- Joined
- Sep 4, 2011
- Messages
- 5,880
- Reaction score
- 5,495
- Location
- Wiveliscombe
- Hive Type
- National
- Number of Hives
- 24
I'm almost certain I read the British national we use today was specifically designed for our native bees
It's just struck me that if what is currently known as the National didn't really exist before 1920 as suggested on Dave Cushman's site, then it's probably unlikely to have been designed for native bees because (it is suggested that) most native bees were wiped out by Isle of Wight Disease (Acarine) which started around the turn of the 20th century. I don't really know that much about the outbreak, but my understanding is that importation of foreign stock became increasingly common as a result of native colonies dying out, so it's possible that by 1920 most "managed" bees weren't native at all.
James