F2 aggression

[Finman]

Apologies if this seems a stupid question but I've got no idea what the indigenous Finnish/Lap bees are/were.

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There is no indigenous bees in whole Finland.

There are continous geneflow from southern countries to Finland.
Carniolan race has been in Finland practically 20-25 y.
And beebreeders import actively new strains.

Our winter is very harsh and long to newcomers. It does not give much mercy.

Finland started beekeeping about 200 y ago.

 

[Thymallus]

There is no indigenous bees in whole Finland.

There are continous geneflow from southern countries to Finland.
Carniolan race has been in Finland practically 20-25 y.
And beebreeders import actively new strains.

Our winter is very harsh and long to newcomers. It does not give much mercy.

Finland started beekeeping about 200 y ago.

Of course, thanks for that.
You mentioned there were a few feral colonies around. Are these spring/summer swarms that don't manage to overwinter in your climate or ones that do? If the later, it is some testament to bees adaptability to weather your harsh winters.

 

[Finman]

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We had German Black ferals 25 y ago, but varroa killed them all.

Italian bee has too big colonies to live as ferals.

Carniolan is a new comer but it seems that they are able to form feral colonies, at least some. I have heard that those wild colonies are very bad tempered when guys have tried use them in breeding. How those survive with varroa, I do not know.

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