Douglas Farm

• Queen Production Comments
• Our Breeding Program
• Publications of Brother Adam

Breeds Of Honey Bees Offered By Douglas Farm

• Italian
• Cordovan Italian (aka. Blond Italian)
• Carniolan & 'New World' Carniolan
• Buckfast - (starting 2010)
• Ligurian

Breeds Not Offered by Douglas Farm

• Africanized Honey Bee (AHB)
• Russian
• Caucasian
• German Black Bee
• SMR or VMR
• Other Hybrids
• Non-domestic bees

Queen production is considered one of the highest arts of the beekeeper's trade.  Any beekeeper anywhere can manipulate a colony to produce a queen using the knowledge that honey bees are ready to rear emergency queens at a moments notice.

The quality of the queen produced, however, is predicated on a number of variables that a colony often cannot control.  The human queen producer, on the other hand, can control conditions, resulting in an optimum queen.  Any breed can be gentle or hygenic. The masterful breeders can bring these traits out through proper parent selection. Thus, queen production is rather like wine creation.  Anyone can produce a wine, but a fine wine requires a lot of extra effort and knowledge.  The same is true for producing quality queens.

There is a distinction between producing queen honey bees and breeding them using genetic principles.  The queen producer is not necessarily a "breeder"  although many may give themselves this title. Customers  buying queen honey bees do not often understand this.  Because they are price conscious it may not register with them that inexpensive queens are simply "produced," and little if any "breeding" has been done in the process.  It is up to customer to ask for details concerning how queens being sold are produced / bred.  In no other beekeeping area do the words "let the buyer beware"  have greater significance.

Beekeepers should keep in mind if they make their own queens that a certain percentage of in breeding occurs during each generation. A beekeeper of 250 hives will show significant signs of inbreeding in less than 10 generations. Therefore, it is important to introduce quality queens from trusted breeders on a regular schedule.

Douglas Farm has started its own breeding prgram (2009). Please refer to our breeding program page for more details - (Click Here).

All queens from Douglas Farm use the international queen color code:

Italian – (Apis mellifera ligustica)

Italian honey bees were brought to the U.S. in 1859. They quickly became the favored bee stock in this country and remain so to this day. Known for their extended periods of brood rearing, Italian bees can build colony populations in the spring and maintain them for the entire summer. They are less defensive and less prone to disease than their German coun­terparts, and they are excellent honey producers. They also are very lightly colored, ranging from a light leather hue to an almost lemon yellow, a trait that is highly coveted by many bee­keepers for its aesthetic appeal.

Despite their popularity, Italian bees have some drawbacks. First, because of their prolonged brood rear­ing, they may consume surplus honey in the hive if supers (removable upper sections where honey is stored) are not removed immediately after the honey flow stops. Second, they frequently rob the honey stores of weaker or dead neigh­boring colonies. This behavior may pose problems for Italian beekeepers who work their colonies during times of nectar dearth, and it may cause the rapid spread of transmittable diseases among hives. (NCSU) Lastly, due to their popularity and wild mating, Italians in the US today are mutt cousins to their 1859 ancestors.

Anatomy

Color: Abdomen has brown and yellow bands. Among different strains of Italian bees there are three different colors: Leather; bright yellow (golden); and very pale yellow (Cordovan).
Size: The bodies are smaller and their overhairs shorter than those of the darker honeybee races
Tongue length: 6.3 to 6.6 mm
Mean Cubital index: 2.2 to 2.5

Most bees sold throughout the US fall under an 'Italian' name. Its genetics and appearance can vary greatly. Eventually, Douglas Farm may phase out its offering of Italian (ligustica) when we start to offer Northern Italian (ligurian).

Cordovan (Italian Subspecies) - (Apis mellifera ligustica)

This bee is a rare type of Italian bee that has a very eye catching light yellow color. The cordovan color variation does not constitute a different race. This color variation changes all the normally black body parts of the be to a distictive reddish brown color. All three castes are affected. The queen's abdomen is yellow through to the very tip. The workers and drones have brown bands instead of black. Worker eyes seem smaller as the hair around them changes from black to blond.

The single recessive gene that determines the cordovan color, works on the same principle that blue and brown eye operates in people. Cordovan color being a resesive gene will quickly show Africanization by reverting the lightness back to black.

Cordovan Italian     vs.     Wild-type Italian

Cordovan Genetics

Source: http://www.glenn-apiaries.com/

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Carniolan - (Apis mellifera carnica)

The Carniolan honeybee is a sub species of the Western European honeybee. The sub species originated in Slovenia. Carniolan bees are nearly as big and long as the Western European black bees. Their abdomens are much slimmer. Furthermore, the Carniolan bee has a very long tongue 6.5 to 6.7 mm (which is very well adapted for clover), a very high elbow joint and very short hair.

New World Carniolan 

The New World Carniolan was originally established in 1982 by Susan Cobey and Tim Lawrence in Northern California. Carniolan stock from across the U.S. and Canada was collected, back crossed, and evaluated to establish a pure Carniolan foundation population. Instrumental insemination and strict annual evaluation protocol (including hygienic testing) were followed to maintain the NWC breeding program. In 1990 the NWC breeding program was moved to Ohio State University. A cooperative effort between OSU and Strachan Apiaries currently maintains and propagates the stock. (Strachan Apiaries Inc.)

Douglas Farm offers both locally raised pure Carniolan Queens from New World Carniolan mothers and offer New World Carniolan queens directly from Strachan Apiaries.

 Availible for special order - Import ETA August 2010.

Douglas Farm Buckfest Stock:

• Origin Buckfest Abey, UK
• Then Ontario, Canada (11 years)
• Now to be bred and available in New Jersey, USA.

At no time has this line been bred in USDA published Africanized states like Texas or Southern California. Time in Ontario has shown the Buckfest to be extermly winter hardy, in addition to hygenic and gentile.

Brother Adam came to beekeeping during a UK tracheal mite crises. Due to his early experiences the Benedictine monk Brother Adam came to look at abilities of different of different honeybee races. Every strain and race was looked upon as a possible genetic resource. Brother Adam established a special mating station in an isolated area of Dartmoor, a desolate area with little vegetation, few bees and a hard climate. Dartmoor was made famous during story of Sherlock Holmes - The Hound of the Baskervilles. He also used instrumental insemination to a certain degree. But the mating station on Dartmoor has always been the corner stone in his breeding.

Brother Adam stated if you don't aim at fast progress, but just want to preserve or make a slow progress, making a mating apiary with your best colonies regardless of their genetic relationship is a good way, according to my own opinion.  But when you cross different strains that are quite different genetically, you will in the next following generations get a quite wide variation, so you need a narrowing of the genetic upset of the drone side to make progress with a reasonable speed.

Watch the bees carefully.  Maybe they are telling you that you are doing the right thing.  Maybe they tell you that you are working after the right theories.  Maybe they will give you good colonies and you don't understand why these odd colonies are that good.  Be humble enough to admit that it is a possibility that you don't know everything and take care of such colonies.  And let the bees tell you afterwards what you have got.  Brother Adam always advised you: Let the bees tell you.

Today the Buckfast bee from Buckfast Abbey contains heritage from mainly A.m. ligurica (North Italian), A.m. mellifera (English), A.m. mellifera (French), A.m. anatolica (Turkish) and A.m.  cecropia (Greek). The Buckfast bee of today also contain heritage from two African rare African stocks A.m. sahariensis and the A.m. monticola, but not A.m. Scutellata.

Brother Adam made many journeys, especially around the Mediterranean, to find different races and strains to try out.  One of his last journeys was to Tanzania in Africa to find the black mountain bee in East Africa.  And one of his last statements was that the African continent is a genetic treasury.

What could be surprising is that there are other bees of another extreme relatively close to A.m. scutellata in Africa.  Above the mountain rain forests on the mountain slopes in East Africa you have a bee with a relatively very low swarming tendency. That bee is A.m. monticola.

Actually, when merged into the Buckfast bee, you get an extremely low swarming bee, that given ample room for egg laying, food storage and for the bees themselves; they don't need any regular swarm control.  A new queen may even get along with the old queen without a swarming event.  But is that going too far concerning low swarming tendency?  On some of the mountains A.m. Monticola is black, on other they are more brownish-red in color. (Mt. Elon vs Mt. Kenya)  But they are usually bigger in size than Scutellata and much easier to handle.  They have less hair and often black hair, especially on the thorax. On Mt. Elon it has been observed that bees are larger as the elevation increases. Who knows what other interesting bees may be found on this huge continent?

Click here - to read the works (publications) of Brother Adam

Our Buckfast line comes from Bill Ferguson in Ontario, Canada. They are not related to other USA Buckfast from warm climates, who have potentially mixed with Africanized (A.m. Scutellata) bees. The stock has been through the very cold Ontario winters, and has been hygienic tested for the last 20 years. The stock was brought directly from the Dartmore isolated mating yard (UK) around 1990, and is now raised on an isolated island.

The breeding program maintains the following genetic trait goals:

• Quiet & not aggressive
• Gentle
• Smaller winter clusters (consume less winter stores)
• Low tendency to swarm
• Test results were good for trachea mite resistance
• Hygenic tests were also higher

Ferguson's Hygenic Test Results for Queen Mothers

1999

2002

2007

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 Availible for special order (October 2010) - Import ETA Spring 2011.

The Northern Italian a.k.a The Ligurian - (Apis mellifera ligurica)

The Ligurian bee line comes from northern Italy near the Italian Alps. This rare line is no longer present in most of the world. I have only found it in one location, an island, where it has been preserved. The local government passed laws to make the entire island a Ligurian bee sanctuary.

You may have seen that the Ligurian bee was a major factor in the Buckfast creation, and distant grand parent to the Buckfast. It is a suggestable addition to any Buckfast mating yard to maintain genetic diversity and original genetic design.

It is my hope to offer this stock in 2011. This rare bee isn't even listed in wikipedia!

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The Russian honeybee from the Primorsky Krai, a region in the southern extreme of the Russian Far East, belongs to the species Apis mellifera. The Russian honeybee has evolved traits of resistance to natural mites owing to heavy selection pressures. It has lived for more than 150 years in a region that is home to the varroa mite and the tracheal mites (Acarapis woodi). In 1997, the USDA's Honeybee Breeding, Genetics & Physiology Laboratory in Baton Rouge, Louisiana imported Russian bees to North America.

The Russian bees are a dark bee with more grey than yellow when compared to the Carniolan strain. They use less propolis than typical Italian honey bees. The bees show exceptional winter hardiness, hibernating in small winter clusters, and produce a decent nectar haul per bee.

Douglas Farm does not offer them as they are more apt to building queen cells throughout the brood season. This may result in a higher tendency to swarm. Should you be interested in getting Russian bees contact a local member of the Russian Breeders Association.

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 The Caucasian - (Apis mellifera caucasica)

The Caucasian honey bee is said to originate from the high valleys of the Central Caucasus Mountains. Georgia beekeepers claim this is unfair. They state, exploration of bee species in Caucasus and their denomination basically took place in times when Georgia was part of Caucasus under the Russian Empire. This was the reason the species was denominated as Caucasian instead of Georgian Bee.

Anatomy and Appearance
Shape and Size: similar to A. m. carnica
Chitin Color: dark with brown spots at times
Hair Color: lead-grey
Tongue Length: up to 7.2 mm (one of the longest)
Queens: Queens are much longer than workers, 18 - 20 mm 
Queen weight: .25g Worker weight: .10g Drone weight: .20g 
Tongue Length: up to 7.2 mm (one of the longest)

Behavior

Beneficial for beekeeping

• Colonies reach full strength in mid-summer, which is good for areas where the highest nectar flow is in mid-summer and fall
• While in its native area, a better honey producer than the European dark bee
• Ability to pollinate red clover
• Ability to collect nectar from flowers requiring a longer tongue
• Natural cohabitation of queens, double queen hives are possible
• Able to work cool and wet areas including foggy and drizzly weather

Not beneficial for beekeeping

• Colonies do not reach full strength until mid-summer, which is an undesirable trait for areas with the highest nectar flow in the spring.
• The high use of propolis may be seen as undesirable as it makes hive management more difficult. Frames and hive boxes are glued together more substantially.
• Over wintering in northern climates not good due to susceptibility to nosema inclined to drifting and robbing

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The German - (Apis mellifera mellifera)

The European dark bee (Apis mellifera mellifera) was domesticated in modern times, and taken to North America in colonial times. These small, dark-colored honey bees are sometimes called the German black bee, although they occurred originally from Britain to eastern Central Europe.

There are three main subspecies, namely

• mellifera (brown bee)
• lehzeni (heathland bee)
• nigra (black bee)

These have local variants, such as the Pomeranian Brown, the Alps Black, or the Black Scandinavian. All of the subspecies belong to the 'M' lineage of Apis mellifera.

Availability in the US is minimal as most beekeepers switched to the Italian bee (mellifera ligustica) during the 1800’s. Most likely as beekeepers started to use the Italian bee the genetic lines of the German bee and the Italian bee merged to create the bee we know today as Italian here in America.

The European dark bee can be distinguished from other subspecies by their stocky body, abundant thoracal and sparse abdominal hair which is brown, and overall dark coloration; in nigra, there is also heavy dark pigmentation of the wings. Overall, when viewed from a distance, they should appear blackish, or in mellifera, rich dark brown. The aggressive feral hybrids with other subspecies can be distinguished by the lighter, yellowish banding on the sides of the abdomen, but this is often difficult. For breeding pure dark bees according to the standard, details of the wing veins are nowadays considered to be the only reliable distinguishing character.

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John Harbo, an ARS (Agricultural Research Service) entomologist who studies the parasite, says, “Varroa mites have caused devastating losses to bee colonies, contributing to concerns over a bee shortage in the last year.” Frustrating beekeepers’ defensive measures is the mites’ growing resistance to commercial pesticides.

But Harbo and fellow entomologist Jeffrey Harris, who work in ARS’s Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics, and Physiology Research Unit at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, have found a natural, more lasting antidote to the mite problem: breeding genetically superior bees. They have specially selected bees with a “nose” for tracking down Varroa mites—and not just any Varroa, but those producing and rearing new generations of mites.

Harbo and Harris have closely studied Varroa mites’ reproductive cycle and activities. Harris has even gone so far as to glue flecks of craft glitter onto female mites to visually track their movements and fate within a bee colony. So the two were thrilled 9 years ago when they thought they’d discovered a trait in bees that could keep individual mites from reproducing.

They called this trait “SMR” for its apparent ability to suppress mite reproduction. (See “SMR—This Honey of a Trait Protects Bees From Deadly Mites,” Agricultural Research, May 2004.) When SMR bees were introduced into a colony, Harbo and Harris would watch numbers of mite offspring plummet.

Since 2001 the USDA has been distributing their VSH breeding stock through a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with Glenn Apiaries, a commercial queen breeding company utilizing instrumental insemination to propagate pure VSH breeder queens. Now many hundreds of these breeders have been sent around the country and many thousands more of daughter queens have been propagated and installed in beekeepers hives around America.

Douglas Farm has not chosen to add this stock to their lines yet. Mainly we choose to do this because we believe any genetic stock can be hygenic and gentile with the proper testing, parental selection and breeding methods. It is not nessisary to create hybrids to bring out desired bee behavior. Each of our availible stocks are truely unique. During queen mating we use isolated mating yards and plan to add artificial insemination in a few years.

Recent research by the University of Minnesota indicates hygenic genetic traits of bee behavior is influenced by seven genetic markers. Hygenic behavior includes many fuctions such as removing mites or grease from their own bodies, removing mites from other bee's bodies, uncapping dead brood, removing dead brood from cells, removing dead bees from a hive, and many more. So hygienic behavior exhibited is now seen as an average of multiple abilities. A bee's ability to perform these hygenic tasks are related to the development of the seven identified genetic markers. Please read more about professor Marla Spivak's work:

http://www.entomology.umn.edu/Faculty/spivak/LAPIDGE02.PDF

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There are many variations of the Italian and Carniolan. There are a number of breeders who feel their Italian has shown supirior to other, and thus name them as if they were their own breed. Some would ask is this just a marketing ploy? Many producers of these use uncontrolled natural mating and genetic stock is uncertain. Some breeders assume that mixing two stocks automatically results in the best of two breeds coming together to make a super powered hybrid. If it's to good to be true it ususally is. There is no short cut for proper breeding methods. Thus Douglas Farm does not offern these hybrids.

Some popular hybrids are:

• Starline - Italian hybrid - marketed for its vigor and strong honey production.
• All-Star - Italian hybrid - marketed for its vigor and strong honey production.
• All American - Italian hybrid - marketed for its vigor and strong honey production.
• Kona Queen - Italian hybrid - Hawaiian Italian or Cordovan bee marketed for its strong honey production in warm climates. Several reports of low mite resistance.
• Midnight - hybrid of Caucasian and Carniolan
• Yugo - Yugoslavian Carniolan and USDA Russian hybrid

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Apis Mellifera (Western honey bee):

• Maltese (Apis mellifera ruttneri) - dark defensive bee from the island of Malta
• Cape Bee (Apis mellifera capensis) - Workers can lay nonproducing clones.
• Plus more than a dozen less common throughout Europe and Africa

Apis Cerana, Apis koschevnikovi and Apis nigrocincta (eastern honey bees)

Apis adreniformis and Apis florea (dwarf honey bees)

Apis dorsata (giant honey bee)

Meliponines (stingless bee)