running things, in a vain fruitless effort to cut costs.
i call it the "attack of the cheap's".

 

[The Management Agency AFB]

i don't think that company has an afb problem, that i know of. with their good reputation i'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.
i'm just trying to highlight how close to the edge beeks are running things, in a vain fruitless effort to cut costs.
i call it the "attack of the cheap's".

Thanks for flagging this, Tristan. As @Bee Real has rightly pointed out, if you could please send us the link, one of the Operations Managers will be able to contact the beekeeper and provide the right guidance, prior to the new season starting. A courtesy call with technical advice from us to them does not mean they are in trouble. They may not even have an AFB issue today, however, with less-than-ideal practices (such as what you have mentioned here), it could create future unwanted AFB issues.

We would rather be the ones strengthening the fence at the top of the cliff, than being the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff.

 

[tristan]

Thanks for flagging this, Tristan. As @Bee Real has rightly pointed out, if you could please send us the link, one of the Operations Managers will be able to contact the beekeeper and provide the right guidance, prior to the new season starting. A courtesy call with technical advice from us to them does not mean they are in trouble. They may not even have an AFB issue today, however, with less-than-ideal practices (such as what you have mentioned here), it could create future unwanted AFB issues.

We would rather be the ones strengthening the fence at the top of the cliff, than being the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff.

email sent.
i don't think these guys have a problem, but if they are shortcutting things that much it doesn't take much for it to become a problem for everyone.
also other beeks will see that video, think thats good and copy those poor practices without knowing its actually bad.

 

[jos@centalotago]

Well, this was an interesting and confirming read, and ironically this story about Steven brown and springvale honey is part of the reason I decided to jump back into beekeeping after 32 years. As this story unfolded, a friend who knew I'd been a beekeeper when I was younger asked me to look at a neighbors hives so I said sure, I'll have a look. He hadn't been into his hives since January 😬 and because I was using borrowed gear at the time I copped a sting in the eye 🤦😄 anyway the guy was keen to have honey and a couple of hives but wanted to sell one so I decided great, I'll buy it, he gave me an apairy site to use in exchange for managing his hives. Great deal and a win for both of us. Anyway as I was getting educated about the afbpmp, registration numbers and everything else that's changed since the 90s I kept an eye on the springvale honey story. I looked at the videos, I looked at every photo I could find online and I rapidly came to the conclusion that despite Mr browns protests to the contrary that he was the poor victim of the evil AFB monster squad, the photographic evidence said he was lying through his back teeth and he is the last lout I want anywhere near treatment for bee's. Watching the YouTube video of them pulling honey actually gave me shivers of dread. Burning works, it works in every country it is practiced in and in every country they use vaccines they have massive problems with AFB. I've had to burn AFB infected hives when I was younger and it's heartbreaking but you do it because you care about the rest of your hives and other beekeepers.

 

[Alastair]

Must be a real joy to work bees again after a 32 year break .

 

[jos@centalotago]

Must be a real joy to work bees again after a 32 year break .

You know it's like riding a bike 😂 I was fortunate to apprentice with some great beekeepers and it's something I've kept an interest in but it's actually been amazing how quickly I got back into the rhythm of the bee's. The guy I brought my hive off had a queenless hive and a dead out colony and I could tell from the activity and behavior at the entrance before I stuck my nose in. Yeah, before anyone roasts me, I know it's winter but we had a warm spell for a week at the end of may here with plus 16 Celsius temps and the guy hadn't opened the hives since early January, was running single deep management with a full honey super and a queen excluder betwixt them 😬 and bayvarol strips left in. Ironically the hive I brought is queen right 😂 so I'll do a split and repopulate his hives and I'm buying a few nucs from a local commercial beekeeper who was nice enough to sell me a box of drawn comb to replace the comb that had the strips embedded in them because they are nasty.

 

[Alastair]

I was fortunate to apprentice with some great beekeepers

Who were you with?

I too did my apprenticeship with some great beekeepers down towards your direction, although a little before your time. But we may know some of the same people.

 

[jos@centalotago]

Who were you with?

I too did my apprenticeship with some great beekeepers down towards your direction, although a little before your time. But we may know some of the same people.

Elkhart and Jenna shultz on coromandel peninsula near whitianga was who I was working for and apprenticed under, but he sent me for a honey season to a beekeeper Paul ( can't remember surname )on the Otago peninsula towards the albatross colony there, small operation about 200 hives and wedderburn honey for three weeks in mid summer the next year pulling borage honey so I'd get south island beekeeping experience with commercial beekeeper's who had different methodology and climate. I'll never forget pulling full depth honey supers off in mid summer in wedderburn🥵

 

[Alastair]

OK I don't know any of those.

 

[jos@centalotago]

OK I don't know any of those.

It was a few years ago, mid eighty's

 

[Alastair]

I was down there early 70's.

Either I never came across them, or, I did but it's 50 years ago and I don't remember .

 

[Jessej]

🤣🤣

 

[Jessej]

If only the sun would appear, it would be a boomer on the heather…one never loses the passion😌

 

[jos@centalotago]

View attachment 1812
If only the sun would appear, it would be a boomer on the heather…one never loses the passion😌

Oh that's nice looking heather blossom though. My bee's are bringing in nectar and I'm blowed if I know where they're getting it😄 early spring and I've stomped around the place in the direction I've observed them flying but nothing's flowering yet, willow catkins are still developing so pollen will skyrocket in a couple of days. Maybe they're sticking their noses into a orchard block across the river because the apricot and almond blossom is out🤷