Brexit Bees

One of the first social media reports I read about the effects of import/export following Brexit on 1st January, was one about a commercial UK beekeeper who as every year had ordered  a substantial number of Italian Carnica bee folk. Due to the chaos with paperwork and checks it was almost certain his order made in late 2020 would now not be deliverable.

As I need bees again this year I have decided to go for English Buckfast Abbey bees, the norm in the UK. Their introduction to mainland Europe or at least Germany has for years been very controversial and indeed seen hives being destroyed by illegal means. I haven't really followed the debate but haven't heard anything recently. Going through the ads for bees, it almost seems there are as many offers for Buckfast as for the European Carnica.

Fearing supplies would again be short as so many people took up beekeeping last year because of Corona, I placed an order online with a private advertiser not far from here back in January. As the weather is now warming up, I contacted the seller asking what I needed to prepare/bring me when the time was right. He responded I could pick them up two days later, i.e. today.

So armed with two empty hive boxes, took off to Kaufbeuren in the neighbouring county about 30 km from here but quickest on the autobahn with about 50 km. It was a lovely warm, wind-still day. Kaufbeuren was the sunniest town in Germany in 2020.

Drove to the beekeeper's house in town and then followed him out to fields and a hut where he had his gear and a mass of bee hives. He knows what he is doing with signs on his house and his van advertising his honey products.

He's a Russian immigrant, I guess mid 50s and been in Germany for 20 years, speaks perfect German but with a strong Russian accent. However, I understood him perfectly, and we got on really well. He transferred the contents of two of his hives into my boxes, carefully checking each frame and establishing a queen was present in each one.
Went really well, and although he wore a protective jacket I don't think he needed to. They are very calm bees an excellent trait. He, like all beekeepers, will kill a Queen bee if they notice she is breeding aggressive bees. I was standing next to him, not even socially distanced and was just in short-sleeved T-shirt & no head covering.

Hives secured with strong ratchet straps and loaded into the car. Money transferred and I set off home. Not driven one kilometre and notice  a dozen bees on the inside back window! Oh, no. Soon as possible  - was in town - found an isolated spot to park and then tried to see through the windows what had gone wrong. But I couldn't see anything at all. Then the light went on. My hives stand off the ground and have a mesh/lattice bottom. As the normal entrance had to locked and there were bees that had been out foraging had returned before we loaded them, they had flown under the floor and were trying to get in through the mesh. We loaded them like that into the car! Did nothing except open the sunroof, so there was a bit of a draught pushing them on to the window and drove home without any bee visiting me and I don't think a single one moved from the window.

Back home unloaded them letting the dozen free riders out too and after half an hour opened the entrances for the main hives to fly. All went well. Sadly only a few good days before we get real April weather next week with cold snow/sleet days barely getting above freezing.

So now I am not the only Brexit refugee immigrant in Germany