John asks:
Bob, did you use the push-in cage over emerging brood method with the Gold
Line or some other method?

The push in cage over emerging brood but a regular introduction cage might
work.

Brushy Mountain has an interesting looking plastic push in introduction cage
with a place for queen candy in the 2005 catalog. None of the beekeepers at
the Missouri State Beekeepers meeting last week had tried the new cage but
several had ordered a few to try.  I believe I will try a few of the plastic
push in this spring.

My partner ( Glenn Davis owner of Bell Hill Honey) likes the Purvis Brothers
"Gold Line" bee better than the Russian but about the only Russians he has
are ones I have given him to try. He does an excellent job of testing and
taking care of his bees. I  have at times left both Glenn Apiaries breeder
queens and Purvis brother "blue line" Russian breeder queens in his home
yard to use if he wants when raising queens. He lets me make cells from his
Glenn apiaries breeder queens. Both of us are pleased with the breeder
queens we have received from Glenn Apiaries over the years.

Glenn Davis looks at me funny at times for the amount of time I spend on the
Russians and my many experiments but he is always interested when I make a
new discovery or come up with a new idea!

My partner  is in his second year with the "gold line" and is pleased as he
ordered a large number of gold line queens this spring. He is using Kona and
other queen breeders queens  until the Purvis queens are ready. We were not
happy with Kona queens *FOR OUR AREA*    years ago but are very pleased with
the queens we have received over the last few years.

I am using a hundred of the 2005 Purvis Brothers "Blue Line" Russian/Russian
queens for my drone source colonies this year.

 I am using one of the 2004 Purvis Brothers instrumentally inseminated
breeder queens I brought back from Georgia to graft from. I have not yet
decided which one but all have survived the winter and have low mite counts.

Bob

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