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Mon, 4 Jun 2001 09:45:02 -0400 |
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Hello all,
Just a quick comment or two on my impressions of the Russian bees. I
purchased a queen last year for my backyard hive, and developed quickly a
couple of opinions. First, I have not seen any evidence of Varroa in this
hive. However, I lost them at the onset of winter, probably to tracheal
mites, which I had not treated for. This year, I'm back to the good old
Italians. This isn't because of the death of my previous attempt though.
I live in a small town residential neighborhood, and the Russian bees could
be markedly aggressive towards people in the vicinity. There were always a
couple of guards that would fly out and repetively bounce off of peoples'
heads and shoulders giving warnings. I was not stung any more while working
the bees than I have been with any other variety, although I felt they were
more wary and a larger quantity of bees would fly around and for longer
times than I have seen previously.
So this year I chose behavior over disease resistance due to my location,
and I have Italian bees behaving as I am accustomed to. Just a single
annectdote, not even evidence perhaps, but now I've put in my two cents
worth
Ben Hanson
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