Many members of the association have been promoting and supporting locally adapted bees. To this end the association agreed a Voluntary Conservation Area in 2020 to discourage the import of bees and queens from outside the area.
Most members keep their bees “treatment free” and have been for many years for many reasons including:
- Varroa resistance in bees while maintaining low winter losses.
- Colonies that manage their population in sync with available forage
- Improve the genetic pool of the area by not bringing in traits that are not beneficial to the success of bees in the local environment.
- Bees that are not successful in the local area are not given extra help to survive, reducing the pool of unhelpful traits in the area.
- Reduce the amount of “help” us beekeepers need to give to bees.
To support the Voluntary Conservation Area, we:
- Supply locally adapted nucs and queens from our association apiary and members, to any new members wanting to keep bees in the area or to existing members who want to make increase.
- Encourage members to make their own increase and provide support through tutoring or mentoring as appropriate.
Current price (2024) for a 5 frame nuc is £100. (£160 for non members)