On 10/14/07, Steve Rose <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > According to Beowulf Cooper and Wedmore (although I have not come across > the point in the only Wedmore book I have) AMM adult workers typically live > for 2 or 3 > weeks longer than Italians. This, in effect, about doubles their > foraging life. ............... All this results in a greater proportion > of > the nectar collected being converted to surplus honey. I have been reading this line about Amm bees with interest for the past few weeks and was not going to comment as we have all heard these stories of super Amm bees for years, I as a UK beekeeper have yet to find a Amm type of bee that has does not have at least three of the following traits: aggressiveness, high propensity to swarm, collects excessive propolis, slow build up and small honey crops. I have experienced Amm or near Amm bees from County Durham, New Forest, Shropshire Cornwall and Kent. None of these have proved suitable for even my small scale beekeeping (around 100 colonies) The story that Amm has a longer life than other sub species has no scientific evidence behind it, just the word of a enthusiastic amateur Mr B Cooper. Even back in 1940'sR.O.B. Manley proclaimed the Italian as the only bee suitable for commercial beekeeping The only areas that Amm beats pure import Italians is how they winter in the UK, but this is not a problem with the first cross. And areas such as Scotland where the main flow is Heather, then Amm is the bee that can cope with the conditions The Italian bee and hybrids produce bees and as Bob says bees make honey. Regards Phil ****************************************************** * Full guidelines for BEE-L posting are at: * * http://www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm * ******************************************************