Two different breed hives

[krb7694]

I "may" be a beekeeper next Spring. I'm still working on my wife. If I can I plan on starting with two hives. My question is: Can you have two different breeds in two hives? To clarify, Russian bees in one hive and Italian bees in the other. Is this unwise? I was just curious.

[Jerrymac]

I "may" be a beekeeper next Spring. I'm still working on my wife.

Took my advise did you  :lol:

Nothing wrong with two different breeds.

[SteveSC]

Dependng on how close the hives were to one another you would run the chance of cross breeding a swarm queen that went on a breeding flight.  That's a chance taken anytime though.  When a queen is breeding whatever drone is around has a chance - Russian - Italian - Buckfast..etc.  

If the hives are far enough apart I say the odds are in your favor that she'll be breed by the drones from the hive she came from.....but don't bet the farm on it.   I'm no expert but that's what I think would happen.  

Some of these experts ( and they are experts ) on this site can tell you more.  Good luck with any bees you get.

Steve in SC

[NCBee]

I have been told that the queen does not breed with the colony she came from.  Is this not ture?

[Brian D. Bray]

having various breeds of bees in a single yard is not a problem.  In fac,t it can be very educational, learning which bees will do what under the same conditions.  I've at times had Italians, Black German, Caucasian,and Buckfast all in the same yard.  I've never worried about Inbreeding or outbreeding as both often occur to the same queen on her various mating flights.  It only becomes a problem if you're trying to develop specific behavior like SMR or Hygenic.

Inbreeding of bees (drone of hive to queen of same hive) will over time make them proddy.  With bees (as in all animal husbandry) you instill specific traits into bees by inbreeding and introduce vigor by out breeding.  A person who raises pigeons can go on for hours on the subject--they use all aspects of animal husbandry to color set markings and develop other characteristics.  Again Out breeding (between hives) is necessary for vigor and will improve your stock if done correctly.

[TwT]

you can get to different type bee's and put them next to each other and they will be fine, odds are the if you were to have one of the hives requeen its self that it will be drones other than from your hives to mate with the queen (unless your in a area with out many bee hives), inbreeding is not always a bad thing just after time and numbers go along you bee's will not be as good as they once were (downhill)its kinda hard for me to explain but im sure you understand...., I have different bee's (hive) a foot from another breed now....