On Sat, 10 Feb 1996, Frederick L. Hollen wrote: > Greetings, > > Has anyone had any experience with the ARS Y-C-1 bees which > have been around for a year or so? I'm thinking of trying a > few of them -- having read some wonderful things about them -- > but was wondering how they have done for average beekeepers. > > Disposition? Productivity? Mite resistance? Swarming? > Fred I tried 15 ARS-Y-C-1 queens two years ago.I was interested in adding new genes to my stock and see what was true for the northwest.First , remember that the invironment plays role in how the bees behave. I see bees down south that work very well and produce a large crop of honey.Up in Washington where is is cooler and rainy, they stay in the hive. The temperment was good and productivity was average.I did not have a problem with mites in 94. I used apistan strips.I did not test them for the mites. Now the good news. I raised about 80 queens in the summer of 95 using the marked ARS _Y-C-1 queens as the queen mothers.I kept 30 of the best looking one plus the ones that the bees liked to take care of. I used 10 queens to start 5 frame nucs.I put 1 frame of brood and bees in each nuc. That was June10.95. I did no strips no food and no medication at all. On october 16 th I looked at all my hives and checked the nucs out. Three nucs were alive.Full of honey and bees. I did an either roll to check for Varroa and found just around 4 to 5 in the jar off of 30 bees. From reading some of the research on hygienic behavior,( Behavioral Genetics ,pg.163 Bee Genetics and Breeding by Rinderer ) it is complex and you can not say that all ARS-Y-C-1 bees have a resistance to the mites. They don't claim it to bee the answer , it is just better. It looks like Canada is doing some very good work and Sue Cobey is helping some breeders with the new World Carniolan. The bottem line is , you ask , you read and you buy with the best info you can get. Each beekeeper has there own ideas. The Best of Luck. Keeping Bees is a learning experience and something to enjoy. Roy