Caucasian honey bee

The Caucasian honey bee 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 Carnica
 * Chitin Color: dark with brown spots at times
 * Hair Color: lead-grey
 * Tongue Length: up to 7.2 mm

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
the mouth length of caucasian bee is maximume and it is 7.70
 * 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

Apis mellifera caucasica Abelha-caucasiana