More about these sweet bees

These are the bees we like to get new beekeepers started with because they are so gentle, but experienced folks, like myself, enjoy working with them also. We do a lot of work with the Italians without needing a veil, under the right conditions, of course. Even experienced beekeepers keep a veil handy, but rarely need it when only preforming simple tasks around an Italian apiary. Like feeding and checking a few frames from the brood nest to gauge their nutritional status generally only requires a few puffs of smoke and a gentle hand.

Beginners should wear a veil and gloves until the bees show you how slow they like for us to move. :)

Below are a few of the notes from the web collected over the years . . .

  The Italian honey bee is endemic to the continental part of Italy, south of the Alps, and north of Sicily, where it survived the last ice age. On Sicily the subspecies is Apis mellifera siciliana. It is likely the most commercially distributed of all honey bees, and has proven adaptable to most climates from subtropical to cool temperate, but it is less successful in humid tropical regions. Italian bees that originate from the Ligurian alps in northern Italy are often referred to as the Ligurian bee, which is claimed only survives on Kangaroo Island.

  Italian bees, having been conditioned to the warmer climate of the central Mediterranean, are less able to cope with the "hard" winters and cool, wet springs of more northern latitudes. They do not form such tight winter clusters. More food has to be consumed to compensate for the greater heat loss from the loose cluster. The tendency to raise broods late in autumn also increases food consumption. Noted beekeeper Thomas White Woodbury first introduced the Italian bee to Britain in 1859, and regarded it as vastly superior to the Old British Black bee (A. m. mellifera). Italian worker bees are light in color, while the queen is a bit darker, which makes her easy to locate. Workers bees also have alternating stripes on their abdomen.

History

  Originally from the Apennine Peninsula in Italy, Italian bees were introduced to America in 1859 and quickly replaced the original black or German bees brought over by the first colonists.

Characteristics

  Italian bees are the most popular bees to order in North America. They are known for being gentle and good honey producers. They are typically reared in the south and have difficulty in colder climates, as they need to consume extra food to compensate for not forming a tight cluster the way other honey bee types do. Italian bees are strong foragers and do a great job keeping their hive clean.

  On the down side, Italian bees tend to swarm and their sense of direction isn’t as strong as other bees, so they may drift from one colony to another and frequently rob. This can contribute to the spread of diseases between hives.