Black Bees - A.M.M. WANTED

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Castor

New Bee
Joined
May 28, 2011
Messages
5
Reaction score
0
Location
Ebley Nr Stroud, Glos
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
10 ish
I need black bees. I want to bolster the AMM or near AMM genome in my neck of the woods - darkest Gloucestershire.....

I wish to buy some queens of known good provenance.

What I am getting when I ask around is a whole shedload of negativity and yes I already have dark-ish bees and yes we have already flooding the area with as many dark-ish drones as we can muster.....

So, team, your thoughts please?
 
I need black bees. I want to bolster the AMM or near AMM genome in my neck of the woods - darkest Gloucestershire.....

I wish to buy some queens of known good provenance.

What I am getting when I ask around is a whole shedload of negativity and yes I already have dark-ish bees and yes we have already flooding the area with as many dark-ish drones as we can muster.....

So, team, your thoughts please?

PM sent
 
Black Bees

Perhaps you should look on BIBBA
it is a interesting web site and would put you in touch with
fellow Bee improvement and conservationists.
i'm guessing you know about this anyhow.
 
Thanks Jill,

I joined up to BIBBA and wrote multiple emails to many of their officers asking for help in locating local like minded souls.

I got not one reply. Nothing.
I got the distinct impression it was a closed shop and gave up - life's too short!
 
Thanks Jill,

I joined up to BIBBA and wrote multiple emails to many of their officers asking for help in locating local like minded souls.

I got not one reply. Nothing.
I got the distinct impression it was a closed shop and gave up - life's too short!

A couple of years ago I emailed them to ask about AMM,s in my area. A year later, I got a reply asking if I was still interested- I said I was. A few months later they replied to me to ask if I knew of AMM's in my area!
 
Thanks Jill,

I joined up to BIBBA and wrote multiple emails to many of their officers asking for help in locating local like minded souls.

I got not one reply. Nothing.
I got the distinct impression it was a closed shop and gave up - life's too short!

I did better than you then - got one reply advising me to breed from my existing black-ish bees which (as I told 'em) have some of the worst traits I've ever come across. Great - so how long is that going to take - 15, maybe 20 years ?
BIBBA really need to get their act together, if they want to be more than just a talking shop.

LJ
 
there are several bee groups in Germany that breed a version of AMM and there have been rumours of far flung Scottish isle breeders also having a version of AMM
yes they are still about and yes they are good bees but there are many better sorts of bees better suited to beekeeping.

it is also a good enough reason to pop out and burn any carni bee based hives as the cross breeds are deadly
 
I was interested at first and considered it, but thought I may have to sit there for a year waiting for someone from BIBBA to turn up and then they would ask me where to obtain AMM's.

Hilarious! haha
I'm sure if you want everything at a click of a mouse it would be much easier to source some imported queens from someone more attuned to turning a profit than breeding bees, but if you have retained the gift of personal communication you might be more rewarded by talking to someone who actually breeds some bees.
 

Some interesting speakers on that list ... sadly it's just too far for me to consider it ... I will be interested to see what the speakers topics are once they get round to publishing an agenda ... I see Kate Thompson is on the list - her work on Feral Colonies is of interest, I wonder if she's ready to publish her later paper yet ?
 
Some interesting speakers on that list ... sadly it's just too far for me to consider it ...

I'm staying the Saturday night, I'll gladly share a wee dram or two with you if you reconsider........
 
These are quite a long way from you down at the end of Cornwall, but they have been breeding "Cornish Black" AMM for years.

http://honeymountain.co.uk/nuclei.htm

There are now a couple of hives of them at Paington Zoo, with more to go in at The Eden Project and the Lost Gardens of Heligan there is a bit of a project to try and boost black bees in Cornwall at the moment.

Ross
 
. . . . .they have been breeding "Cornish Black" AMM for years.

There are now a couple of hives of them at Paington Zoo, with more to go in at The Eden Project and the Lost Gardens of Heligan there is a bit of a project to try and boost black bees in Cornwall at the moment.

Ross

Is that to go with their new "curtural" status?
 
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