# No Russians for Glenn Apiaries



## WI-beek (Jul 14, 2009)

It may be that Russians suck. Most beeks I talk to want there genetics as far away from their Apiaries as possible, like across the ocean.


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## alpha6 (May 12, 2008)

Naw...you just gotta know how to work um. A little 1:1 with vodka, pollen patties with caviar and they work 24/7.


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## KQ6AR (May 13, 2008)

Noble apiaries in Dixon still runs some of the Glenn yellow russian breeder queens.
They are still selling daughters from them.
Currently out of stock, http://www.packagebeesforsale.com/store.php


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## Mosherd1 (Apr 17, 2011)

It is just strange that some people said that the VSH X Russian breeders worked best and then they are no longer carrying them. Makes me wonder if they know something I don't know


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## johns bees (Jan 25, 2009)

have you ever heard of to much vsh were the bees remove to much brood instead of just the ones with mites. I read a post from Russell Apiary where he talks about to much VSH being a bad thing . since vsh bees and russian bees show the most vsh traits it is possble to see were this could happen and no longer be good to sell.


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## KQ6AR (May 13, 2008)

I have two of the daughters from the glenn russian stock here. They are both over a year old, brood up very well, & produced 100# of honey each last year.
They both swarmed in the last few weeks, but I caught, & rehived them.


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## tlozo (Jun 13, 2008)

I believe that Glenn apiaries doesn't sell the Russian queens because the *Russian Honeybee Breeders Association* stopped selling queens and breeder stock to non-members.


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## valleyman (Nov 24, 2009)

tlozo said:


> I believe that Glenn apiaries doesn't sell the Russian queens because the *Russian Honeybee Breeders Association* stopped selling queens and breeder stock to non-members.


I don't *believe *that. If a breeder wanted a breeder queen they could certainly find one to graft from. The USDA that allocates the newly developed genetics each year only sell them to the members of the RBA. But I *believe *if I wanted a breeder queen from 1 of the Association, that I could acquire one. I have been keeping the *pure* Russians for a year now, and have reported what I have experienced through the winter. Before long I will give another complete honest report. It will be long, and thourough. I will tell you this much now Mr. Robert Russell hasn't said anything wrong about them!!


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## Mosherd1 (Apr 17, 2011)

Is there a thread I could search for to find out what Russells feelings are on Russians?


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## tlozo (Jun 13, 2008)

valleyman said:


> I don't *believe *that. If a breeder wanted a breeder queen they could certainly find one to graft from. The USDA that allocates the newly developed genetics each year only sell them to the members of the RBA. But I *believe *if I wanted a breeder queen from 1 of the Association, that I could acquire one.


 All of the USDA released Russian breeder queens come from Charlie Harper who does not sell those queens anymore to the public. He used to sell $300 breeder queens. None of other members of the RHBA offer for sale breeder queens. RHBA Criteria #*6.Members are not allowed to share genetic material (i.e. queens, drones) outside of the RHBA membership(www.russianbreeder.org/mission.htm). *


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## valleyman (Nov 24, 2009)

I bought 17 pure Russian queens last year from Russian breeders. there was nothing to keep me from grafting from any of them. Charlie Harper is not the USDA that develops the genetic for the Russian Breeders. I would suggest you get your facts right before you try to pick an argument. No one on here has done any more research on the Russians than I have over the last year. I thought that they were the best thing since sliced bread. Boy was I wrong. If you like them, have at them, and good luck you're going to need it!! For you in NY where your climate is some colder than mine you might survive 6 months longer. I'm done with this argument. I will give a full report about my Russians when I have more time to put the facts into words.


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## valleyman (Nov 24, 2009)

Mosherd1 said:


> Is there a thread I could search for to find out what Russells feelings are on Russians?


I would suggest that you pm him and when he gets time he will tell you of their *experience* with them.


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## PCM (Sep 18, 2007)

Mosherd1 said:


> I could search for to find out what Russells feelings are on Russians?


Please remember Mr Russell is developing his own Two breeds which he is selling, they are not of Russian stock.
He points out all the bad things of all the other breeds, naturaly of course, it appears his Two breeds have none of these bad features !

Russell Apiary is one of the larger package bee producers in the country.

PCM


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## valleyman (Nov 24, 2009)

PCM said:


> Please remember Mr Russell is developing his own Two breeds which he is selling, they are not of Russian stock.
> He points out all the bad things of all the other breeds, naturaly of course, his Two breeds have none of these bad features !
> 
> Russell Apiary is one of the larger package bee producers in the country.
> ...


I can't answer for Mr. Russell, but I know that they also tried the Russian genetics for a long period of time, without much success. the USDA decided that with their VD resistance that they were the answer to our problems. What they didn't understand is that after the first and thru about the next 4 generations they are very aggressive. They also still have the cold weather traits that they developed in cold Russia. Mine filled the brood boxes full of honey last fall, leaving no room for brood. they wintered very well. More to come. I would suggest that if you want Russian genetics you order the Russian hybrid queens from Kelleys. I understand that they may be about 6th-7th generation and are calm and are aclimated to our country. They come from Hardemans.
And I think if you look at the genetics *of more THAN* *2 *lineages that Russell is developing and selling that you will see Primorsky in them.


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## deknow (Jul 17, 2006)

alpha6 said:


> Naw...you just gotta know how to work um. A little 1:1 with vodka, pollen patties with caviar and they work 24/7.


I've tried this, and it works better if you administer this treatment to the beekeeper instead of the bees 

deknow


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## Mosherd1 (Apr 17, 2011)

I might be confused, is Russell for or against Russians?


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## valleyman (Nov 24, 2009)

He is definitely against them. He is a (I think) third generation entomoligist. I think that he has Dr. before his name. They are one of the formost breeders in this country. As I said before they have tried the Russians, without much success. As have many other beeks on here, and now including me. Please understand that I am talking *pure *Russians, and not the hybrids.


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## fish_stix (May 17, 2009)

I mostly concur with valleyman and Robert Russell. When my son and I restarted our business 2 years ago we went with Russians based on all the hype about Varroa resistance etc. Bad move for us! Because we raise our own queens we quickly discovered that the 2nd generation and onward were meaner than junkyard dogs, and I mean every single hive, not just a scattering of mean ones. If you live in cold climates and buy new queens from the Russian breeders so that you keep first generation daughters you should find them agreeable to work with. They are not bees for the South in my opinion. During our citrus flow in March they filled the brood chambers with honey immediately and swarmed, and swarmed, and swarmed! We still had a good crop because they mostly throw small swarms but in 50 years of beekeeping I've never seen bees swarm so much. They build queen cells all over the hive, raise them up and cap them, then tear the cells down. As for Varroa resistance, I'll give them that honor, they do keep the Varroa under control. Bob Russell does in fact have a hybrid bee developed specifically for the beeks in Russia and with their help, and I believe he plans to offer them here as well. I'll take Italians any day!!!!


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## slickbrightspear (Jan 9, 2009)

charlie harper has the agreement that he propogates the russian breed for the usda


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## valleyman (Nov 24, 2009)

That's what I understand. Charlie Harper takes the lineages, which are developed by the USDA, raises more queens then sells them to the members of the RBA. I never knew that he ever sold breeder queens to the public. But one must remember that every queen that you buy from a member of the RBA is almost for sure pure Russian and mated with only pure Russian drones ( I think 95 per cent). So the only differience between her and a breeder queen is that she just hasn't been allowed to lay long enough to be used for a breeder queen. Of the ones that I used last year there was 5-6 that were laying fools. So why couldn't you use them as *pure* breeder queens, and even sell them as such? Without claiming to be a member of the RBA.


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## slickbrightspear (Jan 9, 2009)

my guess would be patents but I am not sure about that. that is the only reason that I can figure that glenn stopped carrying them.


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## Mosherd1 (Apr 17, 2011)

I went ahead and just asked Suki Glenn why no more Russians. She said that they have been very pleased with the VSH lines and wanted to concentrate on that. Also that they wanted to simplify the number of queens they offer. She also mentioned that you need to be a member of the Russian breeders assoc to sell Russians.


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## slickbrightspear (Jan 9, 2009)

well that answers that question


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## dmpower (Nov 7, 2010)

You can look up his name and do a search of his posts or you can visit his website.


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