>How inexpensive?  How much would it cost to insure a thousand hives?

Good question - and one that is not answered on the BDI website.  BDI has two schemes - A &B.  Scheme A is for the majority of hobby beekeepers with up to 39 hives; the premiums are published and it is for individual beekeepers to decide whether they represent good value.

Scheme B is for those with 40 or more colonies and the premiums (not published) give a higher level of compensation - up to £5000 (yes, just £5000) for those insuring 50 or more colonies!

I decided long ago that this disease insurance was not cost effective.  Most in the UK probably keep colonies in fairly small apiaries (20 would be large for me) and so, provided that the beekeeper adopts practices that limit the spread of disease between apiaries (and colonies) it is very unlikely that many colonies would be involved in any outbreak.  It then becomes cheaper to bear any losses yourself.

Best wishes

Peter 
52°14'44.44"N, 1°50'35"W

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html