Italian vs Russian temperment...my observation.

[SteveSC]

Just an up date on the three 5 frame Russian nucs I recieved. 

I did a 2 week inspection last Sat. to make sure all was well.  It's apparent that where I located these hives there aren't alot of other bees competing for nectar and pollen.  All three hives were all but full ( 9 frames +) of stores - pollen and larva.  All the queens were laying good full frame patterns and the bees were still real docile - not the first sting.  These bees will crawl on and\or bump you but don't make an attempt to sting ( my kind of bee ).

I'm still sold on the Russians.....   Looks like I'll get surplus honey out of these 3 hives if they keep working like they have been for the last 2 weeks.....   

[Galaxy]

SteveSC:

Who did you get your russian bees from?  I would like to acquire some russians that are calm. 

Thanks,

[acbs]

SteveSC,

We don't believe you will be disappointed with the way your nucs will build up or with the Russians in general.  This is our fourth year with year with Russians.  Granted, this is our fourth year with any kind of bee, but we don't see why more keepers don't have them.  Even when we've caught swarms, we've only let them build up and get established in the hive and then replaced the swarm queen with a Russian.  We'll give you the following reasons as to why we like them.  (We're not claiming Russians are better than anything else, we're just relating our experiences with them.)

Mite Resistance-We used wintergreen grease patties the first two falls just because we thought we were supposed to.  Didn't use any last fall with no negative results.  We also use SBB's.  Bought two Russians open bred with Italian drones our first year just to increase our hives.  Had evidence of mite problems in those hives so, again, replaced those with our Russians.  We're not saying we don't have mites, maybe we would even have better results using small cell, but they do a very good job of dealing with them on their own.

Surviving the Cold-Three winters with no lost hives.  6 the 1st, 10 the 2nd, and 17 the 3rd winter.  We had two colonies make it through without their queens and were still strong come spring.  Even with this last early spring cold blast here in Central Ill., other than a small loss of some brood, all kept right on going.  Maybe it's just a managment thing (we worry about them having enough food), but they have always had enough stores to last until spring.

Temperment-We don't know where the Russians began to get a bad rap about their attitude that we had read about before we got ours.  We rarely use veils, smoke, or long sleeves.  They're not perfect angels.  They are still bees.  Certain days and certain conditions and they will remind you.  The hours of my job as a truck driver sometimes means we'll work them right before sundown, most of the time with little or no problem.  We've got pictures of my grandkids with them that we'd love to post as soon as we're allowed to post links.  Will only occasionally have to wear gloves when brushing bees off honey frames when getting ready to extract.  This has been our first year of having to requeen a hive because of ill-mannered bees, and most of that was because of a struggling queen that they weren't happy with.

Honey Production-Have always had enough for our use (we use a lot), and enough for some to sell.  We've been too busy expanding our number of hives to really know what they will do if left alone to build up and produce.  At present we have 16 queen nucs in various stages.

We got our first 2 nucs from Arnold Honeybee Services in Knoxville, Tn., several queens and 3 nucs from Jester Bee's in West Ridge, Ark., and got a breeder queen this year from Glenn Apiaries.

Arvin & Colleen

[SteveSC]

Thanks for the information Arvin....

I think I'll like the Russians - so far so good. I'm going to check them again in about 2 weeks to see if they've been working on the supers.

I posted a thread about 10 days ago pretaining an Italian hive I have that was queenless and looked like it was going to stay that way ( you can reference back to find the thread ), anyway.

I re-queened that hive with a bred Russian queen I got from Dwight Porter in Picken, SC ( Dwight and TwT (on this board) work bees together ).  I also got the nucs from Dwight.  I put the queen in last Friday - checked it on Sunday - queen still in cage but close to being released.  This hive has always been tempermental - about half mean.

Yesterday after work I thought I'd check to see if the queen had been released.  It was hot - about 89 degs. - no wind - good time to check a hive, I thought.  I noticed the hive didn't have much activity outside - I assumed like the rest of the the hives around there they were out foraging.  Never assume.

I cracked top cover and removed it - everything going to plan - I slid the tool under the inner cover and you could hear a hum louder than I've ever heard.  When I opened the hive I seemed all the bees were in the hive and they all had one mission - to get me out of there.  There were hundreds of bees in the air and on me ( I had full protection ).  So many bees I couldn't tell if the queen was laying or not - she was out of the cage - I did see that much.  I closed the hive and walked away.  The bees stayed with me for loger period of time than usual.   

Before I re-queened last week that hive was aggressive but not near as aggressive as yesterday.  I wonder if being without a queen for a time and now having a new queen they were protecting her by coming after me like they did.   I hope once she starts to lay her off spring will calm the hive down. 

Has anyone ever had a hive act that way...?

[Kathyp]

my Russian hive last year was WAY better than the Italian hives this year.  if i order next year, it's back to the Russians!

[prisoner#1]

Gloves are clumbsy and when you squish a bee, then you are in for it.  The alarm phermone is released and the bees are "on guard" and you're gonna get it for sure. 

I have some italians, I've checked them several times in the last month, the day my 2yr old decided to follow me to the hive
is the same day i got stung, only once though, it was self defense, I squished her. needless to say my daughter enjoyed the
visit, poked a few sticks in the hive to see if they needed a few extra, the bees didnt bother her a bit, I'm dreading the day
she does get it, but then again that may be the day she decides to start listening

after all I've read over the years I really expected to get hit a few more times, these bees were amazingly calm

[Kathyp]

I'm dreading the day she does get it, but then again that may be the day she decides to start listening

the lesson is better learned when it's self taught.  that's how my granddaughter learned about electric fences.  :-)

[Jerrymac]

the lesson is better learned when it's self taught.  that's how my granddaughter learned about electric fences.  :-)

:-D Oh Yeah. I fell into a wood chipper once. Won't ever do that again.  :-D




No not really. :roll:

[SteveSC]

Oh Yeah. I fell into a wood chipper once. Won't ever do that again.

..I was really wanted to hear about that ....!    :-D 

Falling is the easy part - it's the getting out that's a struggle.