> I have moved most of my Russians to California for the almonds.  What
techniques would you use to get them to build up early.

You will not be able to get bees  and especially the Russians to brood up
until after the winter solace in California.

> I just don't like to feed the entire neighborhood.

Will be worse in California if you are in the valley. Plenty of open feeding
going on. We had three semi loads within a half mile of a beekeeper open
feeding with 8 barrels. He commented to us he was surprised how much syrup
he was going through. We said we were surprised how little we were feeding
in our division feeders.


>Have you tried pollen paddies and if so how well did your Russians take
them?  Did it get the queens to build up sooner?

Mixed results. The Russians seem to start brooding when they want to and are
hard to trick into brooding up. Once brooding has started in earnest then
the Russians will use the patties.

Bob-

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