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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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Subject:
From:
Murray McGregor <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 11 Dec 2003 11:14:14 +0000
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>A reciprocal cross - Carniolan queens mated with
>drones of other races - produces very often a bad tempered bee and at the
>same time a first-cross of little or no economic value.  Heterosis
>intensifies the hereditary swarming tendency to an even greater degree
>than is normally the case.  The result is that such a first-cross expends
>all its strength in its craze for swarming.

I would suggest perhaps that this is a result of his using a particular
origin of carnica, or some other reason.

I think it a really good cross, and do it deliberately, with both old
world carniolans and NWC. The results with NWC outcrossing to our local
black drones are just about the best bees I can find.

No serious temper problems
No excessive swarming
Excellent productivity

However, it is important when discussing OWC and NWC to be specific
about what we are talking about, because they are very different beasts.

Neither however has at all manifested itself with the characterisics
Bro. Adam assigns to them.

I am not alone in this. I provided four NWC queens (just ordinary open
mated Kona ones)  to a good Scottish breeder, and he bred a significant
number of young queens from them, open mated them to the local black
mongrels, and was amazed at how good a bee they were. He too had read
this apparently authoritative version of the cross, and found it to be
false. His production using the cross was superb (I saw his colonies on
the heather) and he wants more to keep the carnica gene levels up. He
did select only the black virgins, on the assumption that the yellow
ones were the result of crossed matings with Italians, and the black
ones from matings with NWC drones. Yellow virgins were culled.



--
Murray McGregor

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