# which bee breed?



## gibbsgirl (May 1, 2013)

we've been reading about bee breeds. Just looking for input here too. they will be in top bar hives. we'd like to get two packages or nucs (if the nucs are for top bar hives) and we're getting a 3rd hive to be ready for swarming.

so far the only 2 breeds that we think are maybe right for us are carniolan or Russian. i'm trying to figure out where to get them from. i'm open to suggestions for any other to consider. 

also interested in any suppliers of them. we are in western ky.

we know we want to get the queens marked. we're hoping to have bees that will be reasonably calm/not aggressive. and, we're very interested in them being self-sufficient and healthy without two much interference from us. hopefully they'll be fairly disease/mite/etc resistant. And, we'd really like them to be able to do well feeding themselves year-round, so we don't have to add food. also, don't want to have to requeen, or have "the latest" new hybrids. something that's been around awhile and done well for itself without people "improving" them too much sounds pretty good.

we have 7 acres, basically surrounded by open farmland and some woods. we have a one acre pond and a creek behind us. fruit/nut trees already here and we're planning to add more and some garden areas.

i'd like to be able to eventually end up with 5-10 hives.


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## the kid (Jul 9, 2006)

from what I have been told Russian bees are more in to stinging ,I have carniolan, and all my kids ,,, grand kids and wife will come pull hives apart with me ,, even the few times I have had to do it but the weather was bad to be pulling hives apart ,, and none of us wear any vial , suit , jacket ,, and verey ,very selldom get stung ,, I do not want any thing but carniolan ,, if Im paying but if some one would give me a hive i would raise a queen to re queen it with carniolan,, I have had Italian but did not care for them ..
this is just MHO but thought I would put my 2 cents in


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## DLMKA (Jun 28, 2014)

I think the "breeds" are a pretty good gimmick from queen breeders. They sort them by color and call it an Italian, Russian, Carnolian, etc. I don't see how there could be any pure strain of bees in the US.


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## gibbsgirl (May 1, 2013)

DLMKA said:


> I think the "breeds" are a pretty good gimmick from queen breeders. They sort them by color and call it an Italian, Russian, Carnolian, etc. I don't see how there could be any pure strain of bees in the US.


Hmmm? that's an interesting thought, and honestly I hadn't even considered that. I was just thinking there were breeds, just like dog, goat, cow, sheep, etc. I figured if I got some from someone who just captures swarms I would end up with an unknown mutt breed of bees. But, I thought I would be buying a particular breed if it was advertised as such.

Thoughts from anyone on this?


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## DLMKA (Jun 28, 2014)

I had 20-odd colonies of bees last winter all from removals or swarms. All mutts. I lost ~33% of my colonies last winter where everyone around me was losing 60-80%. The state bee inspector for our area did an informal survey and he came up with an average colony mortality of 75% for his region. Worry less about the name attached to the bee and focus on getting locally adapted stock from an established beekeeper in your area that has no problems showing your their apiaries and colony loss record.

I started raising queens from my better hives this year. I won't sell anything I wouldn't be happy to have in my bee yards.


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## DLMKA (Jun 28, 2014)

I have some mutts that are temperamental but make a lot of honey so I tolerate them and leave the drones to mate with the queens from productive colonies with queens with a better disposition. 20 grafted queens all from the same parent hive can have pretty differing behavior once they get built up. I won't even claim to have a basic understanding of the genetics behind a queen breeding program, a lot of your behavior is going to be luck of the draw and they will also have good and bad days.


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## gibbsgirl (May 1, 2013)

so far in the family talks, we were hoping to find carniolan or Russian. I found a guy about an hour from me that said he could get me Italians, but they're not from him, he just sold me hives. another place in my state (ky) can sell me Italians or Russian. I haven't found any other sources yet. so, unless I can find some other options, I think we're going to order the Russians.

my main thing is I want bees that won't be too high maintenance. i'm hoping the Russians will have the best chance of caring for themselves without too much help from us. and we can get good pollination and some honey. and, hopefully they won't be aggressive. don't want to turn off the enthusiasm the household has for bees with aggression or lots of bee chores.


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## GeoCitizen (Feb 24, 2014)

I have Italians and that's all I've ever had. I don't think she bred exclusively with other Italians (what a tramp). Some of her offspring have the darker strips which a true Italian shouldn't have. Most look like an Italian however. They are not very aggressive and I will sometimes open the hive with just a smoker (no outfit) when I'm in a hurry and being a bad beekeeper. Most of my stings are on my fingers when I accidently squish them for taking out the frames.

I like them because they don't make lots of propolis and honey production is good. They do seem to live up to their reputation of eating non-stop through the winter. Mine consumed all but two frames of honey last winter and that's in addition to me sugar and paddy feeding starting in February sometime. Winter lasted so long I thought they were going to run out of food.

I think if you keep a healthy hive, they are all good.


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## Iddee (Sep 25, 2005)

To get full blooded bees, you will have to buy an artificially inseminated queen that was raised from another A.I. queen. The price of the queen alone will start at 100.00 US and go up from there. Any other queen you buy with a nuc or package has been open mated with 10 to 25 local, unknown breed drones. All your bees will be mutts of unknown paternal genetics. After the first or second year, they will swarm and the half breed queen they raise will breed with another numerous unknowns. You will have mutts after the 2nd year. Why not just start with mutts and requeen the mean ones? It's much cheaper and easier.


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## SueMc (Jan 10, 2010)

The beekeeper who got me started raises queens and sells out of nucs every year. He calls his Jasper County Mutts.
They are calm, productive and supposedly hardy in this area.


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