Finman
Queen Bee
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2008
- Messages
- 27,887
- Reaction score
- 2,023
- Location
- Finland, Helsinki
- Hive Type
- Langstroth
I tried to look from internet, what kind of bee is Italian.
Descriptions are about 130 years old. The race is full of bad features. However it the most popular bee race in the world.
When I started to keep bees, I heard how it is impossible to nurse. Reason was, that you could not keep the colony in a two box colony like black bees, or in skeps.
I have kept Italian bees 45 years. They are many variants, and if you do not select them all the time, they turn to normal mongrels. It is easy to get high quality queens. 90% out of Finnish bees are Italians. Carniolan bee was imported to Finland about 30 years ago, when varroa started to sweep away Black bee.
Two years ago I looked pastures, do they have already bees enough. Yes, they had. What about race... The colors were such that I could not name any known races. So, we have genuine town mongrels too, and perhaps they are those native bees, born in situ.
.
Descriptions are about 130 years old. The race is full of bad features. However it the most popular bee race in the world.
When I started to keep bees, I heard how it is impossible to nurse. Reason was, that you could not keep the colony in a two box colony like black bees, or in skeps.
I have kept Italian bees 45 years. They are many variants, and if you do not select them all the time, they turn to normal mongrels. It is easy to get high quality queens. 90% out of Finnish bees are Italians. Carniolan bee was imported to Finland about 30 years ago, when varroa started to sweep away Black bee.
Two years ago I looked pastures, do they have already bees enough. Yes, they had. What about race... The colors were such that I could not name any known races. So, we have genuine town mongrels too, and perhaps they are those native bees, born in situ.
.
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