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>> I believe any study for aggressiveness of the European Dark Bee which does not include determination of the purity of the species A.M.M can not be taken seriously
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Hi All

I have said previously that my Wife & I visit our Son & Family annually in North Tipperary Eire.  Since we started visiting Ireland 20 years ago I have visited several beekeepers in Dublin, Kerry and now Cloughjordan N Tip.  My experience has always been that apiaries there are like Walmart here, in that they have greeters. The apiary greeters sometimes come past the entrance to greet you(more aggressively than Walmart however).  I have met five Beeks in the Cloughjordan group and several share an apiary but not their ideas of the best bees to buy.  Most subscribe to AMM as it is the Irish Native honeybee, while others prefer Buckfast.  The Buckfast bees at the U of Guelph near me in Canada are very easy to work.  These colonies are maintained that way(mildmannered) because U of G rear their queens on an island with no other honeybees.  The Buckfast bees in Ireland likely start out pure but once the queen is superceded they become less gentle as do the AMM hives nearby that are open mated.  One member of the group increased the tension last summer by requeening with AML queens.

Bob Darrell
Caledon Ontario
Canada 80W44N
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