I ordered my Russian queens today. After hanging up the phone I realized I don't have any concrete idea of how I'm going to manage these bees differently. I know in a general way that they are supposed to have some increased resistance to varroa, but does that mean I can discontinue all treatments for varroa immediately? With quite a few breeders now selling ³Russians,² will we see U.S. beekeepers stop treating for varroa en masse?

   I called Charlie Harper who owns an apiary in Louisiana in which the USDA has been testing the Russians, and Dr. Tom Rinderer, who has been in charge of the USDA¹s testing program for the bees. Here are some paraphrased highlights of what they had to say (I mentioned I would be passing along what was said to my Internet buddies.):

€   Both said you take a big risk changing your normal treatment routines if your Russians are crossed with any other type of bee. There's just no telling whether the characteristics that control varroa will be present in the crosses. Ask questions of the breeders you buy from, and lower your expectations accordingly. Rinderer thought many of the queens being sold first will probably be hybrids, and said he was concerned that if people buy Russian hybrids that produce varroa-damaged colonies, some will conclude erronously the bees lack varroa resistance. The breeder I bought from was offering artificially inseminated (AI) Russian/Carniolan hybrids in early spring, and AI Russian/Russian crosses later in the summer. I chose the Russian/Russian crosses, which Rinderer said should offer a decent example of what they can do.

€   Harper suggested dropping back to one treatment of formic gel in the spring with true Russian queens.

€   Rinderer said the Russian¹s resistance was probably grounded in grooming behavior that knocks the mites off. He asked if I use the screened bottom boards (I do), and suggested using them in conjunction with the Russians will give superior varroa management.

€   Harper said the queens are very black in color and tend to run. They often found them on the sides and bottomboards.

€   The weirdest thing about managing the Russians is that they keep queen cells throughout the active season. Harper said many of his 100 colonies maintained capped queen cells throughout the summer but never swarmed or superceded. He speculated that they killed the virgins. The same marked queens were still there in the fall in 75 of 100 colonies after repeated observations of queen cells throughout the hives. Rinderer acknowledged this trait. He speculated that it might have something to do with the fact that the active season where these bees originate is extremely short, so the bees don¹t have the luxury of time to start queens from a larva. He called it their ³insurance policy.² The way U.S. beekeepers manage for swarming is going to have to change drastically with these bees. We¹ll have to get used to, and learn to live with, queen cells.

John