2018 Bee poll - which race?

[Finman]

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Our bees are 90% Italian and Buckfasts are 2%.

 

[ShinySideUp]

The question was wasn't what do you keep, but what would you choose to keep if selecting a race of bee purely on it's merits.

Bit late replying to this.

Does it matter what bees one keeps so long as one does actually keep bees? Some are fun and calm, some are fun and aggressive. I have little knowledge about which bees are the best and I suspect that most of the voters are in the same position and base their answers on what their mentor told them when they were first learning about bees. How many of us here have actually tried all of the sub-species mentioned and so can actually give an informed opinion? Precious few I surmise.

 

[SDM]

It only matters to me from the point of view of this pole.
Though I'd argue aggressive bees aren't fun and need culling simply as a public service and don't say they' don't bother anyone in the apiary they're in, because their drones won't stay in that apiary.
I imagine very few have tried all of them but most will have tried more than 1.
If the bee you choose to keep is your local bee, whatever your reasons that's fine by me. Local mongrel would have been a valid category.

 

[Murox]

It only matters to me from the point of view of this pole.
Though I'd argue aggressive bees aren't fun and need culling simply as a public service and don't say they' don't bother anyone in the apiary they're in, because their drones won't stay in that apiary.
I imagine very few have tried all of them but most will have tried more than 1.
If the bee you choose to keep is your local bee, whatever your reasons that's fine by me. Local mongrel would have been a valid category.

I am with SDM and ShinySideUp . Where I live beekeeping is shall we say marginal. Local mongrels and AMM are the only sensible way to go for me, as they are the most hardy.

Aggression is whole other category really, but lets face it we interfere with a nest of creatures that can hurt us; then we have the gall to complain when they do !! And how did they "learn" to be so aggressive anyway, ordinarily nature is hard but not out and out aggressive.

 

[Stiffy]

Bit late replying to this.

Does it matter what bees one keeps so long as one does actually keep bees? Some are fun and calm, some are fun and aggressive. I have little knowledge about which bees are the best and I suspect that most of the voters are in the same position and base their answers on what their mentor told them when they were first learning about bees. How many of us here have actually tried all of the sub-species mentioned and so can actually give an informed opinion? Precious few I surmise.

If I was to keep the bees my 'mentor' recommended I would not be keeping bees now.
There is no such thing as a fun and aggressive bee and I assume you have yet to meet such a creature, they certainly are not fun.
It took me many, many years of trial and error before finding a bee strain that is (relatively) calm and will produce honey on a regular basis.
S

 

[Beefriendly]

Aggression is whole other category really, .

Aggression is something as a beekeeper we can and should do something about. Aggressive bees are no fun to work with at all.
Some are fortunate to be living in a locality where the local mutts are quite calm...Lucky them. Many of us live in areas where the locals are feisty to say the least.
You are probably right to buy in some genuine Amm queens, they are usually quite docile....I'd stick with them and re-queen all your locals. Then your beekeeping becomes a real pleasure rather than an endurance test.

 

[Finman]

Genuine Amm was first honeybee, which has been exported to other continents.
But it is not kept any more by professional beekeepers on those continents. That is a short summary.

 

[Finman]

Aggression is whole other category really....

you may describe the same thing with number of stings per hive per inspection. IT does not earn much philosophy.