Native Irish bees

ezra_

I came across a link to the native Irish bee society.

It had never even struck me that the bees we see around the place weren't original. What is the difference between native irish and others? Why don't more people have the native version?

victor8600

Native Irish bees are European dark bees (Apis mellifera mellifera), which were once common in Europe. They are native to Ireland in a sense that they had thousands of years to adapt to the specific local conditions (after the end of the last ice age). However, in most of Europe the dark bee is no longer present as it has become mixed with other strains of bees. Mixed strains are consequences of breeding programs to make bees more productive or more manageable by crossing different sub-species of bees. 

As far as I know, hobbyist bee-keepers in Ireland prefer to breed dark bees, but it is legal to import bees from UK/EU (notably the Buckfast variety).

ezra_

Thanks.

bpmurray

Just a comment on importing: that's a good way to help wipe out bees in Ireland. The Varroa mite came in that way and presumably the Small Hive Beetle will arrive that way too. Instead get them from a good breeder in Ireland.

There are plenty of breeders of native black bees, and there's a handful of folk who do quality Buckfasts so there's no reason to go abroad.

Effects

bpmurray wrote: »

There are plenty of breeders of native black bees.

Is there though? There's always massive demand for overwintered nucs and some people seem think there isn't enough.
Then there's also a huge amount of people who think a nuc of bees should only cost them in or around €30.

thelord

Imagine Nucs for 30 euro lol best price I found last year was 170 euro