Dear Fellow Beekeeper,

    I believe that the Russian honeybee queens that I raised and sold were equal to or better queens than most commercial grade queens that are sold today.  I also believe that pure Russian queens are the best queens that you can buy; however, I can not raise Pure Russian Queens here in the Piedmont of North Carolina due to the distinct nature of the Russian honeybee. Russian bees will not lay in periods of drought which gives rise to little or no incoming pollen or nectar during our summer and fall months.  Therefore during this time my active breeder queens will be Minnesota Hygienics, an Italian honeybee bred and developed by Marla Spivak with superior hygienic traits.  I will modify this website to reflect these changes as soon as possible.

I have always believed that the length of time that the queen is allowed to establish her brood nest in her mating nuc is inversely related to supersedure and is directly related to acceptance by her new "adopted" colony after she been introduced. A published scientific study has confirmed this theorem, please see:  Rhodes, Somerville, Hardin. 2004 Queen honeybee introduction and early survival - effects of queen age at introduction. Apidologie, 35:383-388. Read on and see for yourself how quality queens are still possible in today's time and age and why you should invest a few extra dollars today in order to save a lot more tomorrow while getting away from chemical treatments and using proven and tested pure Russian Queens that have higher rates of acceptance and lower rates of supersedure.

Sincerely,

 

Chuck Norton

330 Irvin Street

Reidsville, NC 27320

Phone: 336 342 4490

Email: Carolinabeeman@hotmail.com

 

The Russian Honeybee: Demonstrated Superior Genetics Plus A Strong Commitment For The Future

 

    It really takes a lot of work to raise superior quality queens for sale. It takes time, it takes know-how, and it takes superior genetics. As far as genetics is concerned in my opinion the Russian honeybee carries the desired genetics that is needed to combat the Varroa mite, the tracheal mite, and still produce honey in commercial quantities. It is more resistant to the Varroa mite than any other race of honeybees except perhaps the Africanized honeybee. Did you know that the Russian honeybee is naturally resistant to the tracheal mite.  You should also know that the Russian Honeybee Breeders Association Protocol specifies that drone mother colonies,  and all line-breeding colonies undergoing evaluation not be treated with any chemicals. I too have not used any chemical treatments for any of my colonies for over three years now.

 

 

    A lot of the myths about Russian honeybees were created several years ago and they were allowed to perpetuate without tempering. Most of the negative issues have  been addressed and repaired with selective breeding; some rumors are still allowed to roam unfounded and mainly through ignorance.   Most important the Russian honeybee has changed a lot since the first few releases by the USDA-ARS at Baton Rouge.  The Russian honeybee of today is a different and much improved honeybee that has undergone a careful and guided genetic progression by the USDA-ARS Baton Rouge lab. This progression will continue through the efforts of the Russian Honeybee Breeders Association and its members which will be responsible for the annual release of breeder stock.

 

    Just like any other race of honeybees Russian bees will swarm. In truth they are relatively a little slower to build up in the spring than Italians when the influx of nectar and pollen stops; but this is a good thing! The queen through her daughters will curtail her laying in periods of dearth; and, because of this they consume less of their stores than other races. Russian honeybees survive winters better, you get fewer deadouts.  Russian honeybees are very good bees to work with and since they are of a different race introduction methods should be either slightly lengthened or monitored, or both. Management methods are slightly different  as well; Russian honeybees will also change your mind about using chemicals for Varroa and tracheal mite treatments; and, yes they do exhibit some hygienic behavior.

 

 

 

The Truth About Commercial Mail Order Queens and Why I believe That I Am Different Than Most

   

    Most commercial queen producers raise queens by placement of a ripe 14-day-old queen cell in a mating NUC then removing the queen for shipment exactly 14 days later. This is done strictly to a 14 day schedule as it is the most efficient manner to raise and ship commercial queens.  Technically the queen is 28 days old; old enough to have mated and to have begun laying; but, there are pitfalls. The queen removed to be shipped may or may not have been mated and  little is known about her matriarchal abilities nor the gene pool where her ancestors swam. The Italian race of honeybees in the USA is not the same now as it was when the US closed its borders to importation of honeybees and semen after the outbreak of the Isle of Wright Disease at the turn of the last Century; the Italian gene pool is becoming shallower with less genetic diversity. Sometimes a queen will mate but never lay; she will spend her whole life parading around her colony without ever laying an egg. Sometimes when laying is interrupted she will not retain her laying ability.  Even if that commercial queen  is not a drone layer she may be superceded;  or, she may become nothing more than a mediocre layer and her daughters marginal honey producers. And yes, sometimes she will knock your socks off with her laying ability; and, often a thought back to a year or two ago to that one marvelous queen will entice you to return to that commercial queen producer even though most of her sisters were average producing queens. Then there are 28 day old queens that did not have the opportunity to mate until after her arrival to your bee yard or perhaps she will not mate at all and become a drone layer. 

 

More About Those Russian Queens

    First of all throw away all those notions and rumors that you have heard about Russian honeybees. In the past most of the Russians that the Queen Industry sold were not mated with Russian drones so they were F-1 hybrids and some, I am very sad to say, were F-2 hybrids. F-2 Russian hybrids are not very good honeybees for many reasons; think about it: By definition the queens daughters are 25% Russian and 75% whatever. Most of the temperament issues that continue to go around have been founded by F-2 and F-3 hybrids; that's 25% and 12½%  respectively, hardly Russian. Pure Russian queens are easy to work with; but like all honeybees they can and do have their bad days.  When pure Russian Honeybees are used everything that the bee has been bred for is inherent to the entire colony. Working with 100% Russians utilize the benefits of all the traits that have been bred naturally over 150 years and through the USDA-ARS at Baton Rouge's propagation and selective breeding program; these traits are being carried by all the members of the colony; these are really good bees!

 

   Last year and especially in the years before the Russian queens that I sold were daughters of pure USDA-ARS Russian breeder queens or were  daughters of instrumentally inseminated Russian Breeder queens from Glenn Apiaries in California. These Russian queens were indiscriminately open mated here in the Piedmont of North Carolina.  They were allowed to mate with any available drones.  Such queens are classified as F-1 hybrids. They were marked and they were good productive and gentle queens and my customers have really liked them. Never-the-less although the queens sold were genetically pure Russian their daughters, the workers, were F-1 hybrids, half Russian, they carried only half or 50% Russian genes except those few that were fathered by Russian drones. These F-1 hybrid queens were fighting off the Varroa mite with "two hands and a leg" tied behind their thoraxes.  Now my Russian queens are no longer fighting with their hands tied behind their backs.

 

    My queen mating yard is surrounded by strategically placed full sized drone mother colonies arranged per the Russian Honeybee Breeders Association protocol. These hives carry frames of drone comb and foundation. This configuration, per protocol, will support about 1800 mating NUCS which is over eight times the numbers required by my own modest operation.

 

The Russian Honeybee Breeders Association

   

  Members of the Russian Honeybee Breeders Association  all work together with the responsibility for the continued success of Dr. Tom Rinderer, his team at the USDA-ARS lab in Baton Rouge, and the original cooperators who made the program and the Russian honeybee possible. There is a very rigid protocol in place that must be followed in order for one to become and remain a producing productive member of the Russian Bee Breeders Association. Each member must carry at least two lines of Russian honeybees. Dr. Rinderer's gift to the world must be managed and improved through propagation and selective breeding in order to combat the Varroa mite and all the disease and harm that it vectors. Members of the Russian Honeybee Breeders Association all promise to rigidly follow Dr. Rinderer's breeding protocol.  The genetic pool that has been developed and refined with 18 separate breeding lines in three groups will continue to be improved using methods of statistical process control in order to improve genetic resistance to the Varroa mite, tracheal mite, and brood diseases as well as increase honey production, disease resistance and gentleness.  My own Russian breeder stock is from these lines and these genetic traits now define the Russian honey bee!

 

Due to the USDA classified Extreme Drought conditions of 2007, 2008, and the summer of 2009 my mating nucs were shut down by the failure to raise brood which is a natural function of the Russian honeybee furthermore as the drought continued through the fall of 2006, 2007, and 2008 failure to raise brood and the winter cluster resulted in an unusual amount of hives lost during the subsequent winters. I do not use supplemental feeding for my hives I believe that it is wrong to give bees a diet of high fructose corn syrup just as it is wrong to give human children and babies soft drinks which is the same stuff. When I do feed my fees they are only fed spring honey from my apiaries. Because of losses resulting from these drought conditions including the nature of the Russian bee I no longer am an active member in the Russian Honeybee Breeders Association.

 

    The most important point that I want to make is that you really need to get off the chemical wagon and use Russian honeybees in your hives; and, they need to be pure Russian bees in order to obtain the maximum benefits from this race of honeybees. Using Russian hybrids is the next best thing and depending upon your local climate it may be the best way to go.  It really does not matter if you purchase Russian queens from Norton's Honey Farm or another source.  What's important is that you start using  Russians!  Please visit http://www.russianbreeder.org  for additional information on the Russian Honeybee.