Bickerstaffes queen bees AMM x 2

[Poly Hive]

Indeed.

PH

 

[BKF Admin]

OK Admin so you find this funny do you?????

Mo

I can handle spats a number of ways.

I can just ban members for fighting(Not our style,there are other beekeeping forums who already do that).

I can wave a big stick and tell everyone how important I am(Although I am not as its the members who make the forum,I am just the mug who gives up my time).

Or I can make slight fun of things and send private pm's to resolve matters off the forum(My prefered way as we are all adults(Well some are)and allow things to blow over given time,its only tinternet and we are all here to give/receive help and have a little fun with Beekeeping.

I admit that at times you have to have a thick skin as some posters can be a little abrasive with replies,but that is the style of a self moderated forum,and after a while most new members come to realise that even the most noisy members are only trying to help with advice even if their style takes some getting used to.

If I had a pound for everytime Bcrazy has left the forum I would not need to ask for server donations.

We love you really Mo you cantankerous old bugger..

 

[Bcrazy]

Nobody on this forum should be subjected to profanity by others.

As mentioned before I wish you all well.

Mo

If I had a pound for everytime Bcrazy has left the forum I would not need to ask for server donations.

You don't have to worry any more.

Mo

 

[keith pierce]

>If I had a pound for everytime Bcrazy has left the forum I would not need to ask for server donations.

>You don't have to worry any more.

I thought you said you were gone

 

[victor meldrew]

There's no answer to that but there will be
Come on Mo "Bandits at 8 O'clock "

John Wilkinson

 

[Roy S]

Well my Amm seem to have done great this year!

There does seem to be an awful lot of put downs about Amm, normally by people who have gleaned ALL their experience of them via books and second hand information.
All bees have the potential for bad behaviour, and lets not forget, around the turn of the last century if a child so much as spoke out of turn it was percieved as being naughty, God only knows what they'd have though of some of todays kids!!!
So all historical evaluations are a very subjective thing. I prefer to find out for myself....and have so far been pleasantly surprised.
As for susceptabilty to disease That could have been down to many factors, all beyond most beekeepers of the days when we could have guaranteed pure Amm within these shores. In those days childbirth was still among the biggest everyday killers!!!....so lets get things in perspective.

I hink at the end of the day the events went something like:

1) Bees start dying
2) As today, beekeepers wanted bees THERE and NOW and realised there was a quick fix available via importing.
3) Bees imported.
4) Beekeepers realise how quite and nice new bees were, or better than no bees at all!
5) why bother breeding any bees when we can import them?

Now I'll just stick my tin hat on and hide in my bunker!!!

 

[Geoff]

I have had some bad experiences with black bees, they were foul tempered. but they weren't AMM, they were obviously mongrels...I think bees crossed with Pit Bull, they could get inside a bee suit like a rat up a drainpipe and they wouldn't let go.
Considering that queens mate with several suitors, and queens and drone are very good flyers no matter what you bought in when your queen's offspring mate they will be receiving the whole mix of genes that is in the British bee population.
I have have both black bees of unknown origin and Carniolans. My Carniolans have bred and despite what some say they are relatively docile compared to most black bees. I can walk in front of the hives without suiting up but one colony is a bit more frisky once the roof is off and they are more irritable in windy weather. I have a black bee colony that so far has been very gentle but i have others that are the opposite.
I can see the point of trying to keep AMM in that it is preserving a particular genetic type such as the need to preserve old breeds of livestock as a genetic resource but you can only do that in isolated locations such as islands. I think they are doing that in Denmark

 

[Hivemaker.]

Well my Amm seem to have done great this year!

Hope i will be able to say the same next season....have sourced what i believe may be some good queens,and intend to breed from these if they are up to expectations, using a combination of isolated sites and II.

 

[Richard Bache]

There does seem to be an awful lot of put downs about Amm, normally by people who have gleaned ALL their experience of them via books and second hand information.

I think part of the problem is that there is a lot of variation within strains and that sweeping generalisations about any strain of bee are often unhelpful. I don't doubt that something approximating to the local strain of Old English Black bee may well be well suited to many areas, but I also don't doubt that many beekeepers will (and do) find bees from elsewhere that suit them and or their location better. I think the continued need amongst some circles to find or define the 'perfect bee' is sometimes like chasing rainbows: no single bee will be the best for all locations or fulfill the needs (or desires) of all beekeepers. The more I think about it, the more I believe that no quality of bees can be optomised for the beekeeper, the bee and the environment simultaneously.

 

[PaleoPerson]

Richard - I agree.

I also feel that there is a great deal of variation within the 'types' caused mainly by the mating behaviour of Apis sp. as a whole. I think that some people are thinking they have AMM because of certain characteristics and yet in reality have something very different.

I have one colony, that at first glance, you would start to suspect it to be of an AMM type, but I am 100% confident that it is nowhere near.

 

[BKF Admin]

Good post Richard.
I agree regarding the different behavour within the same strain.

For an example you can import ligustica to the uk from Greece,New zealand and hawaii before SHB.

3 different area's thousands of miles apart but all sold as Italian,and then we get members saying "My Italians are great" while others will say they are disease prone eaters of the honey harvest.

 

[Poly Hive]

I so agree.

I have had AMM which were diabolical, aggressive, clumpy, runners and generally a bit of a nightmare.

I have had the Maud strain which were little angels, the whitest cappings you ever saw, docile, non swarmy, supercedure at year three, and yes I am serious, and in general as good a bee as you could wish for.

There are massive differences with in each strain. I had yellow bees from New Zealand which were a complete waste of time. Bred like they were going out of fashion and produced nothing but bees. Not much use for a commercially minded operation eh?

Every average is the middle of a bell curve.

PH

 

[Haughton Honey]

My best colony this season has been an 'Old English Black Bee'-type strain with gloriously white cappings and they are also very much on the docile side. I have also noticed that they are first off the block most mornings, whilst my Buckfast bees tend to stay in bed for another couple of degrees before venturing outside.

The were a cut out taken at the beginning of the season, originally from who knows where.

I will definitely be breeding from them next season if they make it through the Winter (fingers crossed!)

 

[psafloyd]

I have just recieved this from Poly Hive





Join Date: Dec 2008
Main hive type:National
Number of colonies:15Colonies and 25 Nucs
Location: Derby/Leicester border
Posts: 3,648 Indeed

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tell you what you jumped up ***** when you write some interesting and accurate material I will take you seriously, until then you are on block.

Note I said nothing rude in public about you.

Now **** right off.

PH
______________

____
"Bees do nothing invariably."

B. Mobus

Was there really any need for such an outburst?

 

[psafloyd]

Mo ,tha must be surrounded by spat out dummies

Perhaps, but is there any need for such an aggressive direct message?

If you don't like what someone says, argue the point on the site or swallow it.

 

[Poly Hive]

Ah the old copy and past game. Not bold enough to do it himself though.

PH

 

[Norton]

So what happened to these AMM from Greece?

 

[victor meldrew]

What's all this nonsense got to do with AMM ?
I know work in the apiary is almost over but come Pf surely you can find something else to fill the gap rather than rake over old coals ?

VM

 

[Tom Bick]

So what happened to these AMM from Greece?

I don’t know about the AMM but regarding Bickerstaffs I have had a bad experience with them this year and have had conversations with two other beekeepers that are also not happy.

Me thinks all is not right!!

 

[mbc]

Surely not another foreign queen supplier with unhappy customers ?