Hi Keith & all

> I like the fact that the Russian strain seems to always have a supersedure
> Queen cell perpetually going in the brood nest and am hoping that this is
a
> dominate trait.

This particular element of behaviour is one I have no experiance of.

> I would love to have available Apis m.m. to work with but to
> date have not been able to obtain

Each race does not have an exclusive subset of genes, many of the cold
adaption qualities (gene groupings) of AMM are expressed in other races,
notably Caucasion and Russian. Teasing out these genes and making selections
is the way to go, it would be fairly pointless trying to 'transplant' the
bees I have available, because they would not survive your conditions in the
short term, to give benefits further down the line. However additions to
your local gene pool on an 'ad hoc' basis would give more elements for
selection to be done from.

There may be bans on transporting colonies or queens, but I doubt if these
apply to eggs and/or semen.

Best Regards & 73s, Dave Cushman... G8MZY
Beekeeping & Bee Breeding Website
Email: [log in to unmask] or  [log in to unmask]
http://website.lineone.net/~dave.cushman & http://www.dave-cushman.net

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