native honey bee “breeding“ group
Are you a passionate bee keeper willing to help building up a native honey bee “breeding“ group?
Are you motivated to learn more about bees and queen raising/ breeding and share your knowledge and experiences with others?
Do you keep already “black bees” in your apiary? If not sure we can get them tested for you. The SNHBS, Scottish Native Honey Bee Society will DNA test them for us if they look promising.
Or do you just have enough of buying in exotic queens regularly and bringing in maladapted genetics to the area and possibly new strains of diseases?
Do your bees mate randomly with other strains and become unpleasant or even aggressive in the second generation?
Then you should think about becoming a member of a breeding group and work with other people from the area with the same interest. The idea is to work with our only native strain of honey bee, Apis mellifera mellifera (AMM) or “black bee” and try to preserve them for future generations of bee keepers.
We try to find suitable and genetically diverse stocks and then a place for “pure” mating. We will have the chance to improve our bees over time. There are several possible locations in the area.
If you feel like you want to become a part of this adventure and maybe even know a suitable area where we could successfully build up a little “black bee reserve” for sustainable bee breeding, then please keep in touch! We will have the support of some of the most experienced and knowledgeable bee experts in Great Britain.
Thank you for your interest and if you have questions or maybe other ideas, please let me know.
Roman Inauen

Picture credit: Andrew Abrahams photo of Colonsay Black bees.