SMR bees

[newguy]

I'm getting a nuc that's queened with an SMR queen. What is your opinion on SMRs?

[Michael Bush]

I'm not sure what exactly all of the SMR's are, but I've tried B Weavers SMaRt bee queen (they used to call them Harbo) and she absconded. I do want to try it again. It was with a shaken swarm and they all left. But that could have just been a coincidence. I tried a Russian queen from Kelly which is supposed to be mite resistant in an observation hive and she did well.

[hoosierhiver]

i bought good variey of"quality"queens last year including a smr russian from bee weaver in texas.i didn't treat for mites,and decided to do a not so scientific study of who could hack it.out of 27 i lost all but 8,the smr was one of them that survived,russian that were not specifically advertised as smr didn't fair as well.i also like the russian/caucasian survivor stock from olympic wilderness,they seem pretty tough.