Differences in Races of Bees

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Bee Camp

Bees vary more from colony to colony than from race to race.

Common races in North America Africanized Honey Bees (AHB) Buckfast Carniolans Caucasians –Midnite German or English native bees Italian –Cordovan –Starline Minnesota Hygienic –VSH (aka SMR aka Harbo) LUS Russian

Africanized Honey Bees (AHB) Look just like Italians but typically smaller Sometimes extremely defensive Swarmy Abscond easily Hardy Healthy Vigorous Disease and mite resistant Reproductively advantaged

Buckfast Marked like “leather colored” Italians More frugal than Italians Used to be gentle Good wintering ability Good spring buildup Productive Tracheal mite resistance Minimal propolis

Carniolans Fly in slightly cooler weather Winter hardy Quick spring build up (could seem swarmy if not monitored for this or allowed space to brood) Productive Winter in small clusters Shut down brood rearing when there are dearths.

Caucasians Black bees with silver grey hair Propolize excessively with a sticky propolis rather than a hard propolis. Longest tongues Slower spring buildup Gentle Less prone to robbing Less prone to drifting

Midnite No longer available Was a hybrid cross of two lines of Caucasians Later became a hybrid cross of one line of Caucasians and one line of Carniolans Hyper expression of Caucasian traits

German or English native bees These were the typical wild bees from the time of colonization of North America to the 1970s or so. Do well in damp cold climates. Tend toward being runny (excitable on the combs) Swarmy Otherwise typical traits of the darker bees such as Carniolans

Italian Reasonably gentle (perhaps not as gentle as Caucasians) Vigorous Not frugal “Brood rearing fools” Prone to robbing Prone to drifting Productive

Cordovan In theory Cordovan is a color In reality it is a strain of Italians Hyper Italian characteristics Usually very gentle Occasionally very aggressive

Starline No longer available Was an F1 hybrid cross of two distinct lines of Italian bees Hyper Italian traits.

Minnesota Hygienic As I understand bred from the remaining lines of the Starlines Tested and selected for uncapping and removing brood Otherwise typical Italian traits

VSH (aka SMR aka Harbo) Started with feral survivors collected and bred by Dr. Harbo Chosen for suppressed mite reproduction (SMR) Trait was “fixed” by close inbreeding When SMR was linked to hygienic behavior, selected for Varroa sensitive hygiene (VSH) Typical Italian traits for the most part.

LUS Bees (Lusby’s) A strain of the wild bees that have been living in Arizona for at least a century. Has shown ability of laying workers to produce a viable queen. (Thelytoky)

Russian A bit defensive, but in odd ways. They tend to head butt a lot while not stinging any more. They are watchful guards Don’t tend to be "runny" though sometimes they are. Swarminess and productivity are a bit more unpredictable. Traits are not well fixed. Frugality is similar to the Carniolans.

Contact Info Michael Bush bees at bushfarms dot com Book: The Practical Beekeeper