Jeffery Young queries:
 
"Being an Italian focused beekeeper for many years I was wondering if
 it might be a good time to try a different strain.
 
Would you be able to give me a quick run down about the different types of
honey bees that are commercially available; their temperament, honey
production, resistance to disease, etc. - compared with Italian's?"
 
 
  Not claiming to be an expert, but having experimented with a number of
different commercially available stocks I'll offer the following.
Basically you'll run into two different strains that can be categorized
as dark or light.  The dark bees (Midnight is an excellent example) are
VERY gentle.  Being used to Italians you'll be AMAZED!!! at how gentle
the dark bees can be!  The are good producers of honey, perhaps not as
good as the lighter (yellower) bees, but results will vary, hive to hive
and year to year.  The dark bees are good over winterers, superior to
the lighter bees in this aspect.  The draw back to the darker strains
is that they are prodigious propolisers - they really gum up the works.
It's also harder to find the queen in a hive of dark bees as she blends
in with all the other dark bees and the banding patterns are less
distinct.
 
   The lighter (yellower) bees (Italians are good representatives) tend
to be somewhat more aggressive, perhaps better honey producers (although
again there will be variations, hive to hive, year to year), less apt to
survive harsh winters, significantly less prone to propolise your
equipment, and since they're light, they also taste great and they're a
third less filling! ;-)
 
   Don't lose sight of the fact that there are years of breeding behind
any commercially available strain of bees.  Breeders have been
successful in getting rid of undesirable traits such as aggression and
skidishness on the frames.  Current attempts are to come up with mite
resistance, and you may see claims such as "Survivor Italians" and "Mite
Resistant" stock.  Be skeptical - Caveat Emptor!
 
But, basically you'll be satisfied with whatever stock you purchase -
the breeders do a good job of producing a likable bee or they go out of
business.  Try to know your breeders, either through personal experience
or through word of mouth.  Experiment.  Try a variety of different stock
to discover what YOU like and what strains work well in YOUR area.  You
might also look around to see if there is a local queen breeder.  An
arguable claim is that the best queens are local queens, and this might
be something with which you'd want to experiment.
 
My personal preference is the Buckfast Bee, originally bred by Brother
Adam of Buckfast Abbey in England and available in the States from
Weaver's Apiary in Navistota, Texas (No affiliation, just satisfied).
 
Aaron Morris - I think, therefore I bee!