Stock
Origin
This Russian Bee stock
originates from the Far East Russian region called Primorsky. It was first imported into the United States
in 1997 by USDA-ARS and was researched, tested and released to the beekeeping industry
in fall 1999. The OBA conceived the
Russian Bee Project and imported eggs and semen in 2000 to begin working on
this stock. Geoff Wilson, graduate
student and Dr. Medhat Nasr, tech-transfer specialist conducted the
project. The Russian Bee stock is now
turned over to François Petit for further breeding and testing.
The Bee
Breeder
Francois Petit has been a
beekeeper since 1991 and have been breeding and raising queens for the last 8
years. Francois is a member of the OBA
(Ontario Beekeepers’ Association) and the OBBA (Ontario Bee Breeders’
Association) since 1997. He is
committed to breeding better bees as opposed to mass-producing queens.
Objectives
1.
Conduct
a closed population breeding program to maintain pure Russian stock.
2.
Conduct
annual importation of queen lines release from the US.
3.
Continue
general selection and mite-resistance testing in order to improve desirable
traits and increase mite resistance genetically (Varroa Mites and Honeybee
Tracheal Mites).
4.
Start
production of Russian queens, both open and closed mated, for distribution to
Canadian honey producers and bee breeders respectively.
Selection
We
conduct a 2-stage selection: Pre-Selection and Final Tests.
Pre-Selection consists of observation and scoring colonies for desirable traits such as:
1. Winterability
1.1. Spring Cluster Size
1.2. Spring Weight Stores
2.
Disinclination
to swarming
3.
Fecundity
4.
Disinclination
to Supersedure
5.
Gentleness
6.
Quietness
on the Comb
7.
Housecleaning
8.
Brood
Viability
9.
Honey
Production
Only
the best scoring colonies of each line are then submitted to the Final Tests:
1.
Hygienic
Test - Liquid Nitrogen Freezing for Varroa and Brood Disease Resistance
2.
Quick-Test
- Honey Bee Tracheal Mite Resistance
3.
SMR
Test - Suppression of Mite Reproduction for Varroa Resistance
4.
24-Hour
Mite Drop Test-Varroa Mite Natural Mortality
Each year
we select the 3 top-performing colonies of each line according to the
pre-selection criteria and the final tests to be used as breeders to produce
the next generation of queens the following year. The best ones are used as breeders to produce virgins
daughters. The others are used to
produce drones. Mating takes place in
the isolated mating apiary. We aim at
producing 10-15 mated queens of each line to reintroduce in our colonies.
Mating
We
manage an isolated mating yard for maintaining purity of stock. There, we breed Russian virgin queens of
each line to Russian drones from selected sources representing every line. These queens are then introduced into our
own colonies for future observations and selection of the next generation. These queens are closed-mated.
We
also run several open mating apiaries for queen production. These queens are open mated with Russian
drones representing every line. The
drones mating with these virgins are produced from every Russian bee colony in
nearby apiaries. We encourage drone
production by inserting one drone frame in each colony. These queens are open-mated. These queens may also be mated with other
unknown drone sources from neighboring apiaries, over which we have little
control, except to offer them Russian stock to requeen their colonies if they
so desire.
We
are presently in the process of eliminating the Ontario stock from our colonies
to concentrate only on the Russian stock.
This spring we should finalize the replacement of these last Ontario
queens.
Record Keeping
We
use Excel and Access software to keep records and analyze data. We always clip our queens and tag each queen
included in the breeding program. Analyses
include performance of daughters of each potential breeder to assess
transmission of traits.
Management
We
use single Langstroth brood chambers with 10 self-spacing frames. We use the IPM method (Integrated Pest
Management) and follow the Ontario Recommendations for Honey Bee Disease
Control issued annually by the Provincial Apiarist, OMAF (the Ontario Ministry
of Agriculture and Food). We survey our
apiaries 3 times a year with sticky boards for varroa mite levels.
Our
goal is to treat for mites only when needed.
We determine the level of mites using sticky boards in the first week of
September. We only treat the apiaries whose average 24-hour mite drop is >
10. We use the Mite-Away II formic acid
pad. That way, we hope to be able to
skip the spring treatment. So far, we
only treated 20% or our colonies for the past 2 years.
Government Inspection
We
are inspected annually by Bee Inspectors for Brood Diseases and composite
samples of bees are sent to the Bee Lab for Tracheal Mites survey, as well as
Nosema spores. As of now, we have not
found HTM (Honey Bee Tracheal Mites) in our bees. As of 2002 we have found varroa mites resistant to Fluvalinate
(Apistan) in our operation.