I have just subscribed to this service and thought it would be a good thing to introduce myself, and to invite anyone who feels so inclined to get in touch. I am a second generation bee farmer in Coupar Angus, Perthshire, Scotland. Our enterprise, trading as DENROSA Ltd., started as my fathers hobby in 1950 with 6 hives. Now we have a migratory operation of around 1700 colonies, travelling all over eastern Scotland to the crops in season, and our principal crop is the famous Heather honey, much of which we export. We currently employ 18 people, although several of these are involved in the production of 'spin-off' products and handling of exotic honey varieties from several countries in which we specialize, rather than directly with the bees, which are run by myself in conjunction with my brother and two other staff. Seasonally we employ other labour, and this year we had an excellent beekeeper from Alberta working with us. Our normal production would be around 60 tonnes per annum from the current numbers, split about 50-50 between heather and all other types. this year proved to be a slightly below average year for normal honeys but a record breaker (for us!) on heather. Our bees are a mixture of types. We have some native black bees (a.m.mellifera type), some Italian crosses whose parentage is from both New Zealand and USA Starlines, some Caucasians, and New World Carniolans. Of all these the last mentioned are beyond question the most successful for us, and were originally purchased from Sue Cobey when she had Vaca Valley Apiaries in California. We sell our products to many countries including USA, Chile, Australia, Japan and most European states. In addition we do many specialised types of honey private label for leading stores, mainly in Britain. My main interests in subscribing to this list is to hear of current advances in bee breeding which may be of use to us, learn of experiences with races of bee with which I am unfamiliar, read general discussions about issues of a genuinely practical nature, including sensible methods of dealing with mites, and to make a few contacts, which may be of mutual commercial benefit or on a purely friendly level. (We are always interested in hearing from beekeepers with speciality honey of types we do not already carry, although we only buy small (about a tonne upwards) quantities of any particular type.) Full details are as follows:- Murray McGregor, Managing Director Denrosa Ltd. Victoria Street Coupar Angus Perthshire PH13 9AE Scotland, UK Tel 00 44 828 627721 Fax 00 44 828 628262 e-mail [log in to unmask] I look forward to hearing from anyone interested. -- Murray McGregor