>> ... (managing commercially) two strains with vastly differing
>> characteristics, especially with semi-skilled labour, is almost
>> impossible.
This presents several interesting examples of how we misunderstand one
another.
When I said 'commercial beekeeper', I was thinking of an operation with
well over 1,000 hives and full-time staff, possibly not all speaking
English. Of course, when I had 500 hives, and did all the work myself,
I considered myself to be a commercial beekeeper -- and I was -- but not
really in the eyes of the average Alberta commercial beekeeper at the
time. We all have a different image come to mind when the term is
mentioned. Interesting.
Of course, there are many commercial beekeepers with much fewer than
1,000 hives and some making a living with with only 100 or so, as it is
possible to make a living raising queens and doing other specialty
beekeeping and/or marketing with a relatively small number of hives and
without staff. I may technically be a commercial beekeeper even now
with my 70 hives since I sell hives and have a tax number.
Anyhow, that was what I was thinking, but probably everyone reading had
a different understanding. Hmmmm.
When I said, 'semi-skilled labour', I was imagining semi-literate
non-English speaking seasonal imports with an attitude. Another was
thinking high school kids. Fair enough.
And, when I said two strains with vastly differing characteristics, I
was thinking of prolific commercial 'Italians' and pure Russians, not
Italians and Carniolans or the various open mated intermediate strains
sold as one or the other. that determination being based largely on colour.
> So, we have Italian-based, Carni-based, Russian-based, and bees with
> liberal dollops of AHB genetics. Would that be the major hybrids of
> concern in regard to different management schemes and schedules?
All of these do have differences of varying degrees, but much of what we
see is somewhere in the middle, regardless of what the marketing says.
> I ran for several years on about half Italian and half NWC before I
> aged out the last hundred Italian queens and replaced them with NWCs,
Normally, these two interbreed well and queen introductions between them
is not especially problematic. Crosses are acceptable. In my
experience and region, I can manage both in the same yard with the same
techniques. That is with the varieties available to me here at least.
Interbreeding between strains in a commercial operation such as mine was
is not a huge problem as there is no special property to maintain. With
the Russians, however, the strain must be kept pure to maintain the
benefits, so the interbreeding that occurs commonly during supersedure
is a big problem and subsequent loss of purity cancels the principle
benefit expected in return for putting up with their special requirements.
> But it is not so impossible - I survived, and converting (600 hives)
> gradually was the only profitable way to do it.
And that is why I said _almost_ impossible, because no matter what the
subject is in beekeeping, if anyone claims something is impossible,
someone is bound to pop up and say he is doing it or has done it or
knows someone who does.
So, I realise that Bob, for example, ran both commercial Italians and
pure Russians as a trial, but I am sure it was not easy -- or something
one would chose to do in the long run.
I'm sure he will comment.
---
To change the subject back to walk-away splits, I have a question for
the gurus. Where did that expression come from and who used it first?
I recall adopting walk-away as a term back in the '90s to describe my
technique of simply splitting a two-story hive in two and walking away
with no real need to check it for three weeks. Now, I am wondering if I
read that term somewhere, or if I actually dreamed it up. Does anyone
know who used it first and where?
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