Black Honey Bees?

Kirk-o · July 20, 2005, 05:31:06 PM

I have a hive of Black honey bees the queen is Black as the Ace of Spades.Tese bees were wild swarm anyone know about wild black bees
kirko

RebelRx · July 20, 2005, 08:35:08 PM

My daddy called them german bees. They were a little black bee that was viscous but produced a modest amount of honey. We got several swarms and a few hives out of trees back then. I haven't seen any around here (south central Mississippi) in the last 10 years though.

lee · July 20, 2005, 10:58:20 PM

i saw to of them today. i was going to ask about them, but don't have to now :lol:

Phoenix · July 20, 2005, 11:11:27 PM

Not likely to be of German descent, as most, if not all of what were left here were wiped out by the mites. Those that may have survived were not likely to find German drones to mate with, therefore feral survivors are if anything.........Mutts.

Most likely you have a swarm of Carniolans, but a slim chance of Caucasians, both of which have dark characteristics. My Carni's have dark abdomens with grey stripes, no gold to them whatsoever, and the queens are solid black or dark mocha. Caucasians are similar, but I haven't seen hives of any in a few years, and don't recall their markings.

Michael Bush · July 20, 2005, 11:34:25 PM

Look anything like these?

http://www.bushfarms.com/images/BlackBees.jpg

I find most of the ferals I'm finding now are black.

leominsterbeeman · July 21, 2005, 08:49:47 AM

MB says:

QuoteI find most of the ferals I'm finding now are black.

Interesting. Might that indicate that these black bees are more mite resistant? Have you bee able to do any mite detection on the black feral hives, and have any conclusive results.

Michael Bush · July 21, 2005, 11:50:01 AM

I had already been putting Russians, Italians, Buckfasts, Cordovans etc on small cell and they were all doing fine with the mites. But I assume the ferals are better adapted to my climate. They were surviving the mites with no treatments, but my assumption is they would anyway on natural sized cell.

Kirk-o · July 21, 2005, 07:48:01 PM

Yes they look like Michael Bush's Bees Black with gray tiger stripes
kirk0.I had Midnight Bees in the 70's got them from Montgomery Ward through the male but these aren't Midnights,

Romahawk · July 21, 2005, 08:38:15 PM

At the risk of being stoned (thrown rocks at) when your talking about having your bees on small celled foundation or letting the bees draw their own in a foundation-less frame are you talking only about the brood chambers or are you advocating using it in the supers as well.

Michael Bush · July 22, 2005, 10:38:07 AM

>At the risk of being stoned (thrown rocks at) when your talking about having your bees on small celled foundation or letting the bees draw their own in a foundation-less frame are you talking only about the brood chambers or are you advocating using it in the supers as well.

I use no excluders and I let them draw their own in the whole hive, which is all the same to me. Sometimes the queen uses as many as four boxes for brood, sometimes only one. It's all hive to me.