Bee Type

[baggieboing]

Hi All,
My swarm has been in about a Month now and seems to be going strong.
Just wondered if anyone can tell from my pics what sort of Bees they may be, as I dont know much about where they came from etc.
Many thanks in advance.

ps. Found the Queen and she was entirely Black if this helps.
Nick

 

[darrenperrett]

I`ve had a look and I reckon they`re definately honey bees !!! but what do I know ?

 

[BKF Admin]

I will go for Saf east london mongrals.

 

[Mission]

Yeah, definitely Honey Bees!

So many people worry about the strain of the bees that they have and with very little idea of what the differences mean anyway. Sometimes its better just to accept what you have for what they are and hope they do a good job.

If they are calm, don't chase people off, productive, and healthy then you are on to a winner anyway. There are ways to check the strain of the bee by using wing morphometry as a guide, and it was mentioned on this forum last week about some computer software that can tell you. But, the only real way you can guarentee the strain of your bees is to buy a queen from a reputable breeder who will offer guarentees that the strain is what they say it is. Requeening all your hives with queens from Buckfast Abbey for example would give you a solid claim to have Buckfast bees.

A swarm is pot luck and you get what you get. If you are happy with them then leave them to it, if not then requeen them with stock bought from a reputable dealer.

 

[hedgerow pete]

there is only one true test and that is to have a look under the hive for hub caps true south east londoners will pinch any thing were as cockney bees will start telling you about how they knew the crays and how nice they were

 

[DulwichGnome]

Naaa, your not from round here unless you wear a hoody and you have a phone stuck to your ear, but not talking.... I always imagine it's their mum giving them grief over the state of their bedroom. Makes me smile but not the best way to greet a hoody, smiling like a Cheshire cat.

Mike.

 

[hedgerow pete]

i did not realise they were mobile phones i thought they were remote control units, as for the bees being seriously , i have come to the opinion that there is so much multi breeding that there is no true type as such so you might carni type ish or lang ish bees, a dark queen is a sign of a european type bee, now dont worry about the workers it is quite common for a breeder of bee to supply a specific queen say dark european but to not have the bees to accompainy it on its five frames so you bulk it out with what ever you have so i can have a dark european queen with 3,000 carni workers but as the queen lays and the old are replaced you will end up with a dark european hive of bees as for finding out what it truely is the only cheap meathod is to compare the wings of the bees under a micro scope against referance notes