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Italian honeybees were originally
brought to this country in the late 1800s along with several
other European strains to replace the common black bees brought
by our forefathers in the settling of our Way Back to Biological
Beekeeping.
Italian honeybees were originally brought to this country.This
is what the beekeepers in the United States have been told for
generations. But depending upon whose heritage you are describing,
so changes the story ever so slightly. However, it wasn't that
the other black strains were bad also, that caused Italian honeybees
to be favored, but the fact that common everyday beekeepers couldn't
tell them apart from other blacks, as it was much more difficult
to detect a mixture of caucasians or carnolians, while, with
the Italians, if the yellow bands are not present one can immediately
know that they have been mixed or hybridized.
The original real Italian bees, the bee today that has almost
lost its identity among beekeepers in the United States was originally
three-banded, leather-colored uniformly in color, bred true to
form, color and habits. How unfortunately today often we see
ads for queens and honeybees with no reference to strain, traits,
etc., except to say that "boy are these good bees, and at
a price you can't pass up."
Our present day bee breeders are not so much to blame for placing
emphasis on breeding in good looking yellow characteristics into
the Italian honeybees,..."the industry demanded it".
Nearly all queen breeders went with Italian breeding because
the old German Black Bees were difficult to handle and more importantly
because a hybridized yellow strain would make more honey than
one that wasn't. All this means is that, good business is the
ability to give your customers what they think they want and
don't mention the shortcomings.
One must always remember that the common beekeeper can be accommodated
with any race or strain he may desire, only the real trick is
to know what you are looking for. As the pendulum swung during
the late 1800s and early 1900s in this country and around the
world to a bee different in color from what was commonly kept
so that any amateur beekeeper could distinguish from their own
then prominent common black bees, bear in mind then, that yellow
strains only became popular because they were different in color,
not that they were all around better. Now at the end of our century,
the late 1900s, the pendulum again is swinging. But, instead
of common black bees beekeepers wish to get rid of, it is now
the dreaded yellow colored Killer Africanized Honeybees in the
Americas. HOW TRUE THE OLD SAYING REALLY IS: "HISTORY REALLY
DOES REPEAT ITSELF."
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Signed: Dee A. Lusby, Tucson, Arizona, USA, 1-520-748-0542
Email Address: deealusby1@aol.com
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