Will Western Bees Steal Honey from My Chinese Bees?
The conflict between Western bees and Chinese bees has been a longstanding issue in beekeeping, widely known in the industry. Due to the large-scale breeding of Western bees, Chinese bees' living space is shrinking, and the breeding quantity is decreasing, resulting in some regions of Chinese bee varieties reaching endangered levels. Therefore, the country has also listed Chinese bees in the 'National Key Livestock and Poultry Genetic Resource Protection Catalog' for protection.
Although Chinese and Western bees are both bees, they have significant differences in body size and living habits. Although Chinese and Western bees can temporarily coexist during the honey flow season, long-term mixing harms Chinese bees greatly. Numerous examples of mixed Chinese and Western bee areas demonstrate the harm of mixing Chinese and Western bees. The harm mainly manifests in the following aspects
One, Bee Theft
When external honey sources are abundant, bees are busy collecting honey. At this time, Chinese and Western bees can temporarily coexist. When the flowering plants around the apiary end the honey flow and there is a lack of nectar available for collection in the wild, bee colonies will engage in nectar theft, which is also known as 'bee theft'. This phenomenon also occurs within the same species. If not managed properly, it can cause significant losses. Bee theft occurring between Chinese and Western bees, Western bees, taking advantage of their larger individual size, will readily enter Chinese bee hives to steal honey. Most Chinese bees will abandon their hives and fly away due to Western bees stealing honey, and in severe cases, Western bee workers will sting and kill the Chinese bee queen, ultimately destroying the entire colony
Two, Interference with Chinese Bee Normal Reproduction
During the bee colony's breeding season, Western bees also interfere with Chinese bee normal reproduction. Because Western bee drones are much larger than Chinese bee drones, almost twice the size of Chinese bee drones, and fly faster. When Chinese bees are mating with the queen, they are interfered with by Western bee drones, causing a significant decrease in the success rate of Chinese bee queen mating, insufficient fertilization, or the loss of the queen. New bee colonies due to unsuccessful queen mating or queen loss will fail to survive
Three, Infectious Bee Disease
Although Chinese and Western bees belong to the same bee family, the diseases they suffer from are different. For example, Western bees are severely affected by mites, while Chinese bees are not affected; detection results show that Western bees carry the Varroa virus, but are not affected, while Chinese bees once infected with the Varroa virus, it is difficult to cure, often leading to the destruction of the entire colony. If Chinese and Western bees are mixed, it greatly increases the opportunity for Chinese bees to get sick. Two types of worker bees cross-collect pollen and honey, bringing pollen and honey with bacteria and viruses back to the hive. At the same time, when bee theft occurs, the two types of bees will come into close contact, causing the spread of diseases. Some diseases such as Varroa mites, European foulbrood virus, Western bees have resistance, while Chinese bees have poor resistance and immunity, and once infected, it is difficult to cure, until the destruction of the colony
In conclusion, mixing Chinese and Western bees has little impact on Western bees, but it is deadly to the survival and development of Chinese bees. It is recommended that when raising Chinese and Western bees, maintain a sufficient safe distance, at least 3km above, to avoid Western bees harming Chinese bees, prevent conflicts between the two, and harm themselves, and gain nothing in return.
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