# What Breed do you prefer for operation?



## Father & Sons Apiary (Sep 4, 2013)

I run Italians/Carnis In the Summer my bees are in Oregon state and I winter in North California, what kind of honey bees do you guys run and where?


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## e-spice (Sep 21, 2013)

East Tennessee - Italians exclusively. They're all I've ever had (only a second year beekeeper) but I would like to try some Carniolans at some point.


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## golddust-twins (Sep 8, 2007)

South Coast Oregon. I use Old Sol Queens...genetic mix...I find they winter well in the cool moist climate we have here...although the past two years have been very dry.

Corinne
Brookings, Or


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## Tenbears (May 15, 2012)

The reality of beekeeping today. Is, the first time a hive rears a queen then it is a genetic mix, Even breeders that flood the area with drones can never truly assure genetic purity.. time and equipment cost to artificially inseminate would put the cost of queens around $100.00. No matter what we prefer most have mutts!


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## enjambres (Jun 30, 2013)

Mutts. Started with swarm mutts, likely some from abundant feral sources nearby. And now mutt-queen daughters open-mated with mutt drones (and whatever name-brand drones the nearest hobbyist beekeepers took a fancy to this year after their hives died in the winter.)

Enj.


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## JRG13 (May 11, 2012)

I prefer bees that build up early and maintain a large broodnest throughout the season. I find some of the best hives have a mix of worker bees in terms of apparent heritage, but queens that produce uniform offspring are hard to pass up as breeders of uniform queens in appearance.


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## Vance G (Jan 6, 2011)

I run Italians with carnies mixed in. They winter fine. They winter well.


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## Roland (Dec 14, 2008)

We prefer the "toes down" to the "toes up". Strachen NWC seems to have the best queens, although we had some Cordovan package queens seven years ago from an undisclosed source that where just as good, but very different.

Crazy Roland


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## JRG13 (May 11, 2012)

Roland said:


> We prefer the "toes down" to the "toes up". Strachen NWC seems to have the best queens, although we had some Cordovan package queens seven years ago from an undisclosed source that where just as good, but very different.
> 
> Crazy Roland


Yeah, toes down trait is good.


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## liljake83 (Jul 2, 2013)

I run both the carnis and italians I prefer the carnis because I can usually get them to stop brooding long enough in the winter to get rid of all the mites but those italians sure do pack the hives full of bees which really helps for almonds and evening out the dinks


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## Sadler91 (Nov 6, 2011)

Junkyard Dogs/Mutts


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## B&E (Dec 27, 2011)

anyone had good success with Kona? I know lot of guys in Western Canada fight over them in the spring.


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## shinbone (Jul 5, 2011)

Unless you are willing to re-queen every year or two with fancy "store-bought" queens, you hives will quickly become led by the local strain of mutts, which is not necessarily a bad thing.

The beek spending a lot of time and money seeking out that oh-so-perfect strain of queens that solves all his problems is on a fool's errand.

JMHO


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## JSL (Sep 22, 2007)

Talk to some beekeepers in your area... Good bees and good management make for some really great crops. Unfortunately, I think many beekeepers never get to see good stock... There really is a difference. Then you need to be able to raise/purchase quality queens and put them into an environment to succeed.


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## dsegrest (May 15, 2014)

I have only bought Italians, but my favorites are the ones, I have caught as swarms.


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## B&E (Dec 27, 2011)

shinbone said:


> Unless you are willing to re-queen every year or two with fancy "store-bought" queens, you hives will quickly become led by the local strain of mutts, which is not necessarily a bad thing.
> 
> The beek spending a lot of time and money seeking out that oh-so-perfect strain of queens that solves all his problems is on a fool's errand.
> 
> JMHO


I have never really understood why people with a dozen hives or so feel the need to tell guys running thousands how it is. Maybe someone else can explain why that is so common.

For what it's worth Shinbone, ever try raising 12,000 cells in 4 weeks, and requeen another 2000 colonies at the same time? Not exactly a cake walk. Perhaps when one is spending 70k on queens he deems it necessary to not just chuck in some garbage queen; there are plenty of those on this continent. We have bought plenty of those and raised plenty of them ourselves too. So when you're forced into a situation where you need to purchase some outside stock for whatever reason, it's best to get something that will live. 

you didn't sound so humble btw


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## jean-marc (Jan 13, 2005)

We have used Kona in the past with success. In western Canada you can only get Kona through Beemaid. That is where the fighting starts. Big demand, short on the supply side. If the supply side was eased up there would be a lot less fighting. This is not to say that Kona does not produce good queens.

Jean-Marc


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