Lennard wrote:


"Our mellifera mellifera is very runny, they 
un and move on the combs and when the weather is bad they are more fierce than 
he carnolians but with good weather one can work them without gloves."
When Sue Cobey was at Gormanston (Ireland) a few years ago we (she, John Hendrie and I) opened a hive of the black Irish bee, Apis mellifera mellifera, without smoke or veils and Sue picked up a drone to demonstrate how she persuades them to evert for sperm collection. None of us got stung. I remember being impressed that a worker landed on the drone within seconds of eversion: there must be powerful phermones involved!  People seem to disapprove of runniness in bees but, except on the rare occasions when it is necessary to find the queen, I don't see it as a disadvantage. It is useful at harvest time when you have only to put a super down in front of the hive and see all the bees that were in it trooping back home.

Chris








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