Choosing Your Bees

Choosing The Bees To Populate Your Hive

You have your hive built, and you have it located where it will now call home. The next step is to add your bees. Many new beekeepers believe that you only need to buy some bees and a queen, put them in the hive, and let them go to work. As much as it would be great if it worked that easily, there is a little more to it than that.

As we all know, bees are nature’s marvel in that they produce the marvelous liquid gold known as honey. However, when it comes to the variety of bee types, this is where the comparison ends. Yes, honey bees make honey, but also yes, various kinds of honey bees are considered the best for the backyard beekeeper.

It is suggested you choose your bees carefully and know the traits, characteristics, and temperaments of those that will be in your charge. The “stock” of a group of bees, which include their species, race, region population, and breeding has been followed and compared against one another for hundreds of years. In much the same manner as the pedigree of fine racing horses, so are the lines and heredity of bees.

Currently in the United States, there are several recognized stocks of honey breeds. Each breed exhibits different attributes specific to their stock, and as such, each should be studied and researched by the beekeeper to make sure that the breed stock is one that will work for them. Below are a few stocks of honey breeds here in the US.

The Italian Honey Bee
In terms of current beekeeping, the Italian Honey Bee is one of the most popular and widely chosen of the honey bee stock. Originating in Italy, the Italian Honey Bee was brought to the US in 1859. They are a favorite of beekeepers due to their frequent brood cycles, their gentle nature, and the fact they are very reluctant to swarm.
Even though they have their pros, they have a few cons as well. They are known, due to their tendency for long brood cycles, to consume their resources at a somewhat rapid rate. They are also little thieves, in that they have no problem with robbing the food stores from weaker hives. And they are more prone to a pest problem, which in turn results in higher rates of the collapse of the hive.

With all that said they are an excellent choice for any beginning beekeeper, or as an addition to an established colony. They have a well-rounded nature to them and are found available in both packages and nucs.

The Russian Bee
In 1997 the USDA made a choice to import Russian Bees into the USA due to the increased collapse of bee colonies that were occurring due to the presence of parasites. Russian bees have shown to have a natural ability and tolerance to stave off both varroa and tracheal mites. Studies by the USDA have produced data that many stocks of the Russian bee breed showed to have contained half the mite load of many standard commercial stocks.

Russian bees are a breed stock that is very reliant on their surrounding environment. For this reason, they are known to go through a brood cycle during those times of the season that the nectar and pollen is abundantly available. Because their brooding time is so short, this breed is much more difficult to obtain by those who are hobbyists or “newbies” to the beekeeping arena.

In comparison to the other bee breeds that we will be looking at, Russian bees are known to present with rather unusual types of behaviors in contrast to their fellow bee strains. Unlike most hives, which tend to contain a queen bee only at times when the hive is swarming, or the current queen requires replacement, the Russian bee colonies are known to keep a queen cell at all times. Russian bees are also known to be a more aggressive breed of bees and have been shown to be highly susceptible to natural pests.

As a result, this strain of bee breed is still in the stage of being understood and at present are not made available to most beekeepers.

The Carniolan Bee
Of the two breed stocks that are currently the most popular in the US, the Carniolan bee is one of them. The reason for this breeds massive popularity is based on several reasons. In the spring, the hive will have an explosive buildup, allowing a beekeeper to quickly build up the colony in time for the summer months. They are also one of the more docile, accommodating breeds of bees. The amount of irritation they will endure before even considering stinging the beekeeper is much higher than most bees. With the longest noted tongue of any bee stock, the Carniolan bee can pollinate crops such as clover, which gives them more choices as to nutrition for the colony.

Carniolan bees originated from Central and Eastern Europe. And as a result, they have been bred to be more tolerant of colder climate areas, and are currently considered as one of the best bee stocks for overwintering from season to season,

The main drawback of this breed that has been noted is that they are more likely to swarm than most of the other breeds on the list. This is attributed to the fact of their somewhat explosive growth, along with comb production earlier in the year.

With that said, this type of bee breed strain is perfect for those beekeepers who are in climates that shift from warm to cold or even damp to bitter winter seasons.

The Africanized Bee
Regardless of its name, the Africanized bee, also known as the Killer Bee, did not even original from Africa. It did, in fact, originate from the country of Brazil. This breed of bee was not developed by nature, but by man, as it is a hybrid that was designed in a lab. Its intended purpose was to create an increased resistance to both pests and parasites, while at the same time not reducing its honey production. The breed stock showed a lot of promise until 26 of the experimental breeds escaped their quarantine in the labs, and proceeded to take over South America.

Even though this is one of the more aggressive strains of the honey bee, if one can learn to work with them, they will find that they have many advantages. Because this breed is known to start foraging at a much younger age, they are likely to produce more honey, and their colony size will prove to be much smaller.

This bee strain is very misunderstood due to some awful press in the 70s and 80s as such many beekeepers feel that the threat of possibly being stung to death outways the possibility of them taking them on for their hives.

These are a few of the most sought out and well-known breeds of honey bees in the US today. As with any other aspect of your journey into beekeeping, it is best to do your research and find out what to expect and what to prepare yourself for. An ounce of prevention and all that.

Here at Petric Bees, we take great pride in the fact that we currently offer Minnesota Hygenic Italian Honey Bees. Research shows that over 90% of current beekeepers have Italian Honey Bees in their hives. They are a great breed to start with and to learn as you grow your hive. Make sure to check them out today! Check out some of our great products at https://petricbees.com/sale for the many options on how you can get started in beekeeping.