Peter said;
Seems logical to me to contact the "Italian Russian Queen Breeder" and ask
the reason why he (she) advertised in the manner in which you say that he
(she) did.

The queen producer (male) when I ordered the queens said he included me in a
a group of around fifteen beekeepers which wanted pure Russian/Russian
stock. He said he was taking the Russian drone colonies to a remote 2500
acre ranch about an hours drive from his California main operation. I
figured at the time that 2500 acres( approx. 2 square miles I believe) did
not guarantee a 100% Russian breeding as drones can mate 20 miles from the
hive (Larry Conner 2004) but the best offer I had found. He said the queens
were grafted from a 2004 Glenn apiaries breeder queen (with yellow drones I
don't think so!). I told him I only wanted pure Russian/Russian and had
called all over the U.S. and could not
find a source for Russian/Russian production queens. He told me I could be
included in the Ranch queens but needed to get at least a 100 queens to be
included.


When the queens came I was sure the queens were not Russian and called a
member of the Russian project in Louisiana on Sunday (the day the queens
arrived) to say the queens I received looked Italian. The member said a
light colored Russian had been sent to Glenn apiaries. I still was not
convinced. At 8 am. Monday (California time) I called the queen producer and
said a mistake must have been made. She was polite and said to call back in
an hour after she talked to the order filler. I called back and she said .
the order filler said the queens I received were Russian. I asked to speak
to the boss as the  queens & bees in the battery box looked Italian!. In the
background he said those were Yellow/orange Russians. I said to tell him I
believe the queens were simply Italians! He said they were Yellow/Orange
Russians. A color combination which does not correlate with  the colors sent
by the bee lab.
I told the lady to tell the  queen producer I and three other beekeepers
were going to test the  queens and publish results.

*Once established the queens produced yellow workers & drones.*

A hybrid would have produced dark drones at least!


The bee lab said the light colored queen they sent produced dark drones &
workers. They also said she was only a lighter color than jet black and
would never be mistaken for Italian stock.

Peter said:
You should then be able to compare his (her) reasons to your conclusions.

What possible reasons could he have?

The testing by a certified master beekeeper and three commercial beekeepers
is complete. The bees were Italian, Not even a Russian hybrid, all the hives
which received added varroa pressure died and the rest are over threshold in
less than eleven months Except for one hive. One hive superceded (marked
queen gone)and open
mated to my black Russian line. Black workers & drones and had the lowest
varroa count of the test when tested last week.

Peter said:
 From that position a solid and reasoned response may then be
generated -whatever the direction it takes.

I may call after I cool down. Actually his Italians have got a few traits I
like and are now being treated for varroa and will remain out of range of my
Russian project. I will use his bees for honey production this summer (along
with other italians I run)  and then requeen with a varroa tolerant stock
later.

Bob

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