BIPCo - Bee Improvement Programme for Cornwall

Queen bees of different sub-species have been imported into the British Isles since 1859. During the first two decades of the Twentieth Century a disease (which became known as the Isle of Wight disease) swept across the UK wiping out many colonies of bees. This disease was probably introduced with imported bees and native bees were particularly susceptible to this 'new' pathogen. After the First World War 'restocking programmes' were carried out by many local Beekeepers' Associations. The minutes for the Cornwall BKA for 1919 describe how queens and stocks of bees were imported from Italy and the Netherlands and propagated to supply members with new colonies. 

Despite endless imports over 150 years and the belief, by some, that the native bee was extinct, it has been shown that, through morphometric testing and through DNA analysis, native or near-native bees can still be found in many areas. Cornwall appears to be relatively rich in stocks of Apis mellifera mellifera, the Dark European honey bee.

BIPCo, in association with the Bee Improvement and Bee Breeders Association (BIBBA), aims to conserve these stocks of native 'British Black Bees' and to select and improve them to produce a more docile and productive bee.

BIPCo has received initial funding from several European, national and local bodies as well as from our own members and private supporters.

BIPCo Objectives

The objective for BIPCo is to generate a sustainable population of the native 'Black Honey bee' (Apis mellifera mellifera).  This bee was the original bee of the British Isles.  It has been replaced to a very large extent by imported bees, mainly from or of Italian origin.

Physically the indigenous bees are generally large in body size with long abdominal overhairs. Their main noticeable behavioural characteristics are that they are thrifty, non-prolific and fly at low temperatures and in high winds.

By contrast the imported Italian bees have evolved to suit a more clement climate than that found in Cornwall.  The native bee overwinters in a much tighter cluster than the Italians and uses less stores to maintain the cluster temperature.   This means that less honey has to be left for the bees or less sugar has to be provided for them.

To achieve a sustainable population we will generate a large number of Black Queens and make these available to beekeepers in the area.  We have established a number of queen rearing apiaries around East Cornwall.  These were initially populated with whatever bees were available, mostly the Buckfast hybrids.  The original queens have since been systematically replaced with near-native Cornish queens, so that the bees have been replaced naturally.  The queens were mated at a secluded apiary where a large number of native drones are produced.

Bee Wing Morphometry is to be used in addition to colony performance as an extra tool to help develop a strain which breeds true to type, that is to identify bees within the strain or sub-species (Apis mellifera mellifera). Hive records will be kept and will be used to select the best queens (and sources of drones) for further selective breeding.

The main characteristics that will be selected for are temperament, honey production, swarming and health/brood pattern.  Obviously we are looking for a quiet and pleasant to handle bee who produces plenty of surplus honey, who has a lower tendency to swarm and an innate resistance to the Varroa mite and other menaces.