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The Caucasian honeybee is a sub-species of the Western honeybee.
Origin
The Caucasian honeybee originates from the high valleys of the Central Caucasus.
Anatomy and Appearance
- Shape and Size: similar to 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
"Caucasian honeybee"