Gray Caucausian bee's

JackM · June 20, 2015, 09:21:03 AM

I contacted the folks in Georgia Russia. They are more than willing to ship.

As beeks we should lobby for a means of bringing this strain, and possibly others of merit into the country. Possibly the only way will be with semen and a very selective breeding process that cleans out the native genes.

JackM · June 21, 2015, 08:50:56 AM

I dropped in email of inquisition about how many hoops it takes to even get considered to import to the Dept of Ag. ......

KeyLargoBees · June 21, 2015, 11:43:48 AM

With Florida's freaky agricultural laws I am almost scared to make a similar inquiry LOL...Hard to imagine how the USDA will treat this with all of the recent fluff about "invasive" species. So many of the recent agricultural and entomological disasters were perpetuated by importation of species and sub species that at the time were thought to be "good ideas" and "beneficial". Will be interesting to see how they reply.

Eric Bosworth · June 21, 2015, 06:52:43 PM

That is because government knows best. A friend of mine is a retired teacher. Before he retired he was complaining about administration. He summed up all aspects of government when he said "I just don't understand how half a dozen administrators can possibly think that they have more collective knowledge than 130 some teachers... Extrapolate that to state Ed in Albany... How can a few hundred people think they have more collective knowledge than however many thousands of teachers in New York State? On the federal level it is ridiculous."

ggileau · June 22, 2015, 08:17:11 PM

Quote from: Eric Bosworth on June 21, 2015, 06:52:43 PM
That is because government knows best. A friend of mine is a retired teacher. Before he retired he was complaining about administration. He summed up all aspects of government when he said "I just don't understand how half a dozen administrators can possibly think that they have more collective knowledge than 130 some teachers... Extrapolate that to state Ed in Albany... How can a few hundred people think they have more collective knowledge than however many thousands of teachers in New York State? On the federal level it is ridiculous."

Don't get me started

JackM · June 23, 2015, 08:34:12 AM

Ya, we don't need to get on politics. I didnt' hear back yet, but I did get a short note from the breeder in the US. Still says 2-3 weeks out on queens. Told him to get hold of me when ready to ship a pair.

Hi-Tech · June 23, 2015, 01:43:55 PM

I finally got my package of Caucasian bees in from Winters Apiaries in today. Nice package... No queen. No queen cage.. nothing... I am waiting on him to call me back... What do I do with a new package of bees in a hive with no queen? Im worried they are just going to migrate over to my other hive...

Michael Bush · June 23, 2015, 02:34:33 PM

Importation by someone somewhere is how we got SHB, Varroa, Tracheal mites, Nosema ceranae, AHB and a host of viruses... Judging by when it turned up, probably also wax moths... Even Sue Cobey, who has some contacts in the world of the USDA etc. can only get frozen drone semen imported and even that has to be inspected very closely to insure we don't bring in a new virus...

Hi-Tech · June 23, 2015, 04:30:15 PM

He never called me back so I stuck a frame of brood from my Italians in the new hive to maybe make a queen. so much for getting a hive of Caucasians...

Hi-Tech · June 23, 2015, 05:52:11 PM

He finally called me back... sending me another queen

Hi-Tech · June 23, 2015, 06:14:12 PM

He asked me to go back into the hive one more time to make sure the queen cage hadn't come unattached and fallen into the bees. Now, I have been a beekeeper for many years and have never dumped a queen cage into a hive and not noticed it. Besides, I have been in that hive since I dumped them and didn't see it. So, being a man of my word and never believing that I am above making a mistake, I went back for a third look in that hive. well.... there it was at the bottom of the hive, pushed up in a corner. I felt like an idiot...

So, overall... my experience with Winters apiaries was good. Not awesome but good. It took a while to get the bees and he is slow to reply to emails and calls but he did reply and even offer to replace my queen if I couldn't find it.

Would I buy from him again? I think so. I have heard bad things about him but he did OK by me.

So, I now have a hive of Caucasians....

Eric Bosworth · June 23, 2015, 09:40:51 PM

I would like to know how they winter. Unfortunately the mobile app doesn't show location. Where are you?

biggraham610 · June 24, 2015, 02:15:58 AM

Hes in Kentucky Eric. I would also like updates on the Caucasians. They peaked my interest a little last year. G

Eric Bosworth · June 29, 2015, 01:01:47 PM

I just want winter hardy stock. Sure, there will always be winter losses. But there is also something to be said for genetics that are known to survive harsh winters.

biggraham610 · June 29, 2015, 02:46:31 PM

Without question. I love my open mated local mutts. G