# Moonbeams



## sammyjay (May 2, 2011)

Hi, I was wondering what the pros and cons of the moonbeam is.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

I'll bite. What is "the moonbeam"?


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## slickbrightspear (Jan 9, 2009)

one of robert russells new breeds of bees


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## concrete-bees (Jun 20, 2009)

http://russellapiaries.webs.com/apps/forums/topics/show/4124143-moonbeam?page=last

They are costy but if its from russell is most likely worth every egg she will lay


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## valleyman (Nov 24, 2009)

They have been known to still be flying by the light of the moon. Hence moonbeam. I had one that I made a nuc of pure Russians for, and the no goods killed her.


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## KevinR (Apr 30, 2010)

My Russians believe in civil unrest also. They are constantly trying to overthrow their government.

I don't believe the Moonbeams are ready for prime time yet, but reported perk is longer gathering times.


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## valleyman (Nov 24, 2009)

I don't believe the Moonbeams are ready for prime time yet said:


> Not correct. The Moonbeam has been long in development and has been shipped overseas for some time.


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## Paul McCarty (Mar 30, 2011)

I would really like to try one when they are on the open market. He is trying to get breeders up and running currently, from what I last heard. I would try the breeder thing if I had a bit more time in the saddle and more space. Maybe in a few years.


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## rrussell6870 (May 14, 2009)

We have ten sub producers that will be breeding them across the different regions of the US next season to produce specially acclimated queens in 2013. Today we opened the order section for them, so people can go ahead and get orders in for may of 2012. We expect them to book up even faster than the AMMs.

Pros... 
Foragers work in cold and even dark environments well before and after other strains do.

They have a much larger foraging range than Italians or Carniolans. These bees were toting maple pollen while it was snowing and before daylight. They have been noted to be foraging throughout the night on brighter moons. In southern states they generally continue to work year-round, so long as there is something to work. They built and average of 14 medium frames of comb during late January in MS this past winter on 1:1 and maple alone. They are extremely mite resistant and limit their brood removal to infected larvae only due to a keen varroa sensitivity which was the initial intent of their development. Absolutely none of the moonbeam colonies have ever been treated for anything, and we have had zero losses in the nearly 11 years of their development.

Cons...
They can be a bit protective of their nests during times of low forage availability... this is being addressed during this season... the temperament is comparable to Russians, but with larger populations.


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## sammyjay (May 2, 2011)

Thanks for the replies everyone. Russell, how mite resistant are they? Do they ever fly out when it is just warm enough fly and if the temperature drops suddenly (as it does often where I live), do they get chilled and die?


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## rrussell6870 (May 14, 2009)

Extremely mite resistant. Yes they do fly when it is very cold (while others barely peak out). No concerns of chilling, they keep fairly decent sized clusters during winter but not so much that they over consume stores... their foraging traits are based more so on the the fact that the foragers themselves are less deterred by temperature, and thus more active in the cold... allowing fresh food to continue to come in to promote growth and heat production inside the chamber.


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## LookerBee (Dec 9, 2010)

russians do not readily take queens of other race...


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## Paul McCarty (Mar 30, 2011)

How aggressive? Unworkable aggressive or just a lot of head butting and a few stings? I have heard Russian's are defensive, but have no real experience with them. You said they were similar.


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## sevenmmm (Mar 5, 2011)

How were these moonbeams developed?


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## Barry (Dec 28, 1999)

I think they started with Mike Royko back in '76. Something about Gov. Jerry Brown.


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## sevenmmm (Mar 5, 2011)

Barry said:


> I think they started with Mike Royko back in '76.


You could make one spicey beer out of that honey.


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## sammyjay (May 2, 2011)

Where I live, there is nothing that the bees could forage from in the winter (even the sugar syrup would freeze unless heated). So, are they like the italian which would need larger sores of food then say, the carniolan (I don't raelly care about them being like the italian because thats what I have now)?


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## bhfury (Nov 25, 2008)

sammyjay said:


> So, are they like the italian which would need larger sores of food then say, the carniolan?


I would like to know that too and do they robbers (italians)? Are they swarmy like carnies or russians?


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## Vance G (Jan 6, 2011)

I have ten coming, I will report on all of it and according to Dr Russell, they are of Russian Derivation. I hope they are not as bad as some are obviously hoping.


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## NY_BLUES (May 14, 2009)

I have 2 queens coming that ii hope to graft from and take somewhere betweeen 30-40 nucs thru winter next year. I decided to order them in hopes of adding more mite tolerance and with the longer flight days, I am hoping for a higher hive average.


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## TWall (May 19, 2010)

NY_BLUES said:


> I have 2 queens coming that ii hope to graft from and take somewhere betweeen 30-40 nucs thru winter next year. I decided to order them in hopes of adding more mite tolerance and with the longer flight days, I am hoping for a higher hive average.


I didn't think the Moonbeams were ones you wanted to graft from since the are a "hybrid" of sorts. I don't think they breed true.

I remember a discussion somewhere with Dr Russell about this. I was left with the impression they would be better used for drone production.

I may have this mixed up though,

Tom


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## Specialkayme (Sep 4, 2005)

That was the same impression that was left with me.


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## NY_BLUES (May 14, 2009)

They are a "hybrid". Dr. Russell says that it takes many generations of breeding to come up with 1 good queen.
I am looking to add as much diversity to my apiary as possible. I am looking to find the best possible queens to do this. The moonbeam is that queen. Many different strains and lineages went into the making of this strain or hybrid if you will. By allowing this queen to be the head of a drone colony or grafting from her would put this diversity into my local gene pool. 
If my plan fails, oh well. I will still have 2 colonies of moonbeams producing drones for my local population, and not to mention the possibility of an increased honey crop.


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## NY_BLUES (May 14, 2009)

This is from Dr. Russell's own website. As you can see, they will bring the diversity that I am seeking in my earlier post

rfgreenwellMember
Posts: 13 This is what Dr Russell posted here April 14, 2011...

Lol. They are production queens, not breeders... but the expense to produce them is still tremendous... we have to cull over a hundred queens to get each one of these... they head full hives for a full year before we can judge them enough to even consider them production moonbeams. Remember, its the colony that they produce that makes all the difference... if you were to graft from one of these queens, you would get a huge assortment of different strains and lineages... very few of the queens out of that graft would be suitable to progress to the next step of mating with the proper mix of drones, then they would need to be culled again and the best 10% selected to progress to the next graft, and then the next 10% would be selected to be mated with a different mix of drones... you see what I mean? In all, they are the product of 1000/1 odds and a ton of work... next season, if things go well enough this year, we will release a waive of production queens that are directly grafted and mated amongst the colonies that resulted from these 1000/1 odds... they will not be as thoroughly scrutinized as these are, but they will help to spread a wealth of diversity into the operations of the buyers, and they will certainly raise the bar in winter survivability and early build up.

He says" directly grafted and mated amongst the colonies"


I am not looking to produce "pure" moonbeams, thats Dr. Russells line, but rather take some of his genetics and add to what is already in my hives.


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## Vance G (Jan 6, 2011)

I have found what I think is an isolated yard to keep mine so they will stay roughly on type longer. I do fear the inevitable mixture with commercial italians will result in me having a hot yard. Time will tell, but I am excited about seeing what they do. I believe that releasing them is part of Dr. Russells evaluation to see if they are established and will breed true.


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## rfgreenwell (Feb 14, 2010)

I ordered 20 moonbeams for a fairly isolated farm which I will use as a drone yard. I plan to mate my stock there and am also hoping I'll be able to afford a moonbeam breeder to use as well. Have no idea what the cross will produce...I have been mixing my NWC with carniolans from PA, selecting for best survival, a little II last 2 years with semen from OWC X VSH, and then open mating in three different outyard areas. My bees were doing pretty well until an 85% winter crash 2009. Mated again with II semen OWC X VSH to my best survivor ie. mite tolerance, low swarm, quiet on combs, good brood etc. Wintered 2010 with a loss of 2 nucs out of 20 and no hives lost out of 16. 2011 winter so far have had 3 nucs dwindle and starve out, and a number of weak colonies. Put on candy 2 weeks ago. I think these mild temps with nothing for them to forage on is burning up stores. Didn't occur to me soon enough that seeing flying bees everyday should have flagged me to keep closer tabs on stores. Average temps have been 10-12 degrees above normal here in MD. Well anyway, have some candy on all the nucs and weaker hives now. I read so many posts concerning peoples aspirations to breed and keep resistant bees...and I say go for it, but don't be surprised when you find what a humbling experience it quickly turns into.


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