Ready for business?

[Neonach]

Hello, anyone there?

I've been watching this place for many month but though the light's on there doesn't seem to be anyone at home. If no-one minds too much I'll call in from time to time, as I don't really have anywhere else to stay right now. I've signed up with the Western Isles, but that's very Stornoway-centred and I'm unlikely to ever get to any meetings. So if there's any other lonely/remote/isolated Hebridean beekeeper wanting to virtually stop by for a noggin and natter ...

It's not just about being remote as a beekeeper! More importantly it's about our bees being profoundly isolated from other honeybees, and the difficulties this creates. And the opportunities! Mile after mile of machair wildlfowers all to ourselves! Wild clovers patiently waiting for honey bees to fertilize the flowers and thus to truly flourish! Mountains of glorious heather! Freedom from bee diseases! Ah yes, back to the problems: obtaining 'new blood' - reliably disease free queens and nucs and transporting them to our island refuges!

So whether you are in Tiree or Taransay, Scarba or Scalpay, let's make our common isolation our common strength, turning adversity into opportunity.

Hello? Anyone there? I've not been talking to myself again, have I? Comes from the isolation I guess!

[Neils]

Hi Neonach, not in the hebrides I'm afraid.

Forums can be a funny beast, especially relatively quiet ones like ours. Best advice I can give in the short term is to keep plugging away, might mean you get replies from outsiders in the short term but a lot of people visit, have a read, and if there's nothing of direct interest don't post or start new threads. Seeing some new topics appear though might be enough to start getting other replies and conversations going with more local Beekeepers to yourself.

And the rest of us find it interesting too :) I learn a lot from here from people keeping bees in different circumstances to myself so from a purely selfish point of view I hope you keep posting.

Neil.

[Jimbo]

Hi Neonach,

A few questions for you. Are your bees varroa free on Oronsay? Do you know where they originally came from? Have you taken wing samples to check how native they are? The reason for the questions is we might be able to suggest contacts where you might get some 'new blood' i.e. Native Apis mellifera mellifera