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In a message dated 14/10/2007 22:28:52 GMT Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
> The other reason is that Italian bees were chosen on the false premise
> that 'more bees make more honey' and Italian bees are noted for their
> inappropriate over production of brood.
Another problem in the UK climate is that Italians and their hybrids tend to
mate poorly or not at all in bad summers, which we get regularly. Native
bees, on the other hand, will fly to mate at lower temperatures, will raise
queens later in the season, and often use apiary vicinity mating, with short
mating flights which take advantage of short breaks in the weather. They often
keep several queens, which may well be an adaptation to situations where mating
may have been poor due to bad weather.
Italians were pushed a lot in the early part of the 20th Century, when it
was being claimed that Amm had become locally extinct due to Isle of Wight
Disease. When I look at old books, though, there is at least some evidence that
some Amm strains were prolific and expanded quickly in spring. These would
surely have been entirely suitable for modern commercial beekeeping; I wonder
what happened to them? It may be unfortunate that the surviving strains tend to
be the heather bee type, expanding more slowly, and with smaller colonies.
Regards,
Robert Brenchley,
Birmingham UK
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