Several people have criticized me for suggesting that breeders select for color, as if this were not being done.
Your way off Pete, its not for suggesting that, its for Implying and insinuating they all do, and have in such ruined the bees in the US who are now dying off en mass as a result.
Doug Sommerville? I am quite sure that book has not guided any of the pros here in the USA in queen selection! Using a 2016 publication to back up that queen breeders have ruined the stock over the last 100 years is odd at best.
You go on to cite Pellett from 1918? That’s INSANE first its contextual, second its quite literally 100 years out of date not to mention he uses the word "thought" 100 years of success has proven that not to be correct at all.
You link natures way nucs? Wow! Internet marketing is sure a sign of the state of the bee industry! Pete, there are a ton of shysters out here, many who do as you say, and have no clue, but salesmanship. I myself sell 2 semi loads of bees to guys who break them down into "overwintered" nucs (last years CA queens) While it’s a scam and I hate it, it happens and I cant fix it. It sure as hell doesn’t mean the industry is bad. Yea it pisses me off to be competing for nuc sales with guys who buy bees from me, but I wont use it as an excuse. I will suggest that packages are a better buy as you get a industry standard, not the local guys interpatation.
In a prior note you singled out OHB, I happen to know Ray fairly well and I am quite positive of his style and influence on the bee industry that his entire family has been a part of. Ray has more class than me, if you were to make this claim to him, he would quiz you on it first, and probably wouldn’t argue. Personally I am not that type.
To make the claim that we now have some sort of "inferior stock" to which as of yet you have provided zero evidence, is preposterous at best. In Rays case the majority of his customers are seriously demanding professionals, who have standards of which color is a minor player. Yes Ray is good at marketing, and he is also very focused on top quality products, more than any other I have met in the industry. While I can't repeat conversations, I can assure you Ray is the guy who is worried about quality first, cost last.
Ray will be in Mediana in OCT, (I think myself and Dick Cryberg will also be present) I suggest you come meet him and ask serious questions on his operation yourself. In the mean time the guy who supplies 100's of thousands of queens to the best beekeepers in the country and all over the world, has credibility. The guy trying to sell a few books, or dead for 100 years, or the internet expert, not so much.
To that I had a conversation this spring with a GA breeder, his comment to me was "I hate the color of my queens this year" he was admonishing himself to me over color, but they were the best for buildup and honey. Hardly the type to select yellow only. So my ruler is different, my measurement is standing in front of industry leaders and talking, not cherry picking webpages. The rulers they use are pollination contracts, honey production and repeat customers, not gossip from old bee gleanings, or shares on facebook.
If you were to say you worried lots of amateur breeders are using the wrong criteria, then it’s a conversation. To assert that current production queens are weak and feeble and the visual reference to the commenter is quite different and not something I can put to words.
Charles
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This is from an article in Bee World:
PlANA BROTHERS
This famous queen-rearing station was started by Gaetano Piana three generations ago. It is on the side of a small sunny valley at Castel S. Pietro (Bologna), whose soil - apparently a red earth - is very rich in iron and contains a good deal of lime. Fruit cultivation occupied both sides of the valley and was apparently under separate management ; only four workmen are employed specially for the bees.
Golden Italians are bred for export, because of the foreign demand for them, but Signor Piana holds that the leather-coloured, which are the original Apis mellifera ligustica, are far better. Both types were displayed in observation frames.
D. V. Burch (1958) Visit of the XVII International Beekeeping Congress to Apiaries Near Bologna, Bee World, 39:12, 315-317, DOI: 10.1080/0005772X.1958.11095085
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From Frank Pellett, Practical Queen Rearing:
The Italian has been bred in America on such an extensive scale that various strains have been developed. The so-called three banded or leather colored Italians are probably more nearly typical than the goldens or five banded Italians. The Italian bee from northern Italy has three yellow bands, with pronounced bands of whitish or grey hair on each of the segments except the first and the last. It is a mild tempered bee, usually being gentle and quiet under manipulation.
It is a prolific race, and stands extremes of temperature very well. It winters well and is not adversely affected by the heat of the dry summers of the central west. The beekeeper who does not care to experiment will do well to stick to the Italians, at least until other races have been given more extended tests than have so far been given. While there are a few warm advocates of Caucasians and Carniolans, by far the greater number of practical beekeepers contend that the Italians are the best race. It is only fair to state, however, that no other race has been given the same opportunity to demonstrate its good points, and it is altogether probable that some other race may yet prove best adapted for certain climatic conditions.
THE GOLDENS, are the result of special breeding by selecting the queens whose progeny show the brightest color. It is thought that some strains of goldens are somewhat mixed with the Cyprians, from which ancestry came the bright color. Some breeders have paid so much attention to selecting the brightest colored individuals, regardless of other traits, that some strains are unduly cross, are poor honey gatherers and are not considered hardy. On the other hand there are strains which have been selected with due care to retain other desirable traits along with the bright color, which are gentle and productive.
Pellett, F. C. (1918). Practical queen rearing. American bee journal.
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