Hi everyone, just interested in the different bees everyone has. Italians seem to be everyones choice and the ones I picked but I did try to get a Cordovan package just none available. What are peoples experiences with other types of bees?
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Please update your profile to include your town and state. This will help us help you.
I have mostly Russian with a few colonies of Italian bees. Both are well behaved because I follow the simple rules of bee keeping. (do not go into the hive unless I need to and then keep my visit short because I go in with a plan. -Mike
My guess he is from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Where I live, i have had bad luck with italian package bees, too cold for too long. My best luck has been with the darker Carniolan bees, and most definitely with locally bred bees from hives that have successfully overwintered. Different bees have different traits, but my advice is to find someone keeping bees as near you as possible, and buy nucs, or a split from their bees.
Yantabulla you guessed right I'm from Sydney, Australia.
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Mikecva do you notice any difference in behavior between italian and russian?
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Thanks Sydney Guy. Now the Americans can help you :cheesy:
Syd guy go into your profile and put in Sydney Australia them we don't need to guess.
I can't update my profile because im new.
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Sure you can. Click on home, then on Profile, then on Modify Profile. If you have a problem, just ask and somebody will help you.
I took care of it.
I kinda figured Sydney guy posting in the downunder forum was likely from Sydney Australia. :wink:
You may be right, Buzzbee, about tapatalk. I don't use it, so didn't think of that possibility.
Gary
Thank you buzzbee
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Whenever you want help Sydney guy just buzz Buzzbee or everyone else on the Forum.
The Russians are slower to build up but once there they have been great honey producers. I have found the Russians also seam to tolerate the winter better. -Mike
There are so many different subspecies and mixed breeds that I'm not sure what I have. I started out with Italians and like them just fine.
Quote from: buzzbee on October 21, 2015, 08:06:48 PM
I took care of it.
I kinda figured Sydney guy posting in the downunder forum was likely from Sydney Australia. :wink:
The problem is that he is typing up side down. :grin:
Jim
Mine are just local Mutts. They seem to survive the best on their own.
Jim
I'm down in TAS, and there's a couple blokes here keep Italians (and there's one who sells Queens but his Italians are one breeding a season, limited availability)
however the local season seems to produce many swarms of very dark colored, and often "less than friendly" wild/feral/forest types of bees - they're very hardy, they're more aggressively defensive than the sweet Italians, and they go head to head with the wasps day-in-day out.
so local bees, especially feral swarm-bred for survivability - and re-queen with a lovely calm Italian queen to calm them down is how I'm choosing to go :)
Remember that soon as the feral bees die off, you'll have a hive full of Italian and whatever she mated with. Mutts.
Quote from: Dallasbeek on November 12, 2015, 07:37:56 PM
Remember that soon as the feral bees die off, you'll have a hive full of Italian and whatever she mated with. Mutts.
exactly :)
Three of our hives are all Italians, the other is a swarm hive with a fairly dark queen and mainly dark workers, but this hive is the pick of the bunch, so on the theory that it might be Caucasian, I'm about to requeen another one with a Caucasian to see how they go.
Put an order in with John Covey in Qld today - can't seem to find queens available for sale in Tas this year.
Got to agree with "oldmech". Go local. Anyway you can, swarm, splits, purchased queens, neucs etc.