Where To Buy Russian Bees !FREE!
American beekeepers have been using Italian honey bees (Apis mellifera ligustica) since they were first imported to the New World in 1859. The standard German honey bee (A. m. mellifera), which had been in America for more than 200 years, was by that time ill-tempered, disease-ridden, and less suited for honey bee management. Conversely, the Italian bees were and are excellent honey producers, show a gentle temperament that makes them the most popular race of honey bee in North America, have a moderately low tendency to swarm, and have a bright yellow color that makes queens easy to find.
where to buy russian bees
But Italian honey bees are susceptible to two deadly parasitic mites, the tracheal mite (Acarapis woodi) and the varroa mite (Varroa destructor), which were introduced into the United States in 1984 and 1987, respectively. Colonies contract these mites through equipment sharing and overcrowding, and, once infested, entire colonies can succumb within one or two years. Beekeepers have relied largely on pesticides to control the mites, but many of these chemicals can contaminate the honey and beeswax in a hive. The mites also are becoming increasingly resistant to the pesticides, making the chemicals less reliable and, eventually, ineffective. The high colony mortality that accompanies these two mites is a serious concern of the bee industry today, and various types of bees are continually being examined with an eye toward finding a hardy, productive stock that can resist them.
A number of American queen breeders now produce Russian queens for sale. These breeders are located all across the country, but most are concentrated in the South and in California. Many of the Russian queens on the market are hybrid daughters of a breeder queen openly mated to any drone, which may come from a variety of stocks within two miles of a particular mating yard. The resulting colonies are genetic hybrids. Recent research has suggested the hybrids are only partially resistant to mites, but studies at North Carolina State University show that partial resistance is statistically significant when the hybrids are compared to Italian bees.
Our Russian Hybrid bee packages are grown here in Georgia. We recommend that beekeepers with 3 years of beekeeping experience or more can purchase this product. Russian bees are better suited for cold winters due to the queen will continue to produce brood into the Fall months, which means the colony will be more robust going into Winter. Russian bees, overall, are more aggressive than Italian honey bees. Our Russian Hybrid package bees include: a screen box, sugar water container or fondant block, approx. +/- 3 lbs. of bees, which includes nurse bees, forager bees, guard bees, and drone bees. The colony of bees will consist of one or more Italian, Carniolan, and Russian worker bees. The Russian Hybrid queen bee will be in a separate queen cage.
Russian honey bees have an innate resistance to various parasitic mites. This race occurs in the original native range of the varroa mite, and selective pressure could have favored bees that exhibited aggressive behavior against colony-level mite infestations. Accordingly, experimental research has found that mite populations decline in colonies of pure Russian and of hybrid Russian-Italian bees. The mechanisms through which mite populations are controlled in these colonies include hygienic behavior towards mites, and possibly increased aggression towards mites. Russian stocks also have been shown to resist infection by tracheal mites.
A complimentary combination of various resistance mechanisms and behavioral strategies give Russian honey bees their strong resistance to varroa mites and their great resilience and wintering ability. Listed below are brief descriptions of some of these mechanisms and behaviors and how they compliment each other.
Russian honey bees frugality also serves to preserve the colonies stores. Russian honey bees balance this frugality in brood rearing with extremely rapid population expansion in order to take maximum advantage of good honey flows.
As the owner of Sweet Mountain Farm, LLC. I have the privilege of working with my family in a business that brings us together during sap flows and honey harvests. Our work here is all about the honeybees and building strong colonies that will survive our Northern winters. In recent years that has been a challenge. The more I learn about honeybees, the more I realize how worthwhile our apiary is. Meeting beekeepers and getting new beekeepers started is very rewarding.
Another option that is becoming increasing popular is to purchase a small nucleus colony, commonly referred to as a nuc. A nuc is an established colony that consists of 4-5 frames of bees and a laying queen. Nucs are typically started by commercial beekeepers in the spring by splitting a full-size hive. Sideline beekeepers (including yours truly) also produce nucs from their splits and sell them to other beekeepers in their locality. Some of us also have learned how to overwinter nucs in northern climates, and make them available in the spring to customers along with spring splits from our full-size colonies.
Hi, I have enjoyed your acritical. I am interested in starting a small bee hive in our back yard for our own personal use and it would be a great for our children to learn about. Have been researching information on nuc or package bee. We live here in central Michigan and am looking for a local bee farm to buy bees from, do you sell packages or nuc. And can you provide pricing.
Chicago Honey Co-op is a registered agricultural cooperative in the State of IllinoisSome members are beekeepers, others just want to support what we do. Along with keeping bees, harvesting honey and taking it to farmers markets, we teach beekeeping and advocate for sustainable agriculture and awareness of the natural environment.
Honey bees, like all living things, vary in their traits across the species. Genetic differences across these breeds can lead to differences in attributes like temperament, disease resistance, productivity, color and much more. The environment has a huge impact on differences among bee colonies due to stimuli and response, but the genetic makeup of a colony is the basis for many of the characteristics that define a particular subspecies of honey bee. For as long as honey bees have been domesticated, beekeepers have known that different genetic stocks have distinctive differences that can be used to their advantage or ignored to their disadvantage. Whether it be pollination, a honey crop, bee reproduction, resiliency or otherwise, it is important to have a general grasp on what this means for you and your Beekeeping Goals.
In the United States there are 6 main stocks of honey bees. Each strain has been studied and observed to have a variety of attributes that may be helpful to know in making your choice. Beyond that, there are local strains coming from different regions of the US and the world every year. It is always good practice to do research beyond these main strains to see if there is something that might be better suited for your area. This information comes from a variety of research institutions who have focused on making this a useful tool.
Beyond these traits, Russian bees exhibit some unusual behaviors in comparison to other strains. For example, Russian honey bee colonies tend to contain a queen cell almost all the time, in comparison to most stocks, where a queen cell is only present during times of swarming or queen-replacement. Another interesting trait is that although Russian colonies tend to be more aggressive, research shows that when in the presence of other strains, there is significant cross-contamination of stock and an increased susceptibility to natural pests.
Beyond these basic traits, due to the origin of this stock from central and Eastern Europe, these bees have been bred to be more tolerant of colder climates and rank among the best stocks for overwintering. These bees spend their winters in a tight cluster with a modest food supply ( -carniolan-bee/) and have proven to be a favorite for beekeepers in Slovenia, where beekeeping is of cultural significance.
The Buckfast Bee stock is named for the location of its hybridization and origin, Buckfast Abbey, in Devon in the United Kingdom. During the early 20th century, populations were being decimated by tracheal mites. Brother Adam (Karl Kehrle) who was in charge of beekeeping at the abbey, started to cross the strongest colonies who had survived in the area. The new stock of bees have become a favorite for those in similar environments as that of the British Isles.
The Buckfast bee shows strong resistance to some natural parasites. It has a strong knack for foraging and is not a strain that tends to swarm, making it more difficult to find these bees in the United States. Beyond this, there is often inbreeding with this strain over time. This decreases the characteristics such as resilient behavior against pests and other elements that make this a quality strain of honey bee.
The European Dark Bee, or German Dark Bee, was brought from Northern Eurasia in the colonial era. This subspecies has since then been segmented further into sub races of German Bees due to its hardiness. It is able to survive long, cold winters more often than other strains of honey bees. However, due to their defensive nature and susceptibility to brood diseases like American and European foulbrood, this stock has lost significant favor with beekeepers all over the world.
This highly aggressive strain of honey bee has some advantages, if one learns to work with them. They begin foraging at a younger age, typically produce more honey, and have a significantly smaller colony size, even though they reproduce at a faster pace. There are many stories of beekeepers working well with these bees for these positive traits. 041b061a72