Black bee advice

[waverider]

I'm considering raising a black bee colony. A few breeders have no available stock however Thebeeman website is selling AMM British black mated queens for £75.00.


Would you consider that a fair price? Anyone know of other recommended black bee breeders?

 

[Poly Hive]

Looks very unlike an AMM queen in the pic.

As for price... eye watering.

I am probably old fashioned but I like to see what I am getting for my money and I am very wary of websites that have miss spellings littering them.

PH

 

[DontWorryBeeHappy]

Fair price!

For that price I would want a brood box and super to put the queen in!

 

[Black Comb]

Now £45.00

 

[Poly Hive]

I am assuming the operation has an isolated mating station or and uses AI to produce these queens?

They are also talking about Buckfast. A very odd combination otherwise.

What is difficult is sourcing AMM. Whether the effort is even worth it in Nottinghamshire is debatable from the point of view of matings.

PH

 

[fox403]

unless u live on an island or on outskirts amm will only get diluted down with all the hives around u waverider might be worth just going for as near native as u can go without paying over the top!

 

[Black Comb]

I am assuming the operation has an isolated mating station or and uses AI to produce these queens?

PH

It says they are open mated.

 

[susbees]

Almost all black bees are open mated so diluted and not worth that much. As a breeding group we are still patching together Amm enough bees for a sizeable II operation within the BKA initially...but really not worth it unless you can sort II or are in one of the warmer spots for Amm-type (mostly in the West).

 

[the naked beekeeper]

Have a look on the website of Cornish bees dot com under the tab of products. There are people's emails there that can help. I am friends with some of them. They may well be able to get you a native bee for a nominal price.

The bees are mated in very isolated places surrounded by sea.

 

[fox403]

until imports are banned,,prob not happen..pushing for pure strain in mainland uk seems waste of time,,,in years to come who knows...alot people love there buckfasts and other strains so not a great deal of beekeepers might want amm back!

 

[susbees]

Have a look on the website of Cornish bees dot com under the tab of products. There are people's emails there that can help. I am friends with some of them. They may well be able to get you a native bee for a nominal price.

Add a black queen to a mongrel hive they may spend months trying to supersede her. Then what happens when she swarms or is replaced? Black x mongrels which are often bad tempered. Hmm....

 

[the naked beekeeper]

Add a black queen to a mongrel hive they may spend months trying to supersede her. Then what happens when she swarms or is replaced? Black x mongrels which are often bad tempered. Hmm....

Load the chances in your favour.....introduce her to a nuc first.

 

[For want of a better word]

alot people love there buckfasts and other strains so not a great deal of beekeepers might want amm back!



Fortunately some rather special environmental conditions prevail here in the South East corner of Cornwall,,, and slowly the tide of buckfast type mongrels are being displace with open mated AMMs that survive the somewhat unusual conditions here,

I suppose II would be the only way ( as with the buckfast type mongrels) that a "pure "strain can be accomplished without having the resource of an isolated mating site?

 

[Bob Bee]

Check out both Bibba and Bibco , there's a lot of great work going on with dark bees and some very well behaved and productive colonies resulting. It's a fascinating area and would be well worth exploring as a small scale beekeeper and possible future breeder.

Don't believe all the heresay about black bees being violent, aggressive and non productive, plenty of Irish, Cornish, Scottish and Welsh beekeepers have entirely opposite experiences but have grown tired of arguing the case on the forum.
Keep an open mind and come to your own conclusions. £75 is overpriced, find someone on the forum or through an association to get a better price.

 

[susbees]

Load the chances in your favour.....introduce her to a nuc first.

We do...around 40 intros last year across the group but STILL several members had supersedure issues as the colonies got larger and a couple failed to knock down the cells.

 

[susbees]

Don't believe all the heresay about black bees being violent, aggressive and non productive, plenty of Irish, Cornish, Scottish and Welsh beekeepers have entirely opposite experiences but have grown tired of arguing the case on the forum.

I agree...but also that buyer beware. I have grafted from some supposedly well-behaved colonies which were worse than any of my local bees by a way. However, mated in the right place those queens are better behaved.

 

[waverider]

Bad tempered bees along with my ignorant neighbour is the last thing I need. Therefore considering a black queen is probably rather risky. I had contacted a couple of breeders in Cornwall. THey have no queens ready. Will look to get a buckfast or local queen.

 

[Poly Hive]

Sorry to say but I found BIBBA pretty useless when I was trying to source some material, not even willing to let a frame of eggs out of their hands. Their communications are hopeless, and from the part of the lecture I heard last year they are not even promoting the Black bee as such just the "local" bee.

Hmm....

PH

 

[rockdoc]

Not wanting to raise the spectre of imports, but I got a couple of swarms which look very much like New Zealanders recently, furry jacket and all. Just checked the hives before the wind and rain comes in here in the SE. To say these bees are lazy is an understatement. My other mongrel bees are out flying but these guys, I had to gently knock the side before anyone even appeared at the door so to speak. So something like these might be a better bet when dealing with ignorant neighbors.

 

[fox403]

poly sorry had bad dealings with them but i carnt speak more highly of dorian pritchard who is the conservation officer of the group,,this guy is a geneticist and will chat all day about bees