I started 2 hives with Russian queens last April.
They came from Calvert Apiaries in Alabama (USA). Both
queens were quickly accepted and the bees set in
quickly to build comb and start working.  One queen
became a drone layer and I did not discover this for
about 5 or 6 wees.  Calvert gladly replaced her
without charge.  This hive was slower to get going due
to this problem.

The best hive drew out 5 full medium supers of comb
(brood and honey = mediums) and I took a super of
honey from that hive last fall.  The other drew out 4
full medium supers of comb, but I did not feel
comfortable robbing the weaker hive.

Side by side with Italians, I found varroa in drone
brood several times last fall in the Italians, but not
in the Russians.  No other sampling method was used
other than subjective spot checking of drone brood.  I
also did not treat the hives for mites.  All hives
have full open mesh floors (i.e. the bottom board
consists of wood sides and screen mesh bottom, but no
board).

The Italians were requeened with Starline Queens last
September due to the Italians habit flying around
everyone's head.  I could not find Russian queens last
fall and needed to get away from Italian.

My Russians are gentle and can be worked easily.  They
do not fly nearly as much in cold weather (low 50's F)
as the Italian/Starline, and they completely stopped
laying here in eastern NC in December/January.

I checked them today, 2/8/01, and both Russians and
Italian/Starlines have a good brood pattern, plenty of
brood, honey, pollen, and bees. They are bringing in
pollen today  aggressively.  In fact, they have stored
quite a bit since I checked them 1 month ago.

In short, I have been very satisfied with them.  I do
not yet know how they will compare with Italians from
a honey production perspective, but that is not as
important to me as it is for them to live without mite
treatment.

I am sure that I will buy some Russian Queens for my
splits this spring.  In fact, I will probably go 100% Russian.

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail - only $35
a year!  http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/