A lot of information about the current members and methods of the
Russian bee program here:
http://www.russianbreeder.org/
Tom Webster used Russian bees as the foundation for his breeding
program when Russian bees were first being made available to industry
in the early 2000s. He does not exchange material with the current
members of the Russian breeders association. So it is hard to know how
much of the original Russian importation he may have in his stock.
One of the problems with the use and distribution of any improved stock
is the branding and naming. After a while out there what people may
advertise regarding the original source may not be exactly as pure as
the original source. It is very common for people to judge the merits
of a stock or program or source based on those possibly watered down
commercial sources. Buyer beware. There are Carniolans and there are
dark colored thrifty bees. Same for the contrasting color and growth
patterns regarding Italians. As someone pointed out, the goals and
objectives of various segments of the industry can be quite different.
***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html