Bob, can you recommend some sources for this cross?

Minnesota/VSH breeders can be purchased from Glenn apiaries.

>Are there commercial operations that you know of that continue selecting
for hygienic behavior and varroa tolerance and succeed at it?

Purvis Brothers. However several other queen producers advertise they select
for hygienic (such as Pat Heitkam).

>>Yugo... Somewhat inbred but varroa tolerant and untreated.

Are they reasonably productive?

Not productive at all. Have got poor brood viability but they winter good,
produce some honey and were gentle the last I checked.

 The old beekeeper (in his eighties) last bought queens (Yugo) years ago
(when first brought in and none since). Is in an area beekeepers do not
place bees ( smartweed country) so his bees are getting very inbred.

His son lets the old beekeeper keep his bees as long as I agree to remove
the hives after he passes on. So I will most likely end up with his bees.
His bees produce a third of the crop they did a decade ago. The beekeeper
uses deep honey supers and carries the deeps up five or so stairs into an
old building to extract. Brings the boxes from the bee yard in a wheel
barrow. The honey is the worst tasting honey I or Osage honey farm has ever
bought but we still keep buying to humor the old beekeeper.

He had a 10-20 frame Dadant extractor but quite using and now does his crop
with a four frame handcrank. Last year he wanted Mike V. to buy his 10-20 so
he did and hauled back to sell (or sit in a corner of his building). Mike
uses a 60 frame cowen and produces around 300 ( and up) barrels a year.

Mike Vanarsdall ( Missouri Valley Honey , Nebraska) and I will buy his honey
despite the color and flavor mainly because we like to visit and listen to
his lifetime of beekeeping stories. Now he only has around three 55 gallon
drums a year to sell.  You can't help but love the guy as he has us make the
check out to his church to help with sending the young people of his church
to church camp.

bob


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