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Date: | Sun, 2 Mar 2008 23:22:39 -0600 |
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Hello Carl & All,
Carl asked:
Why are large almond pollinators who raise their own queens not using
Russian queens?
>
Carl I know you love your Russians and none of us have a problem with the
way you feel. I will address the above question. I was NEVER able to send
any Russian bees to almonds. Big loss of money to keep a hive and not be
able to use. I had Russian hives rejected in Apples. I am serious! The
Russians winter on too small of clusters and are the last to start brooding
up in spring.
When doing research for one of the almond pollination articles I was asking
around for commercial beeks which had been screwed by California brokers.
One such case was Hubert Tubbs (Russian queen breeder and like Carl from the
start).
Hubert ( phone conversation) told me he had received a call from a
California broker begging for hives. Hubert said he could send a semi load
of Russian bees. Nothing was said about frame count.
Hubert loaded up a semi of his bees and shipped. After the bees arrived
Hubert got a call from the broker. The broker said " These bees are only on
3 frames and will not pollinate" . I might add what California grades as 3
frames is 4-5 in my opinion.
Huber said:
That's the way Russian bees look in January ( what mine look like in january
in Missouri!).
Hubert said once on almonds they would build quickly ( which is what I have
seen but under current grading the Russian hives simply will not grade most
of the time).
The broker refused to pay Hubert for even his trucking. Hubert figured he
lost around twenty thousand dollars on the deal. Hubert would not tell me
which broker screwed Hubert because he is a a class above the broker. When I
did the article I had plenty of similar stories so I didn't even need to use
Hubert's.
If you think the above is not the way it happened give Hubert a call and ask
Hubert.
I have kept Russian bees around for many years. In fact I am getting some
Russian queens from Hubert for my Russian yards this spring. I support the
Russian project but we need to face certain facts about races of bees. For
you and many others the traits of the Russian bee work perfectly.
You asked and I tried to answer as best I could. The Adee's used Russian
genetics one year as did the Brown's but they were crosses and the people I
spoke with said the outfit went in a different direction the next year.
My experience is with Russian/Russian and keeping those bees in yards by
their selves. They are the most varroa tolerant of all the *races* of bees I
tested. The blue line were very aggressive but were the line I liked best.
Sincerely,
Bob Harrison
" proud owner of two yards of Russian bees!"
"
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