More Than Honey the film by Markus Imhoof

I attended a screening of a film called  More than Honey it was a screening by friends of the Earth, in Sutton Coldfield.

It was interesting, It showed what professional beekeepers do in the states, and followed a family that have been beekeepers for many generations in Switzerland.

It was informative but for most beekeepers they would have been aware of the material tackled within the film. In one instance a beekeeper gassed his bee because they have European Foul Brood, a treatable illness, and at the end they saw the bees flying at night towards another galaxy. That was the most disappointing feature of the film.

It showed how a beekeeper was sticking to the native bee, even though his neighbours and moved to other breeds that were easy to manage. All interesting stuff.

They did show a drone swarms and a done mating with a queen. I hadn't seen these before. They also showed a queen emerging from a queen cell, which again was interesting. The film did highlight africanised bees and how though more aggressive they are manageable and show an american bee keeper who is a convert to africanised bees, and only keeps them.

Worth a watch.

Friends of the earth wanted us to sign a petition which will be sent to my local MP Andrew Mitchell.