At last, my bees are official!

Posted by Jon on Sep 30, 2010 in Regulations | 5 comments

Way back in the mists of time, we obeyed the latest missive from the French government and sent off our paperwork to tell them the location and number of our hives. We then waited, and waited, and waited……and finally forgot all about it as the summer arrived and there were lots of other more interesting things to do.

Asian Hornet Notification

Posted by Jon on May 30, 2010 in Asian Hornets, Hornets, Regulations | 0 comments

If you see an Asian Hornet adult or nest, please take the time to notify INPN who are mapping the spread of hornets across France. The procedure is easy – simply fill in the form detailing the location of the nest and enclose a picture and/or hornet samples, then send off to the address. By tracking the spread of the hornets, INPN hope to better understand their biology and prevent further spread. Given the speed of the spread through France, there is a real worry that they will continue to spread to other countries including the UK.

To help, we have done a quick translation of the form – if your French isn’t very good I’m sure they will still appreciate all the info in English. Fiche_signalement_Vespa Eng

Registering your bee hives in France

Posted by Jon on May 25, 2010 in Regulations | 3 comments

Since January 2010, it has been a legal obligation to register your bee hives with the DSV (Direction des Services Vétérinaires) for both hobby beekeepers and professionals. This is simply to ensure that the DSV knows where bees are given the current difficulties faced by all bees.