Russians

[NeilV]

There are two threads going that touch on Russian bees. Every once in awhile it might be a good idea to check in with the beeks who are keeping Russians. So here we go:

1. Are your Russians more/less/the same defensive?

2. What differences do you notice in behavior?

3. What management do you do differently?

4. Do you get more/less/the same amount of honey?

5. Do you leave them with less honey when you harvest?

6. Are you keeping what you think are pure Russians or could be/likely are hybrids?

7. How do they handle mites?
I have two Russian hives, one either Russian or Russian hybrid hive, one no telling whay mutt hive and one Italian hive. Here's what I think, to the extent I know at this point as a novice:

1. The pure Russians are very gentle, the possible hybrids are somewhat grumpy.

2. The primary difference in behavior is that the Russians have really small winter clusters and shut down brood rearing totally by mid October, and they start building up later and then explode.

3. I have, so far, managed them all the same, but I am considering overwintering the Russians on a single deep or a deep with a shallow.

4. My favorite hives of all are pure Russian. My least favorit is the one that may be/probably is a hybrid Russian hive.

5. The pure Russian hives built up as good or better than an Italian hive. However, I fear they miss out on early flows and may not be suited to locations with early nectar flows.

6. They have not been a problem with Varroa mites so far.

[swabby]

I haven't been in bee's very long 2 years this coming spring. I started with 1 hive of Russian the 1st year. They swarmed in the same summer I stared but was able to catch the swarm . This past spring ,I then bought 2 cardboard nuc s of Italian from a keeper who migrates to N.Dakota every spring. Those Italians built up much fast than the Russians and outproduced them with honey. However this past early fall 1 of the Italian became weak and lost it to wax moth. Next spring I am going to split the three hives I have left and purchase 3 new Italian queens somewhere. I have a keeper who sales the Russians within 20 miles of my place ,But I just got a bad taste in my mouth about the Russians. I overspent on my 2 pennies worth sorry. Jim

[bee_wrangler]

I am goin to Breeding russians via Charlie Harper's breeder queen and drone mother sources next year. I hope to have better overwintering success and less varroa troubles.

Dan

[swabby]

I have talked to Charlie Harper a couple times via phone.He gets AI Russian queens from the USDA bee research lab in Baton Rouge,La. He seems like a good personally and very helpful with info.

[James Henderson]

Swabby and Beewrangler and others,

I've purchased Russian nucs from Charlie for the last two years. I'm ordering 5 nucs and 10 queens from him for 2009. I promise you will be very, very satisfied.

http://russianbreeder.com/

Nucs build up very fast, especially if you have them in a good forage area with diversity of flowering trees, shrubs, vines, and herbs. Some the nucs I purchased this last May produced a couple supers of surplus honey that I harvested their first year, most one medium super by August, but I am still trying to find the best yards for forage.

See Also http://russianbreeder.org/members.htm

Charlie and the Baton Rouge Bee Lab staff are speaking at our Louisiana State Association Meeting on December 5th and 6th in Alexandria, Louisiana. http://www.labeekeepers.org/Agenda.pdf

You should plan on attending our meeting if you are free. Bring a cooler to stock up on some Louisiana seafood while you are down here. If you go, you need to get your motel reservations by 21 November. See above pdf link.


1. Are your Russians more/less/the same defensive?
Less Defensive. I can work my Russian colonies with minimal to no protection and very, very, rarely get one or two stings in the fingers . The one exception is approaching hurricanes. The day before Gustav hit us when I was strapping down my colonies, I found every colony I have was on high defensive alert.

2. What differences do you notice in behavior?
Very gentle. Fly in cooler weather than other breeds. More honey. Less mites. Can't say enough good things about Russians.

3. What management do you do differently?
Only treat once per year if needed for mites. Typically September. Haven't lost a Russian to mite loads yet. Give them more room to store honey than other breeds.

4. Do you get more/less/the same amount of honey? More, much more IMO.
When the nectar flow starts, you better get ready and have space for honey. When they take off, they really take off storing nectar.

5. Do you leave them with less honey when you harvest?
Less. For the last two years, I have successfully overwintered my Russians (all from Charlie Harper) on one deep brood chamber on one medium with honey. They use less honey over the winter compared to my other breeds. My Italian and Buckfast hybrids may go through one deep of honey before blueberries (March), mayhaws (February), and early spring plants flower open.

6. Are you keeping what you think are pure Russians or could be/likely are hybrids?
Pure. "Mating yards must not be located in close proximity to non-Russian apiaries and you must be able to saturate the area with Russian drones." Source: http://www.russianbreeder.org/application.html

7. How do they handle mites?
They do get mites as with all bees, but not as many as the other breeds. I use SBB on all colonies. Sugar dusting when ever honey supers not on. USDA Bee Lab in Baton Rouge said during early November Beekeeper Field Day that they found that Russians seem to sense when cell is infected with mites and the bees cut open cell and remove infected larva.

[MichelinMan]

I'm just a first year beek but here's my take on this:

I bought 2 Russian nucs and 2 Ontario (Italian) nucs last May. I got surplus honey from all 4 hives. Both breeds were equally gentle. On a rare occasion I worked the hives during bad weather (a no-no but it couldn't be avoided) and I would say that the Russians were a tad more defensive during bad weather. Russians are darker and a little smaller than the Italians. I keep them in 2 yards 7 miles apart. The Russians always seemed to have queen cells on the go. As far as wintering goes I will have to wait until the spring to see which breed fared better.

One thing I did notice though was that the Russians took down less syrup and took it down slower than the Italians in both spring and fall. Russians were slower to build comb. I also noticed that more of them foraged on cooler days than the Italians. Propolis usage was about the same but bridge comb was a bigger problem with the Italians.