First, let's deal with the terminology, what is a breed?
When we talk about bees, the breed is useful for household traits (hereinafter PFC), according to which one insect differs from others of the same species.
Bees, as a species, exist for many millions of years. It is believed that the continents on which the first bee appeared are Africa and Eurasia, or rather India. After some time, the bees spread around the world.
Now we can meet this insect on some remote islands of all oceans, and in America, and even in the far north in Russia.
Bees migrated by swarming on their own, as well as thanks to the person who transported them from place to place.
The climatic conditions and the melliferous base are different in all regions, so the bees needed to adapt to these conditions. It took hundreds and even thousands of years, which greatly influenced their phenotype and genotype. So new breeds began to appear!
Bees existing for hundreds of years, say, in Italy, are very different from those that developed the same hundreds of years in Russia.The climate is to blame.
If in Italy the winter period for bees lasts 2-4 months, and during this short wintering time, there are rare warm days when a bee can fly around and empty its intestines. In Russia, wintering lasts from 5 to 8 months. All this time the bees are forced to be in the hive. And because of the external harsh temperatures, there is no question of any cleansing circuits.
Under such harsh wintering conditions, it is not surprising that new breed of bees - Central Russian.
In fact, the main breeds of bees are not so many. it Carpathian, Central Russian, Caucasian, Italian and Ukrainian steppe.
And such varieties as buckfast and strawberry are not breeds. This is a hybrid derived from the requests of the PCP, the beekeeper of the breeder who was involved in this.
When they say to me that for example this breed of bees is better, but this is worse, I strongly disagree with this.
Each bee breed is good in its own way!
For example, Central Russian bee is too malicious, but this can be understood, all the fault of bears, martens, and other animals that constantly plundered bee families.
On the other hand, it is a winter-hardy bee, selected by nature for the fact that winter lasts more than six months.
Another thing - southern bees, which had almost no animals that plundered them, hence the lowered care, you can work with such bees without a mask and a smoker. But they are not at all adapted for a long wintering.
As for honey productivity,northern bees are accustomed to working on stormy but short bribes, while on the south the bees, on the contrary, take bribes throughout the summer, but it cannot be called stormy. The gains are small but stretched throughout the season.
We can endlessly chase the so-called "best bee" but never find it.
There is no perfect bee, just as there is no perfect hive, and no perfect beekeeping technology.
Which one we can conclude from what I wrote above. The beekeeper must work with the bee that is adapted in his region, winters well in its climatic conditions, and corresponds to the PCP that the beekeeper expects from it.
Useful article? Then put likes and write in the comments which breeds in your region?
