J&S Maus wrote:

> This problem is caused from the mixing of bee stocks.
> Bro. Adam always advised to use Carniolan drones in the first cross if I
> remember correctly. If Italian drones mate with the first generation
> Carniolan queens
> (Russian in this scenario) you have quite a bit of aggression as you are
> experiencing.

I have another experience of crossing different bee races. Some years ago I
deliberately used Buckfast, Carnica and Ligustica mixed together in an attempt
to get maximum hybrid vigour in my stock. Queens of pure stock (controlled
mating on small island or similar) from all three races were used to produce
queens that were mated with drones from Buckfast (first year) and later with the
mix of drones.

I did not find any mixture that produced very aggressive bees the first
generation. They could be worked without veil sunny days provided a smoker was
properly used, and without gloves a rainy day. That said to explain what I mean
with non aggressiveness. They were not as quiet as pure stock and some were
running around a bit on combs but no problem to handle.

From my (and others) experience the gentleness is mainly depending on the queen.
If a queen of gentle stock is used as breeder, the offspring will be reasonably
gentle even when mated to drones of non gentle stock.

But remember I'm talking about the first generation from controlled mated stock,
next generation will bee a totally different story.......

--
Regards

P-O Gustafsson, Sweden
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