Why the British Black Bee?
Since 1859 many thousands of queen bees of foreign race have been imported into this country with the apparent intention of producing better bees than those already here, but it can be shown that this has had the opposite effect. (Ref. Breeding better bees, BIBBA) Much work and study has been carried out by BIBBA to show that the best bee for the British climate is Apis melifera melifera. This is a bee of distinct race that has adapted over thousands of years to our unique climate and is able to survive our winters. The physiological reasons for the survival of the dark bee in severe winters are given by Ruttner (1988): a) The dark bee has the largest body of the whole species with greater metabolic heat production by individual bees when required. b) The dark bee has the longest abdominal over hairs of the European races. The colony forms a winter cluster when the air temperature falls to 2c. The bees that form the outer layer tuck their heads inwards and the abdominal over hairs inte
