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All Beekeepers Must Choose the Type ll beekeepers must choose the type Races of honey bees each have unique phys- from the original or subsequent introduc- of bee that will be the workhorse of ical and behavioral attributes and typically a tions of honey bees into the U.S. can be Atheir beekeeping operations. Which limited geographic distribution, all of which considered “stocks.” bee to use can be the subject of intense de- allow them to be distinguished from other I provide two good quotes that will help bate among beekeepers. Should you use races of western honey bees. These differ- explain what I mean when using the term Russian bees or Minnesota hygienic bees? ing attributes, or “phenotypes” as scientists “stock.” First, Dr. Al Dietz explained the Which is better: Italian or New World Car- would say, confer varying characteristics concept of bee races, and how we use them niolan bees? The answers to these questions to the bees, meaning that no two races of in breeding. He noted: are not easy. There are, in fact, no right honey bees are exactly alike. It is this diver- “The geographic races of bees are the answers to these questions. The average sity that is celebrated among beekeepers as results of natural selection in their home- beekeeper will use multiple types of bees it produces bees with varying characteristics land. That is, the bees became adjusted to during his or her journey through beekeep- that are more/less desirable, depending on their original environment, but not always ing. Part of the joy of beekeeping is figuring the view and management practices of the to the economic requirements of beekeep- out which bee(s) is best for you. beekeeper. For example, some bee races ers. Therefore, they are not the result, but swarm more than do others. Some bee races the raw material for breeding.” – Dietz, A. What is a honey bee “stock”? can be quite defensive while others tend not 1992. Honey bees of the world. The Hive There are a number of terms associated to sting as much. Some bee races overwinter and the Honey Bee (J. Graham, ed.), Dadant with types of a given organism. These in- better than do other bee races. Thus, bee- and Sons, Hamilton, IL, USA. 1324 pp. clude breed, line, stock, pedigree, etc. Some keepers are free to choose a race that works I really like Dr. Dietz’s description of a use these terms interchangeably with the best for them, in their particular manage- race and how he noted that bee races provide terms subspecies or race. However, each ment system. the raw material for breeding, ultimately term has its own definition and it is impor- Europeans brought honey bees to North producing the stocks that we have in the tant to use the right one when discussing the America hundreds of years ago. Conse- U.S. today. types of honey bees available in the U.S. quently, the honey bees that we use mostly Second, Dr. David Tarpy wrote a North To understand “type terminology” best, descend from European races of honey bees. Carolina State University Extension Bul- it is important to appreciate a little about I say “mostly” because we do have one Afri- letin and made the following statement on honey bee biogeography. There are multiple can race of honey bee in the Americas. This bee stocks: species of honey bees in the world, perhaps is the “killer” bee of lore – Apis mellifera “The term “stock” is defined as a loose 7-9 depending on who you ask. We use the scutellata. The various races of western combination of traits that characterize a par- one species whose natural distribution is ex- honey bees can hybridize with one another. ticular group of bees. Such groups can be clusively outside of Asia: Apis mellifera, the To be fair and accurate, we no longer have divided by species, race, region, population, western honey bee. Western honey bees are European races of honey bees in the U.S. In- or breeding line in a commercial operation. distributed naturally in Europe, Africa, and stead, the bees we use are derived from pur- Many of the current “stocks” in the United parts of the Middle East. poseful and/or natural breeding between the States can be grouped at one or more of Apis mellifera, as a species, can be di- various European races that were introduced these levels…” – David Tarpy, 2005. The vided further into subspecies, or races. The into the U.S. I like to use the designations Different Types of Honey Bees. AG-645, race name would be the third name in the “European-derived” or “African-derived” NC State University, Cooperative Exten- Latin designation. For example, Apis mel- honey bees when discussing the bees we sion Service, http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/ lifera ligustica is the Italian honey bee, with have in the U.S. After all, they are no longer entomology/apiculture/pdfs/1.12%20 the race or subspecies name being ligustica. European or African! The lines maintained copy.pdf. February 2015 141 ABJ_February_2015.indb 141 12/30/2014 9:53:31 AM It technically is incorrect to claim that we less, the long and vast experience of bee- abandon the stock forever. In practice, a bee use one race or another in our beekeeping keepers allows some oversimplifications stock must be used longer than a year, or operations. We have stocks of honey bees to be made in order to better understand maybe even two, before one can know if it that originated from multiple European the different types of bees available.” will work for them. Regardless, a good bee races and one African race, or crosses be- David Tarpy, 2005. The Different Types in the hands of a bad beekeeper becomes a tween the races. Granted, some of the bees of Honey Bees. AG-645, NC State Uni- bad bee. available for purchase may exhibit charac- versity, Cooperative Extension Service, Fourth, be selective when choosing where teristics principally associated with a given http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/entomology/ to purchase your queens. Just because a race, but they almost certainly are not pure, apiculture/pdfs/1.12%20copy.pdf. breeder says a queen is a given race or stock unadulterated descendants of the original does not make the queen the given race or bees of that race. For example, you might Third, I believe bee management is a stock. I always tell people to go straight purchase Italian-derived honey bees that greater determinant of the success of a given to the source with questions about a given are yellow in color, produce large colonies, bee stock than even the bee’s typical char- stock. For example, it often is a university, are relatively gentle, and are prolific honey acteristics. I note this because it is common federal research group, or queen breeder as- producers. However, they almost certainly for beekeepers to spend money on a stock sociation that is trying to produce a given are not “pure” Italian honey bees, descended of bee that they feel best meets all of their stock. Therefore, I tell seekers to go to these from the original stocks imported into the needs. They, then, have a bad experience sources when wanting to find the bee that U.S. Genetic analyses of honey bees across with the stock and feel that it fails to live most typifies the stock. When in doubt, (1) the U.S. support this assertion. up to its billing, ultimately abandoning the ask other beekeepers, (2) search the web, stock in disappointment. I especially see this or (3) look in the beekeeping literature for Points to consider when deciding a lot when people purchase and use resistant sources of queens of a given stock. You can which bee stock to use stocks of bees. They purchase a bee report- find a good list of bee suppliers in the U.S. at There are five key considerations one edly resistant to something and then do not http://www.beesource.com/bees-supplies/ must remember when searching for and give it a fair chance, or they misuse it and united-states/. More state-specific infor- purchasing one’s bee of choice. First, many mation on sources of bees typically can be bee breeders claim to raise a given bee race. found on each state’s beekeepers’ associa- However, I hope you now appreciate that tion website. Finally, you are reading this there are no “pure” races of European honey article in the American Bee Journal. Just flip bees in the U.S. Most of the race designa- through the pages of the magazine and you tions are assigned based on a given queen’s will see advertisements for a number of bee color, the color of the queen’s offspring, breeders/stock providers. and sometimes on the colony’s behavioral Fifth, you can lose the traits of a given attributes. Color can vary tremendously bee the moment the queen dies, swarms, or within a given bee stock (see Figure 1 as a is superseded. This is very important to re- great example). Thus, a bee’s color cannot A member. You can go through a lot of effort be the sole indicator of its race. Further- and expense to purchase and use a queen more, even a queen that is true-to-race (i.e. of a given stock. However, the character- “pure”) supplies only ½ of the genes carried istics of that stock can be lost the moment by her female offspring. Given that queens the queen is lost and resulting daughter mate in the air, away from the nest, usually mates with drones from other colonies in with multiple, unrelated drones, I suspect the area.
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