German Black Bees/Black Devils Where are they at these days?

[keeperofthebees]

Brother Adam long ago made a statement about what happened to the black bee from northern europe (often called the german black bee but which my old abc/xyz informs me was Dutch and not German) when the trachael mite arrived in England.  I will also add that there were several races of black bees in europe so every colony of black bees you might run into are not necessarily German Black bees.  There is even a type of Italian bee that is very very black.

my original mentor had german black bees.  after some very early experience in dealing with these the first packages I purchased for myself were three banded italians.

Where do you find them state side?

[lazy shooter]

Tecumseh is only the second beekeeper I've heard mention the three banded Italian bees.  There is an old, like in 90 years of age, fellow in my home town that told me  20 years ago when he quit beekeeping all the feral bees here were three banded Italian bees.  He said they were left over from peach pollinators that the old timers used.  He also related that the three banded bees were sometimes very black.  He thought they arrived in our area during the 1960's when our area was a huge peach producer.  According to him they were very good producers. 

As an add-on, this old fellow has all his marbles and is a very smart self taught individual.  He didn't finish high school, but he taught himself trigonometry so that he could survey land. 

[apisbees]

The first bees that where brought to the new world by the European settlers were the German black bee. The Chinese that worked on building the railroads would honey hunt the feral hives that had swarmed from the original colonies and set up bee yards and would move them with them as they moved. Along the railways in BC we use to have a good population of dark bees that were the decedents of the black German bee. At the time most of the queen we bought were big golden yellow Italians bought from California so it was obvious when a colony swarmed or superseded it's queen by the sight of black worker bees in your hive. There is some of the DNA still in the muts strains, but the feral colonies were wiped out by the mites.

If you have any old literature regarding that...and you're looking to get rid of it, then let me know via pm.

The hives along the railways and Chinese keeping bees is in the book The first 50 years of Beekeeping in British Columbia 1900 to 1950. I have the book but it is part of my collection. I helped a friend who got packages and Queens out of California Big yellow Italians, the workers always had the true Italian colorings, all looked the same. If the hive had swarmed or superseded you could tell before even entering the hive by black worker bees leaving and entering the hive. He had 7 yards along the river and rail way tracks. Both major rail lines had laid tracks along the Thompson River.

[tbonekel]

I'm not sure if I have ever seen a german black bee but I was out looking at my hives yesterday and as I was looking in one, I saw a bee that was almost completely black. There are a few that are mostly black but still have stripes. The rest in that hive look like normal bees. What's up with that? Could that have been some kind of robber bee?

[LazyBkpr]

Could be, but more likely the queen mated with several drones, some of which were from a darker bee like a Carniolan etc, so she will have bees that are yellow, dark gray and light gray etc depending on the drone each egg is fertilized from. MOST of my hives have bees of all colors

[tbonekel]

If I see it again, I want to take a picture of it. Thanks for the help,.

[iddee]

All bees will turn black with age. If they have lost most of their fuzz, they are just your bees that are near the end.

[barry42001]

don't know if there are any true three banded Italians left. most everything has been hybridized. my experience with the black bees, little while ago say about 20 years what I do clearly remember is how you would always have 10 or 15 be posting over your eye you just hear the incessant Buzz and the head-butting.I have seen dark bees but I always assume them to be Russian or  Caucasian. I know the Italians can turn quite dark is the get older.

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[Ray]

If there are any left, they probably are genetically distant from there Northern European ancestors.

I assume that the number of hives imported was relatively small.
The expense and the losses, due to the slow sailing ships of Colonial North America.
The speed at which an invasive specie would colonize the continent.

[DLMKA]

I don't have any that are all black but do have some where the workers show up on occasion all black but otherwise healthy. They might be a little temperamental but not insufferable.