I am in my third year with Russians and this year joined the Russian Bee Breeders 
Association and received genetic material from Baton Rouge.

Given my short history I can say this that they are more swarmy for sure, make a similar 
crop of honey and do not build up if conditions are poor for forage and I never see any 
AFB in these bees.  I have not treated any of my Russians and have no plans to. 

Recent data from USDA shows they wintered on 17 pounds of honey in Northern Iowa.  

For me the COST SAVINGS from no AFB and Varrora treatments and minimal feed trumps 
any of the downsides of their behavioral characteristics.  I experimented with no winter 
wrapping last year and found no difference in the wrapped vs unwrapped - another 
potential savings. To say no one will pay any extra dollar for a bee that saves you money 
is shortsighted IMO.

I will point out that unless you can keep them isolated the genetics will quickly be lost as 
they superscede more often, plus I doubt that even a Russian hive cannot handle nearby 
collapsing yards of non resistant bees from varroa so being isolated is paramount. 

I just checked 50 colonies of them  yesterday and noticed some superceded during our 
recent basswood flow. Most of those still produced 2 supers of honey anyhow. 

Its not a bee for bee havers who are not checking every 10 days on their hives and I 
don't see them being a migratory bee either. When fuel hits 6-8$ a gallon in the next 
decade (my prediction) migratory beekeeping will be over anyhow.  Its not a matter of if 
but when.....

But they build up incredibly fast and 4 frame nucs made here in southern Mn by mid June 
and expanded out into a single deep can still make a super or two of honey in their first 3 
months. 

If you plan on doing things the same old way you did with Italians then maybe the 
Russian bee and its benefits are not for you... but times are changing and for some 
segment of the beekeeping population this bee is a new era where you can leave your 
crop on into later September even without worrying about that fall mite treatment and 
feeding. These management benefits are huge if you can learn to run your operation 
around them - not try and force them into an Italian way of keeping. 

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