Hello Carl & All,

Carl asked:
Why are large almond pollinators who raise their own queens not using 
Russian queens?
>
Carl I know you love your Russians and none of us have a problem with the 
way you feel. I will address the above question. I was NEVER able to send 
any Russian bees to almonds. Big loss of money to keep a hive and not be 
able to use. I had Russian hives rejected in Apples. I am serious! The 
Russians winter on too small of clusters and are the last to start brooding 
up in spring.

When doing research for one of the almond pollination articles I was asking 
around for commercial beeks which had been screwed by California brokers. 
One such case was Hubert Tubbs (Russian queen breeder and like Carl from the 
start).

Hubert ( phone conversation) told me he had received a call from a 
California broker begging for hives. Hubert said he could send a semi load 
of Russian bees. Nothing was said about frame count.

Hubert loaded up a semi of his bees and shipped. After the bees arrived 
Hubert got a call from the broker. The broker said " These bees are only on 
3 frames and will not pollinate" . I might add what California grades as 3 
frames is 4-5 in my opinion.

Huber said:
That's the way Russian bees look in January ( what mine look like in january 
in Missouri!).

Hubert said once on almonds they would build quickly ( which is what I have 
seen but under current grading the Russian hives simply will not grade most 
of the time).

The broker refused to pay Hubert for even his trucking. Hubert figured he 
lost around twenty thousand dollars on the deal. Hubert would not tell me 
which broker screwed Hubert because he is a a class above the broker. When I 
did the article I had plenty of similar stories so I didn't even need to use 
Hubert's.

If you think the above is not the way it happened give Hubert a call and ask 
Hubert.

 I have kept Russian bees around for many years. In fact  I am getting some 
Russian queens from Hubert for my Russian yards this spring. I support the 
Russian project but we need to face certain facts about races of bees. For 
you and many others the traits of the Russian bee work perfectly.

You asked and I tried to answer as best I could. The Adee's used Russian 
genetics one year as did the Brown's but they were crosses and the people I 
spoke with said the outfit went in a different direction the next year.

My experience is with Russian/Russian and keeping those bees in yards by 
their selves. They are the most varroa tolerant of all the *races* of bees I 
tested. The blue line were very aggressive but were the line I liked best.

Sincerely,
Bob Harrison

" proud owner of two yards of Russian bees!"
" 

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