Dash

[Chrisfnvs]

Is anyone thinking of joining the DASH (disease accreditation scheme for honey bees) as put forward by BFA and Fera, it sounds quite a good idea in principle, and reports from members who took part in the pilot scheme are encouraging, but i would like to hear your opinions. chris

 

[Hivemaker.]

it sounds quite a good idea in principle,

Yes i got the general gist of it, basically saving time for bee inspectors among other things, but i have a strange feeling it would be one of those things that would involve courses and reams of paperwork, at a time of the year when there are not enough hours in a day as it is, unless of course you give up beekeeping to do it.

 

[Chrisfnvs]

Yes i think there would be a two day course/exam but i am not sure what time of year that would be or if there would be a charge for it, i believe by achieving accreditation we would be entitled to free test kits (@£7each) and cheaper insurance and of course less time spent with inspectors in the event of an outbrake, so long term it maybe be worth it !

 

[Hivemaker.]

Yes i think there would be a two day course/exam !

Have already done one of these, held by the NBU and taught by Mike Brown and three others,plus a signed cirtificate at the end of the course, so should find it quite easy to do it all again. I prefer to use a microscope rather than the lateral flow devices though.

 

[Chris B]

I will.
I'm not sure they needed to formalise things to the extent they appear to be, but the general idea is right, so I'll live with any imperfection.
I was one of this year's test cases. The LFD's were helpful. I did find some EFB but also just as useful to discover something doesn't have EFB when it looks like it does. I got the SBI out to one apiary and he used 4 LFD's on on colony and still couldn't believe it was negative, sent a comb to York - still negative.
Another case - I knew something wasn't right all season with one colony. It just never progressed. But no EFB symptoms. Then in August 1 dodgy larva - positive on the LFD.

One thing they need to do is get the SBI's equipped with a vehicle that can get them where they need to go. I'd be happy enough in principle to let an SBI go to any apiary without me, in fact I'd prefer it that way most of the time. Trouble is they can't get there without a good 4x4 half the time.

 

[Chrisfnvs]

Hi Chris B when talking to the RBI it is quite clear the EFB LFD is prone to giving a false negative reading especially if the larva used is in an advanced stage of infection or more than one larva is used, he reckons we should only use a recently infected larva, on our husbandry day we had several false negative readings when the combs were clearly riddled with EFB the smell was almost unbearable, so i do not trust them 100% myself, maybe a bit of improvement needed there !

 

[Chris B]

Do you mean a false negative or a no-result? I'd also heard multiple larvae wasn't good but only because it would hinder the flow and thus give no result. Never seen this myself mind. They've all worked well for me. But the RBI certainly doesn't trust them.

 

[Chrisfnvs]

How long ago did you attend that course Pete, did you find it useful ? i would think beekeepers of your level should fly through any course/exam, i think it was interesting that ALL the inspectors will have to do it and more in the future up to NVQ level ! setting an industry standard which i feel is a good idea as we have had some dodgy SBI`s in the past

 

[DanBee]

I'm interested in the scheme but wary of signing my life away / endless paperwork. I had 4 cases of EFB this year, at different apiaries, and the return visit with the inspector was a pain in a busy schedule, but I like to operate by the book.

TBH at the moment I bring samples back and test for EFB under a microscope. Not immediate, but costs about 40p per test and no false positives/negatives.

BTW, the trick with the EFB LFD is to choose a larva in early stages - loss of segmentation, some yellowing - lift it out with forceps onto the sidebar of the frame and tear it open. If a 'clumpy' gut is revealed it's a likely positive; pop only this gut into the buffer solution and proceed with the test. You can easily overload the test, but this gets the disease site without the extraneous matter.

 

[Chrisfnvs]

Yes false negatives Chris, ie one clear blue line, i think they do work well in the ideal conditions (in a laboratory) but in the field maybe not as reliable as they should be.

 

[Chrisfnvs]

Hi Dan yes that fits in with what the RBI had told me namely overloading was a real problem for those not used to using the LFD, how much paper work do you think would be involved from our point of view. chris

 

[beebreeder]

One of my concerns is that if the number of SBI's drop or there is a bad disease outbreak, could any DASH members be called upon to work alonside the SBI's and FERA using the "we trained you so you should help" scenario. I have been told this would not occur but!!!!!

 

[Chrisfnvs]

Kev, i can see that happening and maybe paying on a subcontract as and when bases, i suspect that most serious bee farmers would be far to busy to help out in the main season, from my point of view i would much prefer to self regulate than have inspectors looking around all my yards, but i would need to be confident in my ability to do so.

 

[beebreeder]

Paying us ???

 

[Chrisfnvs]

Or should i say compensate us for loss of work time or out of pocket expenses you have got to live in hope

 

[Chris B]

Bee Inspector version of the T.A.? (Or is that Dad's Army?) I doubt it, but if there was a major outbreak in my area I'd rather help than nobody do anything.

 

[Chrisfnvs]

All joking aside, I am sure we would all do what we could to halt a major out brake of AFB/AFB in our areas, after all the welfare of our bees is our main priority, i guess it`s the level of help that we would be required to give that could be a concern in our busiest time, but all honesty i can`t see it happening unless as a last resort.

 

[beebreeder]

Bee Inspector version of the T.A.? (Or is that Dad's Army?) I doubt it, but if there was a major outbreak in my area I'd rather help than nobody do anything.

Good point Chris, it would be in our own interests to get it sorted ASAP

 

[Chrisfnvs]

Thanks for your replies guys, it would appear from the response's that most think it a good idea in principle, but are not to sure about how it would be implemented or how much paper work would be involved, my only question is would there be a charge for the training or not and if so how much ?, apart from that i feel it would be to our advantage to join in the long term, so i will certainly give it serious consideration.

 

[beebreeder]

I was reading some early threads in this section, this one started in November, has anyone heard what is happening with DASH, it's the spring meeting soon, so hopefully something will be released then. I for one would not entertain any two day training during the busy time, I would like to think that whatever is going to happen will not happen until next autumn now