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Do you want an Apiary Inspection Service?

Do you want an Apiary Inspection Service?

16K views 115 replies 21 participants last post by  sqkcrk 
#1 ·
Do you want your state to have or continue to have an Apiary Inspection Service?
 
#2 ·
I suppose mine already doesn't in some way. There are no full time inspectors and the one that comes out and inspects is a beekeeper who works for the dept. of Agriculture. So there is SOME kind of inspection. Without some kind of certificate there are places you can't sell your bees or queens and states you can't even transport them trough. So you need some kind of inspector to meet the requirements in OTHER states.

So, I guess, if you mean none at all, like AZ, I wouldn't like that because I couldn't sell queens. If you mean none, like where I pay to be inspected and get a certificate, like we have here, that works. Judging by the number on my certificate every year, I'm guessing I'm the only inspected apiary in Nebraska, either that or I'm always first in line.
 
#3 ·
I would say yes, for the reasons MB stated above. In addition I would add that it would be useful for begining beekeeps as well. But I don't feel that it should be manditory, or infringe on the rights of the indivual to manage their hives the way they want to. Tempered of course with education that would provide correct techinques for hive management.
 
#4 ·
rights of the indivual to manage their hives the way they want to.
I want to manage mine with extra AFB and Varroa a half mile down the road from you. In the middle of the summer, when they die off, I will take any honey in the supers and your bees can rob anything they want in the brood chamber. Next spring, I will put another package in. This way I don't have to feed over winter.

Obviously I am not being serious, but there should be a limit on your rights to manage your hives the way you want.
 
#6 ·
The problem in many professions is that the people that need the education are the last to want it. Just because I am educated, doesn't mean that I will use it.

I don't have a solution, and we don't have inspections here. I wouldn't have a problem with inspections of my hives. I do see the problem with people with hundreds or thousands of hives and mandatory inspections.

Maybe allowing education out of that situation. Allowing people to (using continuing education) opt out of the program.
 
#9 ·
>Maybe I didn't set this up the right way?

This thread is a poll. I didn't answer it, as I often don't answer polls, simply because none of the available answers was the one I wanted. Where was none of the above? Or some simple voluntary inspection done on request. I want some form of inspection available so I can get an inspection certificate. I don't want a madatory inspection or registration system. I did not see an answer that would reflect that.
 
#10 ·
I think a question, maybe, of greater relevance is, "Do you want any laws governing beekeeping?" If we have any regulations (such as requiring treatment for cases of AFB), we MUST have inspection services. Otherwise, the laws/regulations are meaningless.

For example, if we posted speed limits, but had no enforcement (no highway patrol, no sheriffs, no police), will anyone actually obey the speed limits? I think the same principle applies to beekeeping.
 
#11 ·
We have a program in Ohio that requires registration of each apiary. I don't know what would happen if you didn't register, since I've never considered not doing so. But I know that there are beekeepers who don't and I'm sure there would be some penalty if they were found out.

As part of our program, you can sign a "do not inspect" waiver and you'll never see the county rep. I've never considered this either, since I have a good working relationship with my county inspector and appreciate his input and advice. Whether I take it or not is up to me. Some people just don't want "strangers" wandering into their bee yard, regardless of who they are. Even if you do sign a waiver, it's my understanding that you can call and request an inspection if you have a problem or are selling hives/bees/equipment.

I've met inspectors from two other counties besides mine. All three were college educated and had/have commercial experience. All three were first rate individuals but are highly underpaid for their efforts. (they're not allowed to take tips either)

I understand our program is in jeopardy due to budgetary constraints. So far, it's still in operation.

Good luck setting one up, if that's your desire. Not everyone likes it. I personally do.
 
#12 ·
We have to much government already. This is from a government employee. Want less taxes and being told what to do? Stop asking for someone else to regulate you.
Take charge of your own life. AFB well treat it or burn it, burning is better. Got AHB replace queen, soap solution, Raid, or burn. Come on lets stop with this gota have someone looking over your shoulder and telling you what to do. We did not like it when England (King George) was doing that. What happended to us?
Dan
 
#13 ·
>>Take charge of your own life. AFB well treat it or burn it, burning is better. Got AHB replace queen, soap solution, Raid, or burn.

The question, then, is, "Can I do this to YOUR colony if you have AFB, aren't doing anything about it, and I'm concerned my colonies could be infected?"
 
#14 ·
I do take care of my bees. And no you can not!

I believe that I know what is best for my bees since I have been in business for over 30 years. I have burned and replaced hives as needed. I raise my own queens and AI them. Remember back in the old days, if you had/have mites they would burn the entire apiaries??? Called it Depopulation. Forgot? I didn't. No not me keep out of my hives, I'll take care of them.

Dan
 
#15 ·
But, see, what about those who don't? What if I want to take care of MY bees by getting rid of [your] bees because [your] bees might spread something to my bees? (I'm not implying that you don't take care of your bees, or that your bees have problems; just reverse the names, if you'd like.)

IMHO, the problem lies in this:

>>I believe that I know what is best for my bees. . . .

Again, I'm not saying that you don't know what's best for your bees. Your idea of what's best for bees might be completely different than my idea of what's best for bees. And, again, what about the beekeepers who aren't as responsible? None of them might be reading this board, but some are certainly still out there.

Added: What if one of my hives has AFB and is less than a mile from one of your yards? What are you going to do about it?

[ January 17, 2006, 02:19 PM: Message edited by: Kieck ]
 
#16 ·
Colony depopulation because of mites. Was that in 1984 or 85? If it was, then that was done under direction of USDA. Not an excuse, just what I remember hearing about things that happened before I got here from Ohio.

Since 1986, no colonies have been depopulated in NY, as far as I know.

Since i don't know who you are, how can I stay out of your yard? If an Apiary Inspector finds your yard, they will register that yard. If no beekeeper can be determined then the colony or colonies are the responsibility of the land owner.

I have a question for you.

There is a person who may or may not be down the road from you, but he is down the road from someone, and he says that he has no bees. He said that to an Inspector who saw him unloading a semi with a skid steer loader while keeping a smoker going. Lying to a state official while executing his or her duties is illegal. So what should be done?

Further, since this person says that he doesn't have any bees, I was instructed to check all of his yards that are in the listing. Two yards had hives with bees. The rest were empty. So, does he have bees or are the colonies the landowners responsibility?

And who is responsible for the yard that had the colonies with crayon markings AFB? What would you have the state do, in this case?
 
#17 ·
It would be nice. Out here you have to phone to request an inspection wether for moving or selling bees and to request inspection on other peoples hives that have moved bees next to your yard (up to a mile away anyway).

We used to have a nice apiculture program here where every spring everyones yards (all who were registerd) would be inspected. not every hive was inspected in the yard but a selected few. the bee act was enforced as well, at least more strictly. I think I would like those years back with a zero tolerance for afb infection, It's never happen yet to me but i'd cringe at the thought of someone who has a yard close to mine controling afb rather than preventing afb. I have in the pass had afb and my method of dealing with it has been waiting til evening then eradicating the bees, remove all equement of that hive, digging a pit and burn it and cover the pit after, and pouring cloronated water where the hive once sat. it sounds extreme perhaps but afb is highly contageous and i don't like it in my hives.

but these days its up to the beekeeper to inspect his hives and what was scary was i had gone with another beekeeper of 8 years to apimondia 99' in vancouver and at one of the lectures there was a photo of afb and her reply was "so thats what it looks like eh?" i had a look of horror on my face for a breif moment before i regained my composure becuase the hives she was running were close to my yards.

bottom line is that there are a lot beeks running a lot of hive and quit a few being close to each others too. It would be nice to know whats going on outside your yard as well as inside.
 
#20 ·
A bee inspector inspects a beekeeper once every two years on average, not counting commercial operations, that require some additional things for interstate travel, etc.

Lets see....

8,760 hours in a year.
Times 2 for two year inspection rotation is 17,520

Inspection of two hours..

2 hours divided by 17520 hours equals .0001131%.

Is it me, or can someone explain that having another individual looking at your hives for .0001141% of the time is somehow equated into a beekeeper losing control of one's hives. Sounds a little silly to me.

The beekeeper does anything else he wants for .9998859% of the time when a state inspector, who is there to help, is no longer around.

"Control me uncle sam". Do inspection programs really warrant such nonsense???
 
#23 ·
we used to have a be club here that was affiliated with the british columbia honey producers association. It was running for about 30 years until it disolved in 91', I was there for the last 2 years of it. Then a freind of mine and i tried starting a bee club that we would probably registered with the BCHPA and we had a few meetings but it was short lived as well. the closest bee club now is held in langly, about 45 kilometers away and a lot of the beeks that go to that club i know and respect and I have recently decided to take out a membership to the bchpa through that division.

it hasn't happened latly but some of the beeks that did place hives next to mine were from alberta, my yard of 40 competing with his yard of 300 and that would not even be a problem but that half his hives were infected with afb was. Beeks are suppose to have an inspection of there hives before moving from one district to another let alone out of province. His hives were inspected upon my request and half his hives,all that had afb, were burned, close to 150 hives made for a spectacular fire indeed, they did manage to save the supers and sterilize them with stack and fire method.

at the time that mites were starting to appear in the fraser valley we had one yard (our pride and joy yard) that was isolated and mite free until one day we had gone to our yard and siting on the other side of the fence litraly a stone throw away was 80 hives. we had gone to the supervisor of the ministry of apiculture to let them know what was happening. My dad was tyhe one doing most of the talking and he has a rather nasty temper and is quit short in these situations, so when the supervisor asked "well, what do you want me to do about it" I saw that caracteristic vein on my dads temple start to throb, the tendons his neck tensed, his face turned red and with blood shot eyes he told him what to do "I WANT YOU TO GET ON THE PHONE AND TELL HIM TO MOVE HIS BEES TONIGHT BECUASE IF HE DOESN'T HE'LL BE MOVING THEM WITH A RAKE AND SHOVEL THE NEXT DAY". We new it would only be a matter of time before that yard would of had the mites but they had them from that day on.

I could go on and on about this but the subject was would we like to have an apiary inspection service, my answer is most defenitly, i'd even pay annual fees to have that service back.
 
#24 ·
>>Help me Uncle Sam! Protect me Uncle Sam! Control me Uncle Sam!

I always hear about "government by the people, of the people, and for the people." If that's true, aren't we helping ourselves, protecting ourselves, and controlling ourselves? If it's not true, shouldn't we be trying to change the system?

Terrible circumstances in your stories, Chillard Willard. I'm sorry to hear about such things. Your last statement, in particular, is well said in my opinion. Here in SD, I do have to pay annual fees to register my hives, and I do appreciate the benefits from such a system. Like you said, some of these problems come to each of us in time, but we might be able to slow that spread through regulations. For example, we expect SHB this next summer here in SD. I know it's just a matter of time before they show up, but I would definitely be happy to have another 10 years before they do. I'd even be happy with just one more year before they arrive.
 
#25 ·
For people to believe that it is even possible to be free from government is silly.

Even in the basic unit of society, the family, government, of a sort, exists.

I don't know about your household, but when I was growing up I lived in a dictatorship in Maryland, just outside of washington, D.C. I'll bet most of you did too.

So, let's grow up. Alright? Government of some sort will always exist. Be thankful that we live in this country.

And if you don't care for the way that certain government agencys are working, get involved and change them, through your influence. You have more of that than you might think.
 
#26 ·
<sqkcrk>
Government of some sort will always exist. Be thankful that we live in this country.

True enough.

<sqkcrk>
And if you don't care for the way that certain government agencys are working, get involved and change them, through your influence. You have more of that than you might think.

And be vocal. Let people know that you think they may be headed in a bad direction.

<Kieck>
slow that spread through regulations.

For some people, this is the only possible solution that they can muster. Heck, Marx felt that a human's effort should be regulated because some people wanted to do things that he didn't think necessary.
 
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