A Native Dark Bee Project

Margie Ramsay reports on a project reintroducing A.m.m. to a reserve in Scotland. Update July 2015 In 1905, just before the First World War there was a 20 year long bee plague called Isle of Wight disease which was considered by many, including bee breeder Brother Adam, to have eradicated the native subspecies of dark…

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Controlled Mating and Hygienic Behaviour

we compared the levels of hygiene in colonies headed by daughter queens reared from hygienic mother colonies that were either instrumentally inseminated with sperm from drones reared from hygienic colonies or allowed to mate naturally with naturally-occurring drones.

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Join a Group

BIBBA are encouraging beekeepers to join together to form groups. If you are already running a Bee Improvement group working towards raising local queens or improving Apis melifera melifera stocks, or if you wish to start and organise such a group, please complete this form: https://goo.gl/forms/6784oVS9LLoV7PAO2 If you do not feel able to set up…

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Genetic Origin & Survival

On average, colonies with queens from local origin survived 83 days longer compared to non-local origins (p < 0.001). This result demonstrates strong genotype by environment interactions. Consequently, the conservation of bee diversity and the support of local breeding activities must be prioritised in order to prevent colony losses, to optimize a sustainable productivity and to enable a continuous adaptation to environmental changes.

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Dark Bee Conservation Group – WF5

West Yorkshire group aiming to promote and improve the local bee whilst preserving the natural honey bee diversity, reduce colony losses and reduce the dependence on therapeutic and chemical treatments. contact Stuart Atkinson

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Denbigh Vale of Clwyd – LL16

Denbigh, Ruthin and outlying areas. Queen rearing, selective breeding and bee improvement. contact Steve Cawthray

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