Kangeroo Island

[little john]

Has anybody here any experience of the Ligurians from Kangeroo Island - or any opinions worth sharing ?

Not asking for myself - as I'm a tad more than a bus ride away from K.I. - but a bloke from your neck of the woods was asking about them on BeeSource recently.  Seems no-one there knows much about them - the BeeMaster forum search engine draws a blank too.
LJ

[Skeggley]

Hiya lj, there has been some discussion and some links recently about these, search kangaroo and it brings a few threads like;
https://beemaster.com/forum/index.php?topic=50914.msg447897#msg447897

I think that bottom line was that they weren't really a pure Ligurian strain.

[little john]

Thanks mate !

Strewth, seems even I poked my oar in on that thread - and had then forgotten all about it.  Touch of the Alzheimer's ?  I'll send matey that link - cheers.
LJ

[Bamboo]

Not asking for myself - as I'm a tad more than a bus ride away from K.I. -
LJ

Yeah but what a neat trip it would be!! Trains and boats and planes,...... I think someone wrote a song about that

[eltalia]

Thanks mate !

Strewth, seems even I poked my oar in on that thread - and had then forgotten all
about it.  Touch of the Alzheimer's ?  I'll send matey that link - cheers.
LJ

Dunno if the attached helps at all LJ as it is a demographic from an article
Omnimirage pointed me at in alluding Aussie bees owned Scutela genes.
I cannot locate that thread so maybe this 'mapping' kills two birds with
one stone, so to speak.
My opinion, mine only... is  KI queens are more of a fashonista statement
than anything else. Claimed to have longer tongues than most I wonder
if the fact I can barely reach my nose with my tongue compared to
those who can lick their eyebrows actually inhibited puberty(parties) for
myself, or indeed I miss anything when licking the plate clean of spag (hetti)!

Bill

psssst.. it's KangAroo.. or Skippy or Long Tailed Leaping Hare [lulz]

[omnimirage]

Kangaroo Island bees are not pure strain Ligurians, but they are the most purest strain of Ligurian found anyone else in the world. They have some Dark European Honeybee in them and also some Sicilian bee. They are fine bees, they're mostly gentle, healthy, productive and make good honey, fine looking comb. It can be difficult to buy bees from the island though and I'm not sure if they have much benefit over mainland Ligurians.

[eltalia]

Kangaroo Island bees are not pure strain Ligurians, but they are the most purest strain of Ligurian found anyone else in the world. They have some Dark European Honeybee in them and also some Sicilian bee. They are fine bees, they're mostly gentle, healthy, productive and make good honey, fine looking comb. It can be difficult to buy bees from the island though and I'm not sure if they have much benefit over mainland Ligurians.

Is the above a quote or your own experience?

Bill

[omnimirage]

My own experience working with the bees and from doing a fair amount of reading.

[220]

I have one that went into a late Jan split last year.
I have been a little disappointed, didn't build up at all last season and I over wintered as a 5 frame nuc.
Survived winter OK but again a slow to build up. I didn't take a single frame of honey and it has gone into winter as a double 8 frame deep, for comparison I made a few walk away splits in early Jan this year with only 4 frames and they have built up to the same strength.
Queen is marked and was still in the hive early Autumn but I haven't checked again since. I will see if she is still in residence come spring but if she doesn't produce well early in the season she will be replaced.

[Bamboo]

Yep if she is not making her sales targets give her the DCM.

[omnimirage]

Did you buy the queen from Stephen Heatley?

[Island Beehive]

Hi All,

As I live and work here on KI and find the bees here are very calm and gentle and allow us to work them for long hours with high yields.
No suits or gloves required, just a veil sometimes.
very productive and great to work with.

we also have a 92%+ purity rate and are the only pure strain left in the world.
also no disease either which is great.

[eltalia]

Hi All,

As I live and work here on KI and find the bees here are very calm and gentle and allow us to work them for long hours with high yields.
No suits or gloves required, just a veil sometimes.
very productive and great to work with.

we also have a 92%+ purity rate and are the only pure strain left in the world.
also no disease either which is great.

Well, a b'ludy solid "howsya" welcome to yourself and thanks for the update on
this thread as now the info  can come from the horse's mouth... so to speak. :-)

Bill

[BeeMaster2]

Island Beehive,
Welcome to Beemaster.
Just hope the mites and the SHBs never get to your island. Hour hives would bee deviated.
Your are raising bees the way my father and father in law did.
Jim