> > ...Some one replied:"Don't believe all you read" and went on...
 
> This should be said again and again. In my experience of over 40 years,
> and that not only includes buying and using queens... Over the years I
> have tried all of the above and did not find them to meet my own
> standards and did not find them to demonstrate any value not found in
> any other stock and in some cases they demonstrated some real negative
> traits such as ill temper...
 
I'm with Andy on this.
 
As said here before the quality of breeder selection and attention paid to
queen rearing methods is likely the most important factor in determining
if you will be happy, or work hard for nothing. Good queen rearing and
mating weather is something no queen breeder can control, but which
will have more effect on quality and eventual satisfaction than almost any
other factor.
 
As far as various strains from different suppliers is concerned, I have
tried most everything I could get my hands on over twenty-five years
from the US, Canada and Down Under as well as raised my own, and must
say that -- although I encountered some exceptional bees --  the duds were
particularly memorable.  Here are some (random) recollections: FWIW
 
I remember one yellow strain from new Zealand that produced the most
vicious bees that I ever encountered anywhere, anytime (and I have worked
with Mexican bees).  They were quite good at building up, and reached
normal size from underweight packages (1.85 pounds arrived instead of
the two pounds I paid for), but these bees would eat anyone alive.
Moreover they did not winter at all well and were virtually all gone the
next year.
 
I had some 'Caucasians' from California that were grey and propolized
everything liberally.  They were so gentle that they could be worked half
naked at night in a thunderstorm without any discomfort except for the
crawling of many half dozens of tiny feet all over one's body. They were
nice bees.
 
I know that a friend remarked that his wintering losses were many times
higher in a strain of 'Italian' queens received from Hawaii one year
recently than from the same company's 'Carniolans'.
 
We raised our own queens for several years and with simple selection
techniques and attention to feeding the cell builders made queens that
developed hives that were better than we had seen in many years.  However,
so far this year  we are seeing like results -- and we are buying queens
anywhere we can find them.  It's just a great year so far and anything
looks good.
 
We used some bees from British Columbia for several years that were
extremely conservative.  They survived nicely without spring or fall
feeding, but did not make big crops.
 
We ordered 'Buckfast' from Texas 25 years ago.  The most remakable feature
was the amount of brace comb they built in the brood box.  They would have
been ideal for that woman artist in Manitoba that forces the bees to make
odd shaped comb then displays it as 'art'.
 
I remember the first Australian bees I bought.  We marked the hives with
coloured tacks and two years later most were still alive and the same
hives were often found to be among the top producers in each yard even
though they were few in total numbers compared to other sources. (We mark
the best three hives in each yard -- at least we did when raising queens).
 
I remember installing 100 packages of bees from California in one yard and
having every single one turn out perfect and identical.
 
Bees from down under may tend to have a very high chalk brood count
(Sometimes almost full frames of CB) compared to North American (including
Hawaiian) bees.  The reason: North Americans have selected against CB and
it responds in only a few generations.  I don't believe that chalkbrood is
seen down under.  (Correct me anyone).  However some bees from the same
regions seem free of chalkbrood.
 
Yellow bees tend to build up early, maintain large populations and raise
brood in times when other bees won't.  This can lead to starvation in
winter unless sufficient space is provided and sufficient stores --
including pollen -- are left on the hive.  They tend to store honey
outside the brood area better and thus fill supers well, but can leave the
brood boxes light in fall.
 
However, having said this, I have seen dark bees that have this
characteristic and yellow bees that are the opposite.  The conservative
bees I mentioned above were yellow.
 
All in all, there is no way to decide except by asking beekeepers in your
area and trying some bees.  The same strain may act entirely differently
in different areas of the world and also be successful one year and not
the next.
 
Management techniques are a huge factor and will account for many of the
differences reported -- including some that are attributed to the bees.
We use a method that works for pretty well any type of bee:
 
* Two standard brood boxes with mostly dark combs.
* An excluder above the second at all times.
* seldom disturb the brood boxes except to split and reverse in early
spring.
*Feed well spring and fall
* Try to maintain ~ 50 kg (65-70 kg for wintering)
*Super well ahead of the bees until August, then cut back to only what is
needed
*Leave a super on until well after the last flow.
 
Of course we do use other techniques, since we are always experimenting,
but this is our main method.
 
 Allen