Preparing for Migration
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Anyone moving colonies to a location in the district of another veterinary office needs, in Germany, an official veterinary health certificate under the Bee Disease Ordinance.
Anyone moving colonies to a location in the district of another veterinary office needs, in Germany, an official veterinary health certificate under the Bee Disease Ordinance. It confirms that the bees were found free of American Foulbrood and that the place of origin lies in no restricted zone. It must not be issued before September 1 of the preceding year and must be no older than nine months, and it must be presented to the authority at the new location without delay. It is based on an examination for American Foulbrood; a feed ring sample gives a more accurate picture than a brood check at the apiary.
At the migratory apiary, a sign with name, address, and number of colonies must be displayed clearly visible and durably. No colonies may be brought into a foulbrood restricted zone, which extends at least one kilometer around an infected apiary. Anyone with colonies located in the area of several veterinary offices reports the stock standing there to each office separately.
As a rule of thumb, a distance of about three kilometers, the flight radius, applies so the foraging bees do not return to the old site. How the transport itself is to be prepared, meaning closing and ventilating the hives, timing, and securing the load, is governed by the migration regulations of the regional beekeeping associations. They are binding and differ from state to state and should be read before the first migration.