Due to a slight administrative hitch, I hadnt received the last few months BBKA news. This has now been remedied and I was interested to see an article in the October issue on feral colony cut outs from buildings.
It’s not a subject I am very enthusiastic about as it can be fraught with complication and unintended consequences but I thought it was a very good article generally. My reservations were the example illustrated was a flat roof with scaffolding - a perhaps unusually benign example of the genre, references made to cutting structural timbers and the statement “...you must step in to rescue a bee colony” if a building is being demolished or reroofed.
I am not sure I agree with the latter point at all. Along with much other good advice, the author very sensibly says never to work from a ladder but the reality is most roof removals will be on pitched roofs at height. The “method” quoted requires 3 or 4 beekeepers. Hmm.
I would advise caution in getting involved in a building undergoing demolition - they are often inherently unstable and cutting away timbers to improve access “don’t worry- it’s all coming down anyway..” is just asking for trouble.
So no, personally I don’t think hobby beekeepers have any duty whatsoever to “rescue” colonies from buildings especially at height or from within built structures.
Any other views or am I being a snowflake??
It’s not a subject I am very enthusiastic about as it can be fraught with complication and unintended consequences but I thought it was a very good article generally. My reservations were the example illustrated was a flat roof with scaffolding - a perhaps unusually benign example of the genre, references made to cutting structural timbers and the statement “...you must step in to rescue a bee colony” if a building is being demolished or reroofed.
I am not sure I agree with the latter point at all. Along with much other good advice, the author very sensibly says never to work from a ladder but the reality is most roof removals will be on pitched roofs at height. The “method” quoted requires 3 or 4 beekeepers. Hmm.
I would advise caution in getting involved in a building undergoing demolition - they are often inherently unstable and cutting away timbers to improve access “don’t worry- it’s all coming down anyway..” is just asking for trouble.
So no, personally I don’t think hobby beekeepers have any duty whatsoever to “rescue” colonies from buildings especially at height or from within built structures.
Any other views or am I being a snowflake??