Honey Bee Subspecies and Choosing a Race

Bee races are the geographical subspecies of a single species, the honey bee (Apis mellifera), which have adapted over thousands of years to different climates and flora. Races differ on average in colour, temperament, swarming tendency, wintering and use of forage; but the differences between lines of the same race are also large. The right choice of race is not about searching for "the best race" but about finding the line that suits your region and the way you run your operation.

What is a bee race? Subspecies, ecotype, line and hybrid

Beekeepers use the word "race" in a broad sense. In scientific language about thirty subspecies (subspecies, races) of the honey bee have been described. These are geographical groups that arose naturally in Africa, Europe and western Asia. Not confusing these terms is the first step to understanding what to expect from the queen you buy.

• Subspecies (race): A geographical group with a natural range. Examples: A. m. anatoliaca (Anatolian bee), A. m. carnica (Carniolan bee).
• Ecotype: A local population of a subspecies adapted to the climate and forage calendar of a particular region. Example: the Muğla ecotype of the Anatolian bee.
• Line (breeding line): A breeding line within a race or ecotype, selected for years for particular traits (gentleness, productivity, hygienic behaviour).
• Hybrid: A group obtained by crossing different subspecies. The Buckfast bee is a hybrid line created by breeding, with no counterpart in nature.

Researchers group the subspecies by origin into four main lineages: A (Africa), M (western and northern Europe; the European dark bee), C (eastern Europe and the Balkans; the Carniolan and Italian bees) and O (the Middle East and Anatolia; the Anatolian, Caucasian and Syrian bees). Because Türkiye lies at the centre of the O lineage and on the edge of the C lineage, it is one of the richest regions in the world for honey bee diversity.

The main bee races and their characteristics

The table below summarises the average characteristics of the races. Each race has its own detailed page in the library. Read the information in the table as a starting point, not a hard rule.

Which bee races are found in Türkiye?

Türkiye's different climate zones host several subspecies side by side. The generally accepted distribution is as follows:

• Anatolian bee (A. m. anatoliaca): Across most of Anatolia, with local ecotypes such as Muğla, Black Sea and Central Anatolia.
• Caucasian bee (A. m. caucasia, formerly spelled caucasica): In north-eastern Anatolia, especially around Artvin and Ardahan.
• Iranian bee (A. m. meda) and Syrian bee (A. m. syriaca): In south-eastern Anatolia and along the southern border.
• Carniolan-type bees: In Thrace.

In Türkiye, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has registered the Caucasian bee, the Anatolian bee and local bee ecotypes such as Efe, Gökçeada, Trakya, Hatay and Yığılca. The provinces of Artvin and Ardahan (and some villages in the Susuz district of Kars) are protected as the gene centre of the Caucasian bee: bringing bees into these areas from elsewhere is prohibited. Migratory beekeepers must take this ban into account when planning their routes.

What should you look for when choosing a bee race?

The order of priorities varies from beekeeper to beekeeper; but in most operations the following criteria are decisive:

1. Wintering success: The most decisive trait on high plateaus with long, cold winters. A colony that gets through the winter with low consumption and comes out strong catches the spring forage.
2. Gentleness (temper): Top priority if you keep bees near houses, in a garden or in a busy place.
3. Swarming tendency: This directly determines the workload. With a race prone to swarming, weekly checks become essential.
4. Disease resistance: Hygienic behaviour, grooming and a low rate of Varroa increase.
5. Fit with the forage calendar: Early spring forage, summer highland pastures or autumn pine honey? Colony development should coincide with the timing of the forage.
6. Honey yield: The criterion most beekeepers think of first; but without the four traits above, high yield is not sustainable.

Why do race descriptions differ from reality in the apiary?

Race descriptions describe averages. The differences between lines within the same race can be greater than the difference between two races. For example, an unselected local population of a race famous for gentleness can be quite bad-tempered; while a line of a race known as "bad-tempered" that has been selected over many years can be inspected easily.

In addition, the queen mates in the open, in the air. If you buy a mated queen, the workers' fathers are drones from the breeder's area; a virgin queen or one you rear yourself mates with the drones around you. That is why the behaviour of the worker bees comes not only from the queen's race but also from the origin of the drones she mated with.

The second-generation problem in hybrid bees

Hybrid queens from a cross between two different races often perform strongly in the first generation (hybrid vigour). However, when daughter queens reared from such a queen mate openly, the traits segregate.

• Defensiveness can increase: unexpectedly bad-tempered colonies can appear in the second and third generations.
• Yield and swarming tendency become unpredictable.
• Conclusion: A beekeeper working with a hybrid line should budget for regularly requeening from a reliable breeder.

Local bees or imported bees?

A population that has lived in a region for a long time has adapted to that region's winter, drought and forage calendar. A line brought in from another climate may lag behind in local conditions even if it looks more productive in the catalogue. Adaptation shows especially in when spring build-up starts, in winter consumption and in the response to a break in forage.

The risks of bringing in bees from another region or country:

• Introduction of diseases and pests: new pathogens arrive with the colony or queen.
• Dilution of local genetics: the drones of the introduced line spread over a wide area and mate with the native queens around them.
• Poor adaptation: a line selected for a different climate does not give the expected yield in the new region.

In Türkiye, the import of breeding material and the movement of bees are regulated by the Beekeeping Regulation; bringing bees into gene centres is completely prohibited. Before buying, consult the official veterinary service / local agriculture authority.

Choosing a race step by step: for beginners

1. Define your region: How many months does winter last, when does the main forage come into flower, is there a summer dearth?
2. Look at neighbouring apiaries: Find out which bees the beekeepers around you who have had good results for years are working with.
3. Buy queens from a local, registered breeder: Ask in which region the line was selected.
4. Try it with a few colonies in the first year: Test the new line under your own conditions before spreading it through the whole apiary.
5. Keep records: Note gentleness, swarm preparations, wintering and honey yield in each colony; requeen the weak colonies from the good ones.