I've come across some people arguing to use bee swarms, rather than to buy queen bees. The argument was that, bee swarms have grown strong enough to be able to split off and adapt to one's local environment, whereas queens are often enough not suitable for such and tend to under perform in comparison.
At least here in my part of Australia, people like buying queen bees from the local bee sanctuary, Kangaroo Island, which houses a pure strain of Ligurian Bee.
....errrm, "populist poppycock" to quote one attendant's comment at a QBA gathering
in 2017. A view I would struggle to argue against as that would mean accepting two
-at least - known contradictions, being;
1. No european honeybee existed on KI prior to 1884 despite the prolific takeup of Apis
for 60 years prior to.
2. Since 1884 not a single 'rogue' strain of Apis has been introduced into
the local genetics despite the known pecularity of beekeepers to always
seek "better bees".
At best one could say there is a very good chance any Queen from KI owns
unique characteristics - whether those be superior genetics to your local
is highly subjective opinion.... possibly bordering on jingoistic fervour?
Regardless, there is no justifiable case to mount in defending the pricing structure
of these or those others from like 'sancturarys' in West Aussie.
Well, certainly no outstanding attributes logged in commercial use.
Makes good press for the SA and WA g'mnts tho'... heh ;-)
(ref)
https://www.island-beehive.com.au/ligurian-bee-historyhttp://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/aen.12124/abstractThis is all a pretty fascinating topic. How do you guys manage the genetics ..... (edit)
In strongly disagreeing with the use of swarming colonies as a strain I would suggest they
provide an excellent resource in building whole apiaries. Did plenty of that, back in the day,
using queens from selected breeders.
Today I run two lines from breeders well separated geographicly, bringing those queens to
two locations more than 30km apart. Their progeny is then allowed to mix with the localised
bush "mongrels" giving up what could be known as a "Red Kelpie Mongrel". Whether they
are the best - or better than the local mongrels - cannot be known, but they sure standout
when one sees bees foraging.
Bill