Who uses lingurian bees?

[squidink]

Out of interest who has Lingurians from Kangaroo Island or have used them in the past? If you have where are you located?

I have some in Melbourne, only 20 minutes from the CBD. They are a super gentle bee but I think they are not well suited for Melbournes weather conditions.

Ben

[ozebee]

I did get several queens and tried to get them going in Sydney but I had other problems and probably was not a good time to try them. In short the colonies didn't survive.  I think I will be keen to give them another go in spring.

[OzBuzz]

I tried Ligurians in Melbourne! As you noted an incredibly gentle bee but, in my opinion, not suited to Melbournes climate - I'm sticking with the dark bees.

[prestonpaul]

That seems to be a common problem, most of the queen breeders are up north or in warmer areas and what works for them doesn't necessarily work well for us in colder wetter climes. I have had a couple of bought in queens that just won't stop laying over winter and run the colony in to the ground.
On the other hand I have one colony of really dark bees I got from a cut out locally that are the quietest bees I have ever worked with and are really frugal with their winter supplies. Unfortunately they don't produce a lot either, I have never gotten any honey from them! I refuse to re-queen them though as they are such great bees  :-D