Russian bees

REDTRACTOR1 · October 31, 2007, 09:14:45 PM

i would like to find out who has full russian bees and what beeks think about them.
Thanks Dwight

Brian D. Bray · November 01, 2007, 12:03:53 AM

I like them. They are a little more productive than the Caucasians I used to have back in the 60's and just as calm in handling. This will be my first winter with them, I hope that they live up to their hype of carrying over well.

MBrowne · November 01, 2007, 01:15:54 AM

I have some Russians but I do not think they are pure bred. They have been really productive this year. Gentle and built good comb.

tom · November 01, 2007, 01:58:22 AM

Hello

I have three russian cross and they seem to be a bit touchy two are carni russian mixed and one italian russian cross but they are very good cleaners they keep thier hive very clean and they are out early but not like my carnis's and caucasians my feral hive is also a bit touchy and they are covering only two frames and filling the rest with syrup but holding thier own.I am told that there is a darker type of russian that is far more gentle and they look like carni's does anyone have the dark type the ones i have seem to look more like italians but a little darker brown.

Tom

qa33010 · November 01, 2007, 02:18:58 AM

I like the russians. I have one hive, new nuc, where the range is from dark to golden that head butt me more but that's about it. The others are mellow and seem to be still producing. Where they're getting it from I don't know.

JP · November 01, 2007, 05:07:30 AM

My first two hives were Russian. One was exceptional one ok, but I did get two more over the yrs and recommended that same breeder to a friend who purchased a hive for his dad and he tells me the bees are doing great. I have decendants from that first good Russian hive and they consistently perform, great honey producers. My vote is yes on the Russians, of course its hard to beat feral hives from your area, which comprise 99% of my apiary.

REDTRACTOR1 · November 01, 2007, 09:23:06 AM

Thanks for all the feedback. I have full russian bees that is the dark variety they are very gentle and do very well. they do headbut some but not excessively and are good comb producers. In the summer I work the bees with just a t-shirt and shorts and a veil to protect my eyes.
Thanks Red

BBHJ · November 01, 2007, 09:33:13 AM

We have Russians, although I cant compare them to other races (this is our fist year, & winter hasnt come & gone yet) they seem really good. Earlier in the spring they seemed more agressive than they have for the last few months. Though we do have one hive that has always been very gentle. We also have one hive thats always been very agressive. I was concerend because each hive went through 2 queens & 1 hive went through 3 of them. MB says that hes hearing from all over that queens are being superseded an average of 3 times a yr. I am still concerend about this, but now I know it isnt just my bees or my Russian queens. Anyway they built up pretty fast and produced alot of surplus. We got more honey this yr than what I thought we would & we only extracted twice. Next yr. we're going to extract alot more and hopefully get even more honey. Back in the spring & summer one hive would start flying right before sun up & keep going untill right after sun down, it was the only hive facing directly toward the sun though. Right now all of our hives are just busting out the sides with bees except one thats been weaker all year. Its showing signs of taking a turn for the better though. We are overwintering with one deep & one shallow super on each.

DennisB · November 01, 2007, 09:39:17 AM

I have to agree with BBHJ. I have 2 Russian colonies from nucs in June and they both have superceeded the queens. Like yours they were not easy in the beginning but are very easy to work with later in the summer and early fall. I am watching them closely as they go into their first winter.

DennisB

BAStallard · November 01, 2007, 09:50:05 AM

The Beek I got my bees from said he had tried the Russians and that they seemed alot more aggressive toward him while he was working the hives.

Shawn · November 01, 2007, 06:57:58 PM

Red,

If you search Russain bees in the search bar of the forums youll find that I had started a post about Russians. I found most everyone says they are good bees. I found some material that suggest Russians have a tendacy to swram more than others. Beemaster also found some older post about Russians that I had not seen. TWT provided me with several links on russian breeders and I have already contacted one of them to preorder.

trapperbob · November 01, 2007, 07:56:45 PM

I have been told that they tend to be good workers but if set off they tend to pursue you a lot farther than italians but as a rule tend to be fairly easy to work with.

TwT · November 01, 2007, 08:18:31 PM

I will be helping Red this year raise his pure Russians, I helped his last year but this year he was selected for the USDA Russian Breeder Program, so if yaw want some pure Russian bee's I might have been the one to graft that queen but I will be helping raise most of them......

SteveSC · November 01, 2007, 10:54:03 PM

If Redtractor1 is D.P. I bought one Russian\Italian cross queen and three Russian cross nucs from him this past spring. Good guy to do business with - I'd recommend him or TwT. They're good at what they do.

The nucs have done great. They went from 5 frame nucs to 1 deep and 2 full supers each.

The hive I had that needed the new queen just never did get going before or after the the new queen. Not sure of the problem - the marked queen from Red is still there but nothing much is going on with it. I doubt it'll make it through the winter. I struggled with it all last yr.. It never got past 1 deep and 1\2 super.

Anyway - the Russians are great during the spring and summer - we'll now see how they over winter - I suspect they'll do good.

TwT · November 02, 2007, 07:33:16 AM

Quote from: SteveSC on November 01, 2007, 10:54:03 PM

The hive I had that needed the new queen just never did get going before or after the the new queen. Not sure of the problem - the marked queen from Red is still there but nothing much is going on with it. I doubt it'll make it through the winter. I struggled with it all last yr.. It never got past 1 deep and 1\2 super.

Anyway - the Russians are great during the spring and summer - we'll now see how they over winter - I suspect they'll do good.

Steve have you been feeding the hive with that Russian, I noticed this year that with this 4 month long dearth and counting we are having has cause a few of my queens to shut down also, it was the hives that about depleted their stores, when I seen we wasn't going to have a fall flow when the goldenrod was blooming I started pouring the feed to them, all hives started raising brood and storing syrup, when most people this years said in other post their bee's were shutting down mine was raising brood..

SteveSC · November 02, 2007, 07:56:35 AM

In the early spring ( before the new queen ) this hive was one of my strongest. In March it swarmed and I believe it swarmed again right after that. There weren't many bees left and the hive was going down hill. I got the new Russian cross queen introduced in early July.

The hive just never made a come back - I tried moving brood frames ( honey frames ) from other hives but nothing helped. It was like this hive wasn't storing any food and the queen had shut down but that was the case also before the new queen also. I just looked in that have 2 days ago ( it's just a single deep - no super ), there seemed to be enough bees and the queen is there. Still not alot of brood or food. I'm alittle spooked by the hive - maybe it's something I need to completely get rid of - maybe what every it is contagious. All the other hives are normal and doing good though and they are close by. It's a mystery.

To answer your question. No, I'm not feeding the hive right now. I guess I could give it a pollen patty or some sugar syrup. I just wonder if I should.

Michael Bush · November 02, 2007, 08:45:40 AM

If you think they don't have enough to get through the winter I would feed.

Failure to thrive can be caused by a lot of things. I'd look for "K" wings which would indicate tracheal mites. Deformed wings, which would indicate Varroa. Do a sugar roll and assess the Varroa numbers. Field strip a bee and look for signs of nosema. A lot of times it's just the queen.

REDTRACTOR1 · November 02, 2007, 09:03:17 AM

Steve,
I sent you a P. M.
Thanks Red