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Genes and Races
One of the most widespread legends in beekeeping is that when you cross almost anything with Carnica bees, the result will be angry bees, almost unbearable mongrels.
That was true. However, it is not true anymore.
In 2006 I had the honour to meet Harald Singer, the son of the world-famous bee breeder Wolfgang Singer. When we sat down in the restaurant table, I told him about my experiences of their Carnica queens. Hunajayhtymä Ltd. had been importing Carnica Singer queens for years and in the early 1990s I bought 5 of them. Tradename “Carnica-Singer” was painted with red on the cages.
These Carnica Singer queens surprised me. They had all max 5- 6 frames of brood (Jumbo frames) in the peak season.
“Impossible!”, answered Harald. “Our queens make a big brood area.”
For a second I had doubts about the origin of my Singer queens, and had there not been the name “Carnica-Singer” on the cages and had the importer not been Hunajayhtymä, the largest beekeeping company in Finland with years of co-operation with Singer, the doubts could have been justified. But now this contradicting information had to be solved otherwise.
And the answer is breeding.
Picture: Liane and Wolfgang Singer
Bee breeders have been selecting for good honey crop, good temper and low swarming for a long time. Genes enabling these qualities have multiplied in population long enough: different races have become almost indistinguishable. Today, one could argue that colour remains the only thing to separate a Carnica from Buckfast. Crossing good breed Buckfast with good breed Carnica results in marvellously good bees.
Picture: Heidrun Singer in continuing the work of her parents.
The best Finnish Italian bees are remarkably close to good Buckfast and good Carnica bees in their performance qualities. And with ”good” I mean bees bred by distinguished breeders, not cheapest ”race” queens found in Internet. If only there were more serious breeders, we could see a third race become identical twin. Today in Finland we have a situation where the Italian bees of Finland are too much considered as something permanent and immortal. From the 1950s the Finnish bee breeders have bred for winter hardiness and for lower consumption. The excessive egg laying and lavish spending of stores have been rooted out. Finnish Italian bees have raised well deserved interest among bee breeders in Central Europe.
It is no secret that genes from “original” black bees, Apis mellifera mellifera, made this change. Not original, because honeybee in Finland in not indigenous, they have been imported by man late 16th century, mainly from Estonia and Sweden.
Large brood area is the main factor influencing honey gathering ability of a beehive. Singer Carnica was bred for a good honey crop and, little by little, selection pressure changed the nature of Carnica Singer. They were no longer small brood area bees.
Originally Carnica bees had yellow markings in upper corners of abdomen. Today these yellow, or leather brown, markings are almost extinct, thanks to tightened and unnatural race breeding instructions. (Naturgeschichte der Honigbienen by Friedrich Ruttner, 2. Auflage, pages 90 and 94)
Years later I made another experiment with Carnica bees, bought 6 queens, this time of German origin. They were exceptionally good bees. I cannot say anything bad. Large brood areas, good temper, excellent honey crop and no inclination to swarm. If I had not known their origin, I would have had difficulties separating them from dark line (Primorski) Buckfast.
When we breed for certain qualities, certain genes become more widespread. This a general phenomenon.
Picture: Alaskan sled dog
One example comes from the world of dog breeding in Northern America.
https://bmcgenet.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2156-11-71
“Alaskan sled dogs are a recognized population of dogs of Northern breed ancestry. While not recognized by the American Kennel Club as a distinct breed, consistency in behaviour has led to them being informally referred to as a ”breed”. The Alaskan sled dog is comprised of several different lineages, optimized for different racing styles. The Alaskan sled dog is unique in that it is not confined to a breed standard of size or appearance, as are most AKC-recognized breeds. Rather, they are a mixed breed dog. We know little about the starting stock of Alaskan sled dogs.”
Siberian Husky is a recognized breed by American Kennel Club(AKC). Alaskan sled dog, however, is not, because of its mixed and unknown origin.
Those Alaskan sled dogs which have been bred for long distance races resemble Siberian Husky dogs in their genes.
The race definition of Siberian Husky (AKC): “The Siberian Husky, a thickly coated, compact sled dog of medium size and great endurance, was developed to work in packs, pulling light loads at moderate speeds over vast frozen expanses.”
Picture: Siberian Husky
It is important to take care of various bee races. Many of them are endangered. But we must bear in mind that if we keep bees in modern beehives and universally favor the same beekeeping goals, good honey gathering, good temper, low swarming etc, we might be doing a disservice. It is more important is to protect endangered genes than races. Other solution is to keep bees in nature like hives, for instance log hives.
Race is a man-made definition; gene is a creation of Nature.
Racist
Beekeepers are racists. Not about humans I hope; but about bees they keep. If you ask a beekeeper in Finland what kind of bees they have, the answer comes right away.
“I have Italian bees!”
“I have Carnica bees!”
“I have Nordic black bees!” etc
The answer comes with no hesitation even if the bees have been free mated ever since they were bought, sometimes many decades earlier.
In the world of any other domestic animal you would be listed as a lunatic in no time if you insisted your animals to be of any particular race after several free matings. “What a moron…”, someone would mumble, and people around you slowly walk away.
But back to meeting other beekeepers. You have by now got to know the bee race of your companion. If you then kindly try to keep up the conversation and talk about importance of mating, the answer is ready:
“There are only Italian bees in our neighborhood, they keep pure.”
“And they are yellow!”
In this argument it is best to stop the conversation to keep everybody happy unless this all has happened on a beekeeping course, which is often the case with me. People have come to that course to learn something, and if I drop them to reality concerning their beloved pets, I´m not the wise guy. Just doing my job.
Yellow color is actually the most widespread color among the bee races of the world. Italian bees are not the only yellow bees in the world.
As unbelievable as it sounds the Nazi regime had influence in beekeeping too. The German society was brain washed from top to bottom with race ideology. There was an Aryan human master race (blond hair and skin, blue eyes, athletic, brave mind) and same thinking was applied to animals, like bees. There are still laws in some parts of Austria saying that you can keep only Carnica bees.
Black bee and Carnica bee by Goetze 1942
A group of Finnish beekeepers visited a beekeeper near Vienna. His bees looked very much like Buckfast. I was working as the interpreter, and someone in our group said I should ask about the race. “These are Carnica bees”, the Austrian beekeeper answered with a wide grin on his face.
At that moment we understood the name of the game.
There is absolutely nothing wrong if someone wants to have pure race bees, but what is a pure race?
Race is a man-made definition. It is a definition of what have the bees in a particular geographical area looked and how they behaved in the past. What color they were and how long hair, tongue, wings and wing veins they had. Sometime in the past, originally and by nature, without human interference.
Who made these race definitions and when? It depends. For instance, the definition of Italian bees was made year 1806 by Marquis Massimilliano Spinola (1780-1857). The definition of Carnica bee is much younger. It was made by a German entomologist August Pollman as late as 1879. The oldest definition was made by Carl von Linné year 1758, the original black bee of Western Europe is named after him: Apis mellifera mellifera LINNAEUS. Macedonian bees got their description 1988.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with definitions, but it is important to understand that they simplify complicated things. In the border area of different geographical races there were always intermediate forms, which fit neither of the races on two sides of the border.
History of race breeding
History of race breeding is short. Thanks to BeeSource user Bernhard Heuvel from Germany I found a very interesting writing made by Sigrun Mittl, Dipl.-Biol. from his web site bienen-dialoge.de.
“Die Reinzuchtbelegstellen der Stämme der Dunklen Biene Apis mellifera mellifera und der Kärntner Biene Apis mellifera carnica zwischen 1934 und 1945 und die Geschichte der Zucht in dieser Zeit mit Ausblick in die Zeit danach – Teil 1” *)
In the next paragraphs I quote some points of the early steps of race breeding in Europe according to this article in web. According to the writer this article is based mainly on the original beekeeping journals of that time.
Problems arising
The first ones to notice problems ahead were German K. Hoffmann, the director of the Royal Bee Institute in Erlangen, and U. Kramer from Switzerland. They recognized the problem of bee imports from particularly Southern Europe to Central Europe which had been going on since 17. Century. New bee races like Apis mellifera ligustica, A.m.carnica, A.m.anatolica, A.m.syrica had made the local black bee almost extinct by the late 19th Century. Quote: “Die wilde Importe haben dafür gesorgt, dass die einheimische Dunkle Biene nahezu ausgerottet wurde.”
Hoffmann wrote 1909: “Beekeepers curiosity and unplanned search and import of new bees has created a situation where we have an increasing disease problem and our natural bees is bastardized.“
Dr. Kramer had already 1898 remarked that “The imported new bees are crossing with our local bees and jeopardizing its future”. He even wrote a book, “Race breeding for the Swizz beekeepers” where he emphasizes the importance of mating stations in order to maintain the purity of the local black bee.
Professor Enoch Zander (1914) writes: “Because of the massive bee imports of the last 50 years there is practically no pure bees left”.
These men were pioneers of pure race breeding. They saw the problem which partly was because bees were domesticated animals as well as wild animals. Their passion was the conservation of local indigenous bee. This all led to the formation of the first mating station and breeding program of the black bee Apis mellifera mellifera. Bees were finally seen as a part of the nature, not just domesticated animals.
The first mating station started to operate in summer 1908 in Ohrwaschl. This was largely due to the Erlangen Bee Institute which had been established the year before (1907). Both Zander and Hoffman were working there.
Picture of Erlangen Bee Institute
Hoffman wrote about their breeding plans: “The queen breeding will be done with our own methods and what we have learned from colleagues in America, Switzerland and Austria.”
Queen rearing skills were at that time no doubt in a higher level in US, but race breeding started in Europe.
The aim was to re-establish and maintain the original black bee. Prof. Zander oversaw the documentation. He kept the Pedigree, breeding records of breeders and drone lines, and their evaluations, and published information about how the work had progressed. For years Zander tried to do this with several different strains like Siegfried, Wilhelmina, Dora and others, but in 1928 made he the decision to concentrate only in the breed “Nigra”.
Here´s an example of his notes from year 1918: “Queen rearing has been done, despite many problems, with utmost carefulness and with excellent results. Nigra line Nr75 was used as a drone line, queen number 346, 8. Generation and daughter of Nr248, born 1915, and it made 52,2 Pounds of honey 1916- and 100-Pounds honey 1917, and still 1918 is the best colony of all.”
The work of Zander and Hoffman finally lead to the country wide recognition. Mating stations were formed all over Germany, “Reichsfachgruppe Imker” was formed 1934 (-> until the end of war 1945). It was the predecessor of the Deutsche Imkerbud, which we know today. Opposition was heavily supressed.
The leaders, including prof Zander, started to use Nazi language, weather conviction or sympathy we will never know.
Mating stations in Germany 1935
Juhani Lundén
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