Hello Allen & All,
I said:
> We are also happy Rinderer has seen fit to do another importation of the >
Russian queens as Myself (and others) have felt alleles problems could >
surface in the Russian program *long-term* without further importation.
Allen asked:
Is that true?  I hadn't herad, and in his ABF presentation he said, "2004
saw the last new lines added to the program".

I have not been told by Tom myself but get the information from reliable
sources. I did voice my concerns about the possible future alleles problem
to Tom when we talked at our last meeting.

The Russian project was supposed to end in 2004 exactly as projected at the
start of the project. Myself and others are grateful for the Russian project
and pleased with the bee but believe the project methods could have been
improved.

 Because the project in my opinion was a success those of us involved *now*
would like to have saved many of the Russian queens which were dispatched to
evaluate ourselves and use the alleles which were lost..

For those on BEE-L which might get lost reading further I would suggest
picking up one of the excellent books which are sold by most beekeeping
supplies on advanced queen breeding. I can recommend several if the list is
interested. I have never seen an *advanced* queen breeding book in the huge
library complex in Kansas City.

 Think about this. Only two breeder queens were sent to Glenn Apiaries to
produce the II (instrumental inseminated) breeder queens (I was told by
Charlie Harper by phone). Which *in my opinion* resulted in queen producers
grafting from the breeder queen and open mating to their own stock creating
a hybrid. They saw (in my opinion) that building a Russian line which would
not see an alleles problem would be problematic. Many queen producers
believed the Russian bee was simply a fad and never bothered to collect all
12 queen lines. Some have only got the genetics of the 2004 release.

The II queens I am using are the product of 12 different USDA-ARS Russian
project released II queens through Glenn Apiaries.
They *in our opinion* carry all the *released* genetics. Even with such a
diverse mix of alleles we are always on the watch for an alleles problem in
offspring.

Below is a big problem in my opinion:

The Russian queen introduction problem is real. Rinderer and others close to
the project avoid the subject for obvious reasons. If plans go as planned
next year Russian/Russian packages will be available which will bypass the
introduction problem for many beekeepers.

Introduction of a Russian queen into a hive of Russian bees is as simple as
any other introduction *but* the standard introduction of a Russian/Russian
queen into a different hive of bees is very problematic.

A (verified by USDA-ARS bee lab ) difference in pheromones exist which in my
opinion IS the root of the problem. One reason why commercial beekeepers
have not embraced the Russian bee.I have  discussed the subject with many
which have tried the Russian and gave up. Quote *to me* by a commercial
beekeeper concerning introduction of a *Russian/hybrid* queen.

 " I want a bee which I can poke a hole in the candy and come back a week
later and the queen is out and laying! Not come back a week later and find
the queen dead on the floor of the hive and queen cells!"

Some hybrid Russian queens are far easier to introduce than the
Russian/Russian which is the bee I work with.

Sincerely,
Bob Harrison

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