# Cordovan, Italians and Pol-lines



## johng (Nov 24, 2009)

Why don't you order a II Poline breeder to use as your queen mother? Instead of trying to use a F2. You would only have to sell 5-6 queens to pay for the price of a breeder queen from VPqueens. You can ask Adam to give you a light colored breeder and then most of your production queens will come out Cordovan or really blonde colored making them easy to find in a large hive. 

If you sell a few queens and then use grafted cells to use in your own apiary the price of a breeder queen is a lot easier to swallow.


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

You see, there are already many pol-line drones
here. Thanks to the local diverse gene pool. Grafting to produce the F2 is to see how 
the pol-line daughters can fend off the mites as well as if not better than the F1 daughters that are
doing a great job now. 
The breeder Cordovan mother is a VSH also. So it is interesting to see how the F2 will affect the mites during this coming
summer. Of course, I can always graft more from the VSH breeder mother too. My only limitation is the number of nuc
hives I can set up for this experience. Thanks for the breeder queen suggestion that I will keep in mind for the future.


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## AstroBee (Jan 3, 2003)

beepro said:


> The breeder Cordovan mother is a VSH also.


Who was the breeder of this queen?


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

It is still in the evaluation process so don't want to
release this information too early. But comparing to the dirty Italian hives bottom from last
year that don't have the VSH trait, this year's hives are now keep clean. Last year's
hives was over ran by the wax moth larvae while this year's hives have none at the hive bottom. They keep everything neat and tidy thru out.
Many said the Italians eat so much but these are more frugal on the winter honey store. Honey are still curing while
they are raising the larvae going into winter. I'm happy with them so far. Have a good feeling that they all will make it thru this winter.


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## WilliamsHoneyBees (Feb 17, 2010)

AstroBee said:


> Who was the breeder of this queen?


I to am curious as no vsh II breeders to my knowledge offer a cordovan breeder. Id be interested if they did.


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## AstroBee (Jan 3, 2003)

beepro said:


> Last year's hives was over ran by the wax moth larvae while this year's hives have none at the hive bottom. They keep everything neat and tidy thru out.


Doesn't really sound like these hives were healthy, or didn't have good house cleaning traits, which is not directly a VSH trait. Good Italians (or otherwise) shouldn't tolerate wax moths in any reachable area of the hive, and shouldn't have lots of debris on bottom boards. I have a few Italians now and lots in the past and have never seen what you're describing. Debris in hives is generally a sign of something else brewing, or just poor genetic traits. 

Let us know when you can release the breeder's name. I'm always interested in different VSH breeders.


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## adamf (Jan 28, 2006)

pine_ridge_farms said:


> I to am curious as no vsh II breeders to my knowledge offer a cordovan breeder. Id be interested if they did.


We can custom make AI breeders that will produce mostly Cordovan colored workers, but we charge more for 'em because the cross requires more intensive drone selection (color).
I wrote you about that. 

Adam 
--
http://vpqueenbees.com


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## adamf (Jan 28, 2006)

AstroBee said:


> Let us know when you can release the breeder's name. I'm always interested in different VSH breeders.


Yeah, me too!!! 

Adam
--
http://vpqueenbees.com


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