How black is a black bee?

[Tremyfro]

I have a nuc which has a black queen....she isn't the biggest queen but seems to be laying well so far. I don't know the temperament yet as it is still a small nuc but ATM they are calm to handle. I only have carniolans but they were open mated so there could be any genes including from my local gene pool.
All my locally mated queens have been good to handle with the exception of the local nuc I bought originally.....they were always more buzzy....no more than any of the bees I have seen at other apiaries though.

 

[Truble]

ROB Manley mentions native/near native bees in his books and his descriptions are not entirely in keeping with the idea that they are poorly tempered...

It may be regional differences that gives rise to confusing opinions about their temper. Beowulf Cooper reckoned their temper worsened as you went West to East across the UK. Ruttner noticed that UK upland Amms were prone to bad temper (heather bees I think he called them) . Br. Adam noted that French Amms tempers worsened as you went North.
If you happened to live in area where they were generally bad tempered then you would say they were bad tempered....perhaps that is why Br. Adam described the Amm's at Buckfast as being of bad temper (they probably were) and not knowing otherwise tarred the whole lot.

 

[alldigging]

I find this site a bit tainted nowadays. I knew Dave Cushman quite well but a lot of the stuff thats been added recently is Roger Pattersons view and its not always clear which is which

I do feel it's very mixed up now whose is whose.

 

[Cussword]

It's unfortunate that some of the people selling "Amm, Black" bees are just selling bad tempered dark mongrels. The unsuspecting newbie (me) who wants to support the black bee can get quite a shock when he is followed across two fields by very angry bees.

Needless to say, the queen didn't last long. But that's £150 I'll never see again.


You live and learn.

.

 

[colinc]

It's unfortunate that some of the people selling "Amm, Black" bees are just selling bad tempered dark mongrels. The unsuspecting newbie (me) who wants to support the black bee can get quite a shock when he is followed across two fields by very angry bees.

Needless to say, the queen didn't last long. But that's £150 I'll never see again.


You live and learn.

.

Not sure which sting is worse....