Hello,
Hope this post finds you well.
I heard a few times in the last several years that people found that their darker queens from their breeders seemed to over-Winter better.
This season, as of today, I have found this to be true. However, that's one data point and can be considered completely erroneous.
I thought it would be interesting to hear what you thought about this.
Adam
(03-05-2010 08:25 AM)adamf Wrote: [ -> ]I heard a few times in the last several years that people found that their darker queens from their breeders seemed to over-Winter better.
Adam
Hey Adam
I never payed that much attention but I think I'll monitor it a little closer this coming winter. I could on a warm day check my hives to see what I got. Raining this weekend but soon as I get a chance to do some inspections Ill let you know......JM
(03-10-2010 08:52 PM)Little John_NC Wrote: [ -> ]Hey Adam
I never payed that much attention but I think I'll monitor it a little closer this coming winter. I could on a warm day check my hives to see what I got. Raining this weekend but soon as I get a chance to do some inspections Ill let you know......JM
Hey JM,
Thanks! Look forward to hearing what you find.
Adam Finkelstein
I don't know about the queen's colour, but generally it seems my best wintering hives have some dark coloured bees. I often see all dark, but seldom all yellow. That may just be because of the stock I have. The worst wintering hives I ever had were some golden Italians from New Zealand a long time ago.
A friend said a number of years back that he had 100 Kona Italians and 100 of the Kona Carniolans bought at the same time and the Italians wintered very badly, while the Carniolans did well.
FWIW. It's all anecdotal, I know.
This winter was a rough one on the bees . Went into the winter with 58 hives. Lost 28. Most that came through the winter are weak except for 12. All four breeder queens made it,big strong hives. All the strong hives have dark queens. Of the 30 left ,22 are dark queens. . I want be selling any bees or queens this season. Id like to get my number back up this season. I got 60 empty deeps begging for bees......JM
(04-02-2010 09:36 PM)Little John_NC Wrote: [ -> ]All four breeder queens made it,big strong hives. All the strong hives have dark queens. Of the 30 left ,22 are dark queens.
Hey,
you'll fill your boxes up in no time!
What is the pedigree of your breeders? Of the surviving strong hives?
Thanks,
Adam Finkelstein
I have 2 queens from Glenn Carnies and two queens from Joe Latshaw.The two from Joe are from the drone project he started. I think you were part of this test. The rest of the strong hives came off of Glenns queens...............JM
(04-04-2010 06:43 AM)adamf Wrote: [ -> ] (04-02-2010 09:36 PM)Little John_NC Wrote: [ -> ]All four breeder queens made it,big strong hives. All the strong hives have dark queens. Of the 30 left ,22 are dark queens.
Hey,
you'll fill your boxes up in no time!
What is the pedigree of your breeders? Of the surviving strong hives?
Thanks,
Adam Finkelstein
It was a tough winter for me too. All my Italian [VSH and others] died in January. We had a warm spell followed by 0° weather. However I got 100% survival of my Carni's.
(04-05-2010 08:15 PM)Little John_NC Wrote: [ -> ]I have 2 queens from Glenn Carnies and two queens from Joe Latshaw.The two from Joe are from the drone project he started. I think you were part of this test. The rest of the strong hives came off of Glenns queens...............JM
(04-04-2010 06:43 AM)adamf Wrote: [ -> ] (04-02-2010 09:36 PM)Little John_NC Wrote: [ -> ]All four breeder queens made it,big strong hives. All the strong hives have dark queens. Of the 30 left ,22 are dark queens.
Hey,
you'll fill your boxes up in no time!
What is the pedigree of your breeders? Of the surviving strong hives?
Thanks,
Adam Finkelstein
Not that i can stand with some of yall, but all my survivors are either dark VSH queens id say are closer to a carni line, some vsh queens with a mix of dark and yellow workers, and two remaining 2 yr old Minn Hygenics which produce a mixed worker class...
I have been working away from Italian bees so honestly very few if any really of my hives have all yeller bees, most are either what i call my grey hives or a mixed assortment.
The remaing queens are as follows: Glen VSH daughters from multiple breeders in VA, Melanie Kirby's ZIA Queens of the Rocky Mt strain, Minn Hygenic from Hunter Aparies in VA, and a hand full of my "let them make their own, i dont have time queens which were pulled from VSH or Hunters queens...
(03-17-2011 01:05 PM)Buffalo Bee Farm Wrote: [ -> ]I have been working away from Italian bees so honestly very few if any really of my hives have all yeller bees, most are either what i call my grey hives or a mixed assortment.
The remaing queens are as follows: Glen VSH daughters from multiple breeders in VA, Melanie Kirby's ZIA Queens of the Rocky Mt strain, Minn Hygenic from Hunter Aparies in VA, and a hand full of my "let them make their own, i dont have time queens which were pulled from VSH or Hunters queens...
Hey great info and that sounds like a good mix so far!
Adam Finkelstein