What are the characteristics of European black bees?

European black bees are native to vast areas of Europe north of the Alps. The individual is large and the abdomen is wide. Chitin is uniformly black, some individuals have brown yellow spots on the dorsal plate of 2-3 ventral segments, and the chest villi of drones are dark brown, sometimes black.

The fecundity and breeding ability of European black bees are not satisfactory. The population develops slowly in spring, and can develop into a strong group after summer, with weak bee division, strong collecting power, and can make use of sporadic honey sources, but because of its short beak, it has poor utilization ability to nectar plants with longer Corolla. Save feed, when the honey source conditions are bad, hunger rarely occurs; good overwintering, suitable for raising in colder places, strong orientation, not easy to nest, not easy to steal.

The disadvantages of European black bees are: violent temperament, photophobia, love to sting, spleen examination, often agitation on the spleen, not easy to raise and manage, and easy to infect larvae and be damaged by wax borer. Due to the violent nature of European black bees, which are not suitable for the needs of modern apiculture, they have crossed with Italian bees, card bees or Caucasian bees or been completely replaced by them in many areas.