Native Irish Honey Bee Society
Available to Purchase Below
“The Native Irish Honey Bee, Apis mellifera mellifera” focuses exclusively on the native Irish honey bee, featuring narratives on its evolution, genetics, history and conservation, with practical “How-to” sections on bee improvement, plus real-life stories from commercial beekeepers. Its aims are to increase awareness of and appreciation for the precious resources imbued in the native black honey bee, to encourage beekeepers to choose native Irish honey bees and to discourage the buying and importation of non-native honey bees.
Latest NIHBS News
Inserting Foundation in Apideas – Jim Ryan (winter 2006)
Maybe I am all fingers and thumbs but one area I have had a problem with in the past was inserting a small piece of foundation …
Worker Policing in Honeybees – Dave Cushman (winter 2006)
Worker Ovary Development In a queenright honey bee colony, the workers have ovaries but are rarely fertile (only about 1 Apis mellifera worker in 10,000 …
Theft of bees near Mullingar
Two colonies were stolen recently in the Mullingar area. Five frames of bees were removed from each of two hives and the rest of the …
Queen rearing workshops
A series of queen rearing workshops have been planned over the summer starting on 26th May.
UBKA 69th Annual Conference, Greenmount Campus
Meet NIHBS at the UBKA 69th Annual Conference Friday 8th & Saturday 9th March 2013 Greenmount Campus, Co. Antrim BT41 4PU We will have a …
About NIHBS
The Native Irish Honey Bee Society was established to promote the conservation of Apis mellifera mellifera throughout the island of Ireland. The Society strives to raise public awareness of our native honey bee and its importance, and acts in an advisory capacity to groups and individuals wishing to promote and preserve it.
What Our Native Honey Bee Looks Like
Apis mellifera mellifera (aka European dark bee) can be distinguished from other subspecies by its stocky body, overall dark coloration, plus abundant thoracic and sparse abdominal hair, which is brown. There can be heavy dark pigmentation of the wings. Overall, when viewed from a distance, these bees should appear blackish or rich dark brown.
Bee Improvement
As part of our conservation mission, NIHBS advocates that Irish beekeepers buy native bees. To that end, NIHBS is affiliated with multiple bee breeding groups located around the country. Find out more about them by clicking the button below.
