Hi there everyone,
My bees are Apis Mellifera Iberiensis. You can see my bees here at this small video of an inspection on 2016-NOV.
A hug from Portugal, the sunny place of europe! 
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Hi there,
They look like mine! 
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The caucs I have had in Aus have had a black/silver appearance rather than orange/black.
Will get some photos when my new cauc queens arrive. I currently have Italians which are bright orange.
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Is there any benefit in more propolis production?
I could imagine the Caucasians being able to trap and propolise in SHB faster, which could be a good thing in subtropical Au. Whereas I think the Italians chase SHB out, the Caucasians may prop them into cells?
Just a newbie thought.
I think I might get a Caucasian queen for my second hive. Very happy with my Italians, but have nothing to compare them with yet.
There are nucs for sale 2nd week in Feb. Am I stretching my luck to start a new hive going into autumn? I live next to a subtropical National Park.
My first hive Italians started with a nuc end Nov, going strong in just one brood box and about filled up new flow frames 50% in 4 weeks.
Shaved out part of one outer brood box frame with honey due to bulging honey comb last week. They keep filling the flow frames none the less.
Never fed anything at all, just let them get on with it.
Never saw my queen, but queen noses on frames, they were gone on inspection 2 weeks after.
Got 2 new full flow hives and brood boxes ready for the next, but donāt feel my Italians need a split now. They are just the right numbers to fight off those SHB.
The question remains: is it too late to start with a new nuc of Caucasians?
Thanks in advance for sharing your expertise.
There is some suggestion that propolis production is linked to hive healthā¦ I havenāt read anything specific though (anyone have any links?)
Every time I hear mention of bees trapping SHB, I canāt help but think of this:
Adult beetles can also be fed by bees in the hive via mouth-to-mouth feeding, especially when they are confined to bee-guarded āprisonsā. The beetles use their antennae to induce guard bees to regurgitate food, which the SHB then consumes.
URL: Small hive beetle Ā« Bee Aware
Another one here citing the original source paper:
Upon locating and entering the host colony, adult small hive beetles seek out cracks and crevices where they hide from bee aggression. These locations are often referred to as āprisonsā (Ellis 2005). Remarkably, honey bees station guards around the prisons where small hive beetles hide. The āprison guardā bees keep the small hive beetles confined to the cracks and out of the brood combs where there is an ample supply of honey, pollen, and brood on which small hive beetles reproduce. Small hive beetles do not starve in these prisons as they are able to solicit food from their bee captors. In this behavior, small hive beetles use their antennae to rub the beesā mandibles and induce the bees to regurgitate. Small hive beetles then feed on the regurgitated food (Ellis 2005, Ellis and Hepburn 2006).
URL: http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/misc/bees/small_hive_beetle.htm
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Yes @RBK. Ellis and Hepburn statements were observations from over 10 years ago. In the meantime, beekeepers have been breeding for hygiene and other adaptations. I read there are now varroa resistant bees. The same can be assumed for SHB, that bees are now better adapted to deal with them.
I know the breeder of my Italian queen is local, breeds a lot, has hundreds, maybe thousands of hives and provides pollination services.
My friendsā new hives in the area have a lot more problems with SHB, and their queens are not from there, but rather splits from other friends.
So I reckon there is merit in breeding for a particular trait.
What do you think!
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Whatās a bee nose? ā¦
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Oh. Dee, I think I called it a queen nose. Short of calling it a flacid penis shape.
A hooked downwards pointing waxy tube closed at the end.
No idea what it is. At my first inspection I thought it may indicate new queen ideas, but wasnāt worried since I thought all should be well.
Next inspection they were gone anyway. No idea what they did with it.
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I have 2 hives that are Buckfast from Canada and 2 hives that are mutts.
These are my bees.
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RBK did you get any photos of your new Caucasian queens?
Think the queen in the cut out I did last week is cauc, she is almost jet black, bees range from black/grey to black/gold so no doubt she mated with a few different drone breeds.
They never turned up (or at least havenāt yet) Not the first time thatās happened so not too concerned.
Yeah, sounds about right, almost black queen. Someone posted a great photo of their hive from a swarm this week and it had a nice mix of what looked to be caucs/Italiansā¦