Thanks Charlie,

> My best friend is 99% Russian he sent 2000 colonies to CA for almonds. 
> These bees are being used by beekeepers with 5 to 12 thousand colonies.

That's the kind of info I'm looking for.  Do you happen to know how they 
graded?

> There are a lot of feral bees that are descendants of Russian that throw 
> swarms all over the country, I speculate that is where we are seeing V 
> resistance in a lot of areas. The Russian bee has been used for 10 years 
> now.

That is true, isn't it.  How time flies!  Over that time, I understand that 
the Russian stock has changed somewhat, too.  Have you any comments on that, 
or pointers to where people can learn more details?

Some say that the Primorsky characteristics are lost or diluted quickly in 
crosses, but varroa pressure is a strong selector, so I imagine that trait 
would persevere.  There are other survivor stocks out there, too.

You may recall we visited Lusbys' together a few years back and you saw 
their stock.  Do the Russians use similar mechanisms to deal with varroa, do 
you think, namely quick identification and uncapping, or do the Russians 
have other means?  Are there other comparisons?
 

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