{"id":75386,"date":"2020-10-15T13:00:18","date_gmt":"2020-10-15T17:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/?p=75386"},"modified":"2020-11-03T02:36:22","modified_gmt":"2020-11-03T07:36:22","slug":"few-things-consider-before-getting-honeybees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/few-things-consider-before-getting-honeybees\/","title":{"rendered":"A Few Things To Consider Before Getting Honeybees"},"content":{"rendered":"

T<\/span>axonomy is complicated. The classification of animals and plants into family, genus, species and so on is subjective and often depends on who does the classifying and when.<\/p>\n

This much of the lineage of honeybees is agreed upon. They belong to the genus Apis in the family Apidae. There are four to seven other members of the genus, all but one of Asian origin. Apis melifera<\/i><\/span>, which is native to Europe and Africa, is the one that populated the Americas after being brought here by settlers in the early 17th century.<\/p>\n

(Although North America is home to around 4,000 species of bees of the Apidae family, it has no indigenous honeybees.)<\/p>\n

A. melifera<\/i><\/span>, our adopted honeybee, itself has as many as 20 subspecies, each with its own distinctive characteristics. Does that sound confusing? Take heart.<\/p>\n

It turns out that selecting a breed of honeybee is not that difficult. And it\u2019s not nearly as important as selecting a source and a method of shipping.<\/p>\n

Bee Choosy<\/b><\/h2>\n

It\u2019s arguable that honeybees in North America are mutts\u2014a mix of traits that don\u2019t represent any pure subspecies. In their natural habitats in the old world, they developed in isolation, prevented from interbreeding by natural barriers such as mountain ranges. <\/span><\/p>\n

They were imported to this country in waves. In the beginning, the particular subspecies depended on the region from which the settlers who brought the hives originated. Eventually, importers brought queens in commercially, with various subspecies coming into vogue at different times.<\/p>\n

At first, there were <\/span>A. melifera melifera<\/i><\/span>, the small, dark, German bees. They were good honey producers but were aggressive and susceptible to disease. The Italians, <\/span>A. m. ligustica<\/i><\/span>, even better producers, possessed a gentler disposition and an attractive, yellow color. <\/span><\/p>\n

A. m. carnica<\/i><\/span>, commonly known as Carniolans, came from middle Europe. Their habit of cutting back on brood rearing during ebbs in nectar flow enhanced their ability to overwinter successfully in cold climates. But their rapid buildup in the spring required careful management to prevent losses from swarming.<\/p>\n

Caucasians, A. m. caucascia<\/i><\/span>, were particularly gentle but produced inconveniently large quantities of sticky propolis. For various reasons (mostly because they\u2019re mean), subspecies imported from North Africa, Cyprus and Egypt didn\u2019t catch on at all.<\/p>\n

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Read more: <\/strong>Check out these 5 guidelines to follow when feeding your honeybees.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

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Blurred Lines<\/h2>\n

Queen breeders maintained popular varieties, but the others lived on. Swarms established feral colonies in which indiscriminate mating eventually blurred the distinctions between subspecies. Because (short of artificial insemination) it\u2019s next to impossible to select the drones that a queen mates with, even the commercially maintained subspecies probably underwent some genetic drift. <\/span><\/p>\n

Then, in 1922, Congress passed the Honeybee Act<\/a>. This banned all importation of honeybees in an (ultimately unsuccessful) attempt to prevent the introduction of Asian parasites.<\/p>\n

For almost 100 years, the various subspecies of honeybees in this country have evolved in isolation from their European and African progenitors. The sole exception is the migration, through our southern border, of a South African subspecies accidentally released in Brazil.<\/p>\n

The Africanized honeybees (\u201ckiller bees\u201d in popular parlance) have added their genes to the mix in our southern states. But that\u2019s a topic in itself.<\/p>\n

With all that said, the choice of stock for a beekeeper today is between the only two readily available subspecies: Italians and Carniolans. Italians remain the most popular and widely sold, but I (and others) personally prefer the Carniolans. Of course, it isn\u2019t quite that simple.<\/p>\n

Various Varieties<\/b><\/h2>\n

Researchers have bred several varieties, sometimes called lines, genetically selected for desirable characteristics. Most development in the past 20 years occurred in an attempt to produce honeybees resistant to varroa mites\u2014one of the greatest challenges facing bees and beekeepers today.<\/p>\n

Some notable lines include:<\/p>\n