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!