Dear Joe,
 
>I assume you are in Ireland as you talk about the Irish beekeeper list. 

Sorry, I forgot to include location.
I'm in South Western Pennsylvania

Many Irish do live here, -the town where I
live, -Derry was named by the Irish who 
settled here during  the mid 19th Century.

I mention Irish list IMO, one of the best sources
out there for information.

>Continuous mixing of non-adapted hosts and pathogens does not move us forward I think.

I agree, and perhaps at the root of most problems in 
beekeeping today.
 
 
>3) mellifera mellifera is being picked upon by a lot of people. They say it is aggressive and does not yield much honey. Most of the people saying these things do not have experience with the bee.

Allot of this has roots back in the America 1860's.  With 
Langstroths new patent hive, and his early ventures
with the Italian bee.  Many of the first Langstroth 
hives were populated with Italians.  Thus,  the 
references to the advantages of both the Italian bee
and the Langstroth hive were promoted together, 
and mellifera mellifera was left out of the mix, and hit 
with a 'perfect storm' so to speak, that eventually led 
to its demise in America.

 
>Their strong point is that they shut down brood rearing quickly when resources are bad, 

I'm researching 1816 The Year Without a Summer, and there is a 
remarkable account of mellifera mellifera recovering in late season
to produce a supply of honey.  While in New England, conditions
were so severe, I can's see how a single colony survived.

England - (20) The lime trees which usually blossomed about midsummer, 
did not fall into bloom in that year, until late in July; at Midsummer the old 
hives are preparing, or have just cast swarms, and the combs in the new
are not in a fit state to receive the honey; but in the late season of 1816, 
when those trees went into blossom, in every hive the combs were formed, 
and were in a state to receive the honey from the flower. The beautiful and 
rich grove of Mount Mascal, near Bexley, composed entirely of lime trees 
furnished pabulum for millions, and all the Bees which then left their hives, 
observed in thousands to take that southerly direction which led to it; the 
consequence was, that all my hives which until that time were uncommonly
light, from the effect of an unfavourable season, in a fortnight's time were 
amply filled with honey.
(Transactions of the Society Instituted at London for the Encouragement of Arts. 1818, Pg. 36)
 
>4) Of the types of bees I have the mellifera mellifera queens that are fertilised by the carnolian/buckfast mix drones in the air are the most fierce. Much more than pure fertilised mellifera mellifera. 

Carnolian / Italian are most fierce.  
That is an occasional problem in my area (SW 
Pennsylvania).  We had a good bee here, but
the 'quick fix' mentality led to an introduction of 
foreign strains for varroa resistance, which 
served to introduce a host of maladies and 
fierce crosses.


Best Wishes,
J. Waggle
 

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