Hello All,
From the introduction of Italian bees
into America perhaps in 1860, beekeepers
have sought ways to keep the strain,
as stated at the time "pure".
Quotes from an article published in 1897
===Start===
“The beginner who gets a colony of Italian
bees is often puzzled to find that within a
year or so, the bright yellow rings have
largely disappeared from the workers, and
some of the bees are entirely black….”
“…So it happens that one who
has a colony of full blood Italians in a, locality
where black bees prevail, is almost sure
to find upon the change of queens that his
bees are a cross between Italian and blacks,
or, as they are commonly called, hybrids….”
“…On the other hand, his neighbor, who
has nothing but black bees will be surprised
to find in some of his hives bees that have
yellow stripes, the drones from the Italian
colony having met the young queens of the
black colony….”
“A. L. Aspinwall, in Beekeepers' Review,
gives a plan whereby he thinks he has succeeded
in getting the majority of his young
queens mated in or near his own apiary.
He cut off a sixteenth of an inch from the
wings of his young queens and by this
means made it more difficult for them to
fly far away. Some of the queens had an
eighth of an inch taken from the wings on
each side, and these were equally a success.”
===end===
An intresting solution to the problem.
Perhaps, it would have made queens expend
more energy, and thus, unable to fly to distant
DCAs
But do you imagine it had the desired effect?
Or do you think it would have made no
significant difference?
Best Wishes
Joe
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/HistoricalHoneybeeArticles
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