[fadder]

I am considering buying two pure bred Russian queens
and putting them in a three frame mini-nuc. I am thinking
with a smaller amount of bees starting out the Italians
will be more likely to accept the queen. My goal is to get them
built up to five frames for winter.

 

[Vance G]

Most strains of Italian bees have no reticence accepting queens of other strains. It is the Russians that cling to their genetics. If you put these new queens in a mini nuc just be on your toes to keep them from swarming out. They could swarm out of the five frame nucs too. if things in your country dry out, you might get a heck of a honeyflow.

Hope you enjoy those Russians stapling your socks to your ankles!

 

[fadder]

I will definitely have to keep an eye on them as far as build up. Some friends of mine have Russians are they aren't that defensive.

 

[mybodyisatemple76]

I didn't have much luck with the Russian packages I bought in 2018 I bought 3 or 4 russian packages from Walter t kelly 2 or 3 superseded in a month and the only one I took into winter that year the queen failed or died over the winter. I think they were just all poorly mated queens from early spring but that was my experience which is not very much or good . but I bought nucs from a local beekeepers who buys Italian or carnolion nucs from Florida early in the season and had better luck with those nucs having lower mite counts and bigger clusters. Hopefully u have better luck than I did and my experience wasnt the norm.

 

[AR1]

Wouldn't you normally expect more buildup than just to a 5-framer?

 

[AR Beekeeper]

Yes, AR1. If I start them April 1 with 3 deep frames, 2 with brood and a queen cell and 1 with food, my Russians will be in 3 five deep frame boxes by mid June. Vance G is right about the swarming problem with 5 frame boxes, you must stay ahead of the bees or they are gone.

My Russians are not aggressive, I see no difference between them and some of the Italians I have.

 

[Jack Grimshaw]

It has been recommended to me by a Rus breeder to delay Q introduction by placing a strip of tape over the candy hole for 3-4 days.
That or a push in cage.
Works every time.