Hello,
I tried a few Russians this year.  Acceptance was poor.  I did not try to
requeen existing colonies, but rather only used them for nucs.  Some were
released and started laying a good pattern but were quickly superceded.
Others just disappeared and had to be replaced.  I had one left and was
determined to see this one accepted.  I did a few things to ensure the nuc
was populated with all young bees.  The queen had been banked for awhile.
This may have been a factor.  If she was being attended to in the bank
possibly this may indicate her chance for acceptance would be better.  (I
arrived at this theory after the fact.)  She was accepted.

A few weeks later I was checking the colony and noticed they were a bit more
defensive than what I consider usual.  They were not coming out and stinging
but every movement my hands or arms made they would fly up and hit me.  I
have other colonies that are more aggressive than this one, it is just that
this was noticeable.  I was going to mention this sooner but one colony does
not make a very good representative sample of anything.  I checked on them
the other day and it seems they were no longer exhibiting the behavior.
They did quickly line up between the top bars looking at me but they never
flew out for the challenge.  I really can't say if they are more aggressive
or were just having a bad day.  I will say that although they may be
promising I don't plan on getting anymore until the acceptance problem is
fixed.

One unrelated comment.  The normal spring honey flow is just about over for
my area.  Looking at my results and in talking with other beekeepers, it is
shaping up to be a poor season.  Although we are not having quite as much
rain as New York and New England, it seemed to come during peak blooms and
has severely limited flying time.

Ron Bogansky
Kutztown, (eastern) PA, USA