Well it seems that my bees (Cypriot bees) have an attitute
problem that needs to be corrected!!!!
 
As dear Malcom Roe said CY is the tiny island of Cyprus.
 
I really envy you guys. What do you mean you can handle your bees
without gloves. I have never heard of such a thing. The only thing I dare
do without protective gear is to open the hive and just inspect from above
or at most remove a frame and very carefully inspect and lower back into
the hive. ANd you always have to be alert to detect that uneasy bee
that can trigger the rest of them. And that is ANY time of the year not just
summer. These are not African Honey Bees as someone suggested. But
then I wouldn't know if they are.
 
I am not aware of any selective breeding program, but then how do you
selectively breed from a bunch of bad tempered hives. What everybody is
talking about here is orders of magnitutes better behavior than I've ever seen.
 
I should though mention that all my current hives originated from
the same swarm that I found occupying some abandoned equipment
some two years ago. I did notice a small difference between this breed
and what I thought was normal behavior: 1) slightly more aggresive than
usual 2) they do continue to work not only during heavy overcast but also
during light rain and I noticed that some of them kept moving outside
during medium rainfall. Is this normal? And I may be wrong but it seems
that they are superior to what I have experienced up to now in honey
gathering. I will need a couple of more seasons to verify this (favorable
weather conditions last year).
 
Any thoughts on these?
 
Andreas
U. of Cyprus.
Nicosia, Cyprus