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  • From: "Starks, Walter" <Walter.Starks AT facilities.unc.edu>
  • To: Randall Austin <ra41717 AT gmail.com>
  • Cc: Orange County Beekeepers Association <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>, "Starks, Walter" <Walter.Starks AT facilities.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] Where to get Russian bees?
  • Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2013 19:33:38 +0000

Thanks Randall
I've done some study on the Russian's already and still working on more before next spring. I would feel much more comfortable about doing the research if I knew I had a source available before mid summer though. Thanks for the link. I'll probably try one of the other assoc members. My original plan was to get 2 nucs so that I wouldn't have to introduce a new queen, but I know I probably will need to be able to pick up nucs myself so if I can't find any available close enough I'll go for a package and Russian queen. 

Thanks again for the Breeders Assoc link. Been hunting for one that worked for about a week. I've already read the NCSU notes for russian's. If you've got any other links to that type of stuff I'd be interested.

______

Walter




Sent from my iPhone

On Dec 16, 2013, at 12:05 PM, "Randall Austin" <ra41717 AT gmail.com> wrote:

Walter,

The fascination with Russians has worn off a lot recently. They never lived up to their potential as advertised. That doesn't mean that they aren't worth having, but they aren't magical. Their fans say that the trick is to produce pure-stock queens and to keep them in Russian-only areas, which is difficult to ensure. There aren't nearly as readily available as they were 8 or 9 years ago.

You are right to order early -- suppliers use a first-in, first-out system and you don't want to be stuck at the end of the line, receiving your bees too late in the spring to get a strong start. If you don't get a hive started until May, you'll be forced to play catch-up for the remainder of the year and your chance of success is diminished.

The Russian Bee Breeders Association has a list of certified members. Aside from Ray Revis, the closest to us are Carl & Virginia Webb in Clarkesville, Georgia. Clarkesville is about 40 miles south of Franklin, NC.

Walter Kelley Bee Supply sells Russian queens individually or with packages. The package will almost certainly be Italian worker bees but that's not an inherent problem. After a month or two your hive will be pure Russian. But make sure you read NCSU's Apiculture Notes on introducing Russian queens to packages. The bottom line is that you should be patient (leave the queen in the introduction cage for a week, not just a day or two) and ideally, introduce her to a small colony rather than a large one.

Honey Bee Genetics in northern California sells a Russian/Carniolan hybrid queen that I had good luck with several years ago.

One option is to start with a queenless Italian package or nuc and buy a Russian queen separately.

Russians are a bit different in their behavior than Italians, so make sure you read up about them as much as possible. For example, they often create queen cells just as insurance, with no real intention of letting the queen develop fully. And they'll quickly shut down laying during the summer dearth, which makes Italian owners think that the hive is queenless. The queens are often more skittish than Italians, making them harder to spot during inspections. They build up slower in early spring but their populations explode quickly once the main honey flow begins. They don't build comb with the enthusiasm that Italians do. All of these things are sort of like the difference between Chihuahuas and Labrador Retrievers; both are great dogs for their purposes but you can't expect one to behave the same as the other. The best dog owner knows what to expect from his dog and the same is true for a bee owner.

Good luck & let us know how it turns out!

Randall Austin


On 12/16/2013 9:40 AM, Starks, Walter wrote:
8CA61C58-4A6A-48B4-BE84-F0BB7922EEAB AT fac.unc.edu" type="cite">
Hi all
I'm new t o beekeeping and trying to get a couple of hives setup next spring. My plan was to stock them with Russians from Revis Russian Apiary but after trying and failing to contact them for the last month or so I'm starting to get a little nervous about this source. I'm hoping someone may know of another Nuc supplier? Or maybe it's normal for suppliers to be incommunicado in the winter and I'm worrying about nothing?

______

Walter




Sent from my iPhone
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