The Caucasian honey bee (Apis mellifera caucasica) is a sub-species of the Western honey bee.

Origin

The Caucasian honey bee originates from the high valleys of the Central Caucasus.

Anatomy and Appearance

• Shape and Size: similar to A. m. carnica
• Chitin Color: dark with brown spots at times
• Hair Color: lead-grey
• Tongue Length: up to 7.2 mm

Behavior

beneficial for beekeeping

• gentle and calm on the comb
• ardent brood production - raising strong colonies
• colonies reach full strength in mid-summer, which is good for areas where the highest nectar flow is in mid-summer
• very great user of propolis
• in its native area a better honey producer than the European dark bee

not beneficial for beekeeping

• colonies do not reach full strength until mid-summer, which is an undesirable trait for areas with the highest nectar flow in the spring.
• the great use of propolis may be seen as undesirable as it makes hive management more difficult. Frames and hive boxes are glued together more substantially.
• over wintering in northern climates not good due to susceptibility to nosema
• inclined to drifting and robbing

Source

The Hive and the honeybee, Chapter 11 Races of bees by Prof. Friedrich Ruttner, published by Dadant 1975

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