1st writer:

> I requeen three strong hives this spring and not one of them was
accepted.

2nd writer:

> I set up about 15 nucs with Russian Queens this spring, all were
accepted.

I guess we have a problem with the designation, "Russian queens".  It's
just like saying, "car" instead of "Chevy" or "Lada".

There are a number of lines of the Primorsky stock in the US and each has
been carefully evaluated.  Then there are the commercial releases and the
open-mated non-pedigreed offspring of the offspring of Russian stock.

Generalizations are a problem, since each writer usually has experience
with only one or two samples.  naming suppliers would help, but then, we
don't on the other hand want to get into a situation where we trash an
individual supplier's stock.

In queen introduction, the beekeeper's methods of installing the queen can
have as much or more influence on the success of the queens as the
supplier's efforts and genetic material.

If there is one thing I've learned on BEE-L it is this: everyone is telling
the truth as he/she sees it, but the truth may differ from place to place
and time to time.

allen
http://www.internode.net/honeybee/diary/