Thanks for your report, Carl.

We have been wondering why the Russians have not been more widely adopted, 
and concluded that one of the reasons is the differing varieties that are 
being distributed under the general designation, with some being out-crosses 
masquerading as Russians.  Moreover, the stock was changing year to year, at 
least in the earlier releases.

> I have used Russian bees since purchasing my first breeder queen in 2000.

Maybe you could share with us the source or sources that worked for you, and 
also the number of hives of Russians you run, and type of beekeeping you do?

> I am going to now make a statement that will anger some and astound 
> others.  Why are we keeping a doomed race of bees alive artificially. 
> Would it not be better to let them die and reserve only a small population 
> for scientific purposes. Were it not for the use of mite susceptible bees 
> kept alive artificially and consequently breeding super mites the keepers 
> of mite resistant bees would never need to use any chemicals in their 
> hives. A balance would be achieved between parasite and host.

I think you won't find much arguement here.  We are all agreed that 
chemicals were not intended to be a permanent answer, and that the nasty 
ones have to phased out, even if some beekeepers are addicted and like being 
that way.

I think that the economics will eventually achieve that result, though, as 
you point out, if only the word gets out and people are able to confirm that 
they can get by without these crutches and have good experiences with mite 
tolerant varieties.

Encouraging reports from those with success, like your, go along way to 
saving others from the chemical treadmill.  Approaches that involve simply 
changing stock are very appealing compared to approaches that involve 
melting all combs and doing arcane manipulations.

Having said that, I wonder, what type of foundation do you use, assuming you 
use foundation?

> Russian bees are not the perfect bee according to the wishes of every 
> beekeeper. They are the very best bee available.

Glad to hear that.

> Those of you who would like a copy of Deleplane's power point presentation 
> at Phoenix, Please send me a personal request.

I, of course would like one, but, if you send me a copy and it would be OK 
with Keith, I can put it for download on a web site for a while to save you 
sending it out one by one. 

******************************************************
* Full guidelines for BEE-L posting are at:          *
* http://www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm  *
******************************************************