Eric Brown <[log in to unmask]> wrote:...........  experience with Russian crosses was that they were, for me, 
intolerably "mean."  I wonder if others with statistically more significant experiences could relate similar stories.

Eric

I don't have statistically more significant experience with the Russians, but I have had Russians in my bee yard.  With neither the pure Russians (Charlie Harper) nor the queens which superseded them did I have any problems with meanness.  I worked them the same way I did with VSH strain and an Italian/Buckfast cross and all were gentle most of the time.  I can even remember working the bees up until it started raining with an incoming thunderstorm and had no problems with pestiferous bees.  Of course, this was during a pretty heavy honey flow.

Mike     Located in the lower west portion of Alabama

       
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