Are black bees OK in the burbs?

[beebopalula]

Are native black bees (or as near as damn it), a suitable race in suburban environments - Or are they just too bad tempered?

 

[Poly Hive]

LOL

Depends on the temperment. Truly.

I have known some to be just lovely and others the opposite....little spawns of the deil....

PH

 

[rockdoc]

Never judge a book by ..........
I have a very sweet little colony of black coloured ladies. They are the only bees I have so far been able to work without gloves. I think I have read in other parts of this excellent forum that you cannot truly tell the race by colour or size. Feel free to correct me if I've got that wrong.

 

[REDWOOD]

I also have jet black bees no problem with temper, they are easily scared if you are clumsy but no stings yet

 

[justme]

Ive 2 colonies of black bees also, no issues so far:.) Not expecting any either.

 

[the naked beekeeper]

Diversity.

As Ph says, you get darlings and sh!ts in every strain.

The bigger question is, when you have your .......(insert strain), how will you maintain it and their temper in subsequent generations?

 

[RoofTops]

And of course the big quesion is: where you get your "black bees" from? I've seen pictures here of bees which their owners enthuse over as being dark and gentle - but most look like Carniolans to me and their gentleness is one of the features of that race.

 

[countryman]

i have a lot of blacks and a few carnolians must admit the blacks are better temperament than carnolians a lot of them i dont need suite on

 

[keith pierce]

Like any race of bees , its down to your neighbouring beekeepers and what they are keeping. They are all quite in their near pure form, but its when they start to cross out , they they can be very agressive. The reason the dark bees, got such a bad rap, because in all case the dark colour gene is dominent. So people see the colour of their agresive dark coloured bees and call them native.

 

[Joseph]

>because in all case the dark colour gene is dominent.

Keith, given how accusing, you were to me in another post, I should say "THAT IS RUBBISH"....etc. but I will desist.

Body colour in the honey bee is actually rather complex. Whilst it may be true that yellow bees are homozygous recessives for a certain gene, yellow bandings arise from complex genetic polygenic allelic combinations, some of which are sex linked. It is certainly not true to say that in ALL cases the dark colour allele is dominant.

There are more than 7 loci affecting abdomen colour, and colour can be diluted too, indicating expression independence. There is however what is known as an inhibitor gene, now called the blk gene, itself recessive, which when present in a hemizygous drone or in a homozygous female, will totally suppress the yellow phenotype.

 

[drstitson]

i thought dark bees inhabited the "hood" and light bees the "burbs"

 

[Iang]

>because in all case the dark colour gene is dominent.

Keith, given how accusing, you were to me in another post, I should say "THAT IS RUBBISH"....etc. but I will desist.

Body colour in the honey bee is actually rather complex. Whilst it may be true that yellow bees are homozygous recessives for a certain gene, yellow bandings arise from complex genetic polygenic allelic combinations, some of which are sex linked. It is certainly not true to say that in ALL cases the dark colour allele is dominant.

There are more than 7 loci affecting abdomen colour, and colour can be diluted too, indicating expression independence. There is however what is known as an inhibitor gene, now called the blk gene, itself recessive, which when present in a hemizygous drone or in a homozygous female, will totally suppress the yellow phenotype.

I knew that - honestly!

 

[keith pierce]

>because in all case the dark colour gene is dominent.

Keith, given how accusing, you were to me in another post, I should say "THAT IS RUBBISH"....etc. but I will desist.


Body colour in the honey bee is actually rather complex. There is however what is known as an inhibitor gene, now called the blk gene, itself recessive, which when present in a hemizygous drone or in a homozygous female, will totally suppress the yellow phenotype.

Sorry about that. I had to trawl back throught some of your posts to see where i offened you. I still stand by what i said
Does this mean that you actually agree with me.

 

[Joseph]

No. The Blk gene is recessive, which means a worker bee must have two copies of the allele to suppress the yellow colour completely. The dark colour allele is not dominant, and certainly not in all cases.

 

[Joseph]

Here: HUNT, G. J. & PAGE-JR, R. E. 1995. Linkage map of the honey bee, Apis mellifera, based on RAPD markers. Genetics, 139, 1371-1382.