2 Frame Nucs

[Michael Palmer]

I can only say the II queens I've gotten have been mean.

I traded with a breeder in Ohio who calls his strain Karnica. Beautiful looking queens. Long and fat. Nice patterns. Decent producers. Mean as hell.

Set up an apiary of 24 colonies with those daughters. Followed them for two summers. The nasty little devils would staple your socks to your ankles. Reversed those hives first in the spring, and even that early every colony in the apiary had swarm preparations well under way. No other apiary in my operation had started yet. The stock was supposedly selected for varroa tolerance, but the drone brood was crawling with varroa.

Second summer I picked the queen from that group that didn't seem too defensive, raised queens from her, and they too were mean as hell.

Then got another queen from him...he wanted 3 and 4 year old queens for longevity. This breeder to threw daughters that were way too defensive.

Also, the VSH breeders from the USDA were ferocious! Everyone who used them said so. You didn't have to look at the written records on the back of the hive to tell who was who. Pull the crown board and out they cam ready for war.

I guess that's what happens when the breeders don't select for temper.

 

[Michael Palmer]

If so do people only use II for breeding purposes and not for producing of queens for honey production.

I would say yes.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

I can only say the II queens I've gotten have been mean.

I traded with a breeder in Ohio who calls his strain Karnica. Beautiful looking queens. Long and fat. Nice patterns. Decent producers. Mean as hell.

Set up an apiary of 24 colonies with those daughters. Followed them for two summers. The nasty little devils would staple your socks to your ankles. Reversed those hives first in the spring, and even that early every colony in the apiary had swarm preparations well under way. No other apiary in my operation had started yet. The stock was supposedly selected for varroa tolerance, but the drone brood was crawling with varroa.

Second summer I picked the queen from that group that didn't seem too defensive, raised queens from her, and they too were mean as hell.

Then got another queen from him...he wanted 3 and 4 year old queens for longevity. This breeder to threw daughters that were way too defensive.

Also, the VSH breeders from the USDA were ferocious! Everyone who used them said so. You didn't have to look at the written records on the back of the hive to tell who was who. Pull the crown board and out they cam ready for war.

I guess that's what happens when the breeders don't select for temper.

They sound ideal for out hives which are subject to vandalism or theft

Puts me in mind of the Yorkshire Beehives information site when it was running. Guard bees were described as SAS trained Ninja Warriors.

 

[Itchy]

Totally ignorant about queen breeding....whats a II?

 

[Hivemaker.]

II = Instrumental Insemination.

 

[Itchy]

II = Instrumental Insemination.

Thanks HM

 

[Michael Palmer]

I can only say the II queens I've gotten have been mean.

But that doesn't mean I think II is a reason for mean bees. Before they sell a cross as breeding material, the breeders should place the daughters in production hives and track their performance. The real problem is, that's not happening.

 

[wightbees]

I have done a lot of reading on II ,and I would say you have a breeder that does not select for Temper. II is not the reason for bad temper, I would say.

 

[mbc]

I have done a lot of reading on II ,and I would say you have a breeder that does not select for Temper. II is not the reason for bad temper, I would say.

Left field anthropomorphic thinking suggests that the progeny of mechanical rape could reverberate with resentful memory.

 

[itma]

...
Also, the VSH breeders from the USDA were ferocious! Everyone who used them said so. You didn't have to look at the written records on the back of the hive to tell who was who. Pull the crown board and out they cam ready for war.

I guess that's what happens when the breeders don't select for temper.

The story that reached this side of the Atlantic was that bad temper seemed to (genetically) go with Varroa-Hygienic behaviour.
Can't have one without the other ... (except, just possibly, in France - some say.)

 

[mbc]

The story that reached this side of the Atlantic was that bad temper seemed to (genetically) go with Varroa-Hygienic behaviour.
Can't have one without the other ... (except, just possibly, in France - some say.)

By all accounts, Keffuss' French varroa tolerant stock are as tetchy as anything.

 

[rolande]

Hi, I've been doing some reading on Nucs and saw on cushman's that Roger Patterson advocates the 2 frame nuc for making increase.

http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/twoframenuc.html

I was wondering who else on here uses or has used this method and to what success?

I reckon that there are real advantages in 3 comb nucs over 2's; admittedly this is just my oppinion but it seems to me, all other things being equal, that it's easier for bees to expand from a three comb start.

No one's saying that two's wont build up into increase colonies but if increase is the goal then I reckon it's best to give them a head start and then pull a few odd combs later in the season (or, the following Spring) to make up any initial difference in numbers.