Drifting and downright squatting

[Dark Bee]

When a colony of Italians is introduced to an apiary - one soon finds them in every hive. That has been the experience here when that has happened. Carniolans and natives are allegedly much less prone to drifting, proving that might be a different matter . The book hives of the continent would support the claim, but the population increase in the last of a line of hives away from the prevailing wind might not!
The yellow bees which have appeared in the above hive must have come from a colony somewhere in the vicinity.

[Jon]

The yellow bees which have appeared in the above hive must have come from a colony somewhere in the vicinity.

I agree as there were no yellow bees in the sample I looked at and it was a large sample of 70+ bees.

[gavin]

Italians rather than Buckfasty then?

[Dark Bee]

Italians rather than Buckfasty then?

I don't wish to upset anyone, but I do not know what a buckfast bee is, or how I might recognise them if encountered. There is no doubt a strain or type of bee was developed in the Buckfastleigh area by Bro. Adam who was an able bee breeder. He has now been dead many years and the particular strain must inevitably be diluted by now. However good luck to those who choose to keep this bee.
Italian bees when crossed with natives produce very aggressive bees here, but when Buckfasts cross with the natives the resulting bees are much more aggressive still - handling them is like dodging machine gun fire. Experiences in other countries may be different, but I doubt it. If I were you, I'd use drone traps, decoy colonies and anything else to keep your blacks pure.

[The Drone Ranger]

There are two types of italian colour the very light yellow like the NZ types sold years ago by KBS and others
Then a more tan coloured type which might be less easy going
The Buckfast colouring as you a have said yourself Gavin is more ginger and although Brother Adam fixed the characteristics he was not overly concerned with colour as he considered that a less important aspect of his bees

Heres a pic of Buckfast allegedly
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgur...ed=0CDYQrQMwBQ

Its not clear because Italian crosses probably look similar and CI for Buckfast is 2.4 Italians 2.55
I think he light NZ types still retain the yellowness in the banding when they are crossed

[Dark Bee]

DR, the tan coloured Italian to which you refer is or used to be known as the Ligurian Italian. It was more or less the colour of leather - is that the one you have in mind?

[The Drone Ranger]

DR, the tan coloured Italian to which you refer is or used to be known as the Ligurian Italian. It was more or less the colour of leather - is that the one you have in mind?

Yes Dark Bee I have a queen that fits that description exactly
She is a hybrid though and so above the Snelgrove board I have taken down her bees queen cells and replaced with a queen cell from the next door hive
The reason is not colour but the general grumpiness when inspecting and early season had Chalkbrood