I read somewhere on this forum that requeening an Italian hive with a russian queen should be considered a hot hive. Why? :?
I'm not sure why requeening an Italian hive with a Russian queen would make a hive hot, but I have both Italians and Russians and the Russians are certainly more aggressive then the Italians, not so much so as to be problematic though. The Russians also don't build up as quickly as Italians, but they do overwinter much better, atleast in my experience with them.
an italian hive is said to be very difficult to requeen with a russian queen. apparently the scent or pheremones are too different . if the hive turn hot upon requeening this may be the reason. if weeks later it's the offspring of the new queen and the following may be of interest. page 36 of hive and the honey bee lists crossbreeding of different races-- experiments carried out by ruttner,1968 and bornus 1972.
mellifera x carnica 31% better yield than better parent--carnica
carnica x mellifera 33% better than carnica (very aggressive)
ligustica x carnica 70% to carnica ( aggressive)
carnica x ligustica 10% to carnica ( gentle)
those of you who have the book know there is more but this is to just show it all depends on just how the cross is made whether the hive will generally turn aggressive or not. i have not had a problem raising my own queens for two generations from commercial italian queens. i can't say that for carniolans. first cross and they were hot.
Requeening an Italian hive with a Russian queen should be considered a difficult requeening. You'll need to stack the deck to get acceptance. Requeening a hot hive is a difficult requeen. You'll need to stack the deck to get acceptance.
That's the only connection I see.