Main Page

Welcome to the Brown bee wiki!

This wiki is intended to be a helpful resource for anyone keeping brown bees (Apis mellifera mellifera). The brown bee is the honeybee subspecies that occurs natively in the Nordic region. In the 20th century, other honeybee subspecies were introduced to this region by beekeepers. Today, the native brown bee is endangered due to displacement and introgression by these other subspecies. The great value of these bees, that appear well-adapted to the Nordic climate, is slowly being recognized and conservation efforts are under way! The best conservation is of course the active use of these bees in beekeeping and honey production. All information in this wiki is tailored to brown bees, unless otherwise stated. We hope that this resource can help brown bee beekeepers with their day-to-day management of their hives. Obviously, exact dates for beekeeping activities will vary greatly by year and location, depending on the weather and flowering times of bee food sources. Please keep this in mind when reading this wiki! We hope that many of you will contribute to this wiki. Please take a look here, if you need some guidance on how to get started.

Yours, the Brown Bee Network