I spend large amounts of time planning; it is my nature - I am a planner. Planning a thing - new endeavor, trip, construction or woodworking project - is often a source of great enjoyment for me. From the end of December and through January, I researched and read material on relative newcomer to the arena of honeybees in the United States: the Russian bee. The Russian bees, originating from the Primorsky Krai region, were first imported into the US by the US Department of Agriculture's Honeybee Breeding, Genetics & Physiology Laboratory in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 1997. The particular strain of bee has a few interesting properties which drew me to it. The region of Russia where it originated has a similar annual average temperature and precipitation to that of our region of Duluth, MN. They have also shown excellent overwintering in colder climates. In addition to the climatological similarities for their home region, the bees have the added advantage of having resided in the home region of the varroa mite (Varroa destructor) for over 150 years and consequently are relatively resistant to the mites (A Comparison of Russian and Italian Honey Bees - North Carolina State University; Breeding, Genetics, Stock Improvement and Management of Russian Honey Bees for Mite Control and Pollination - Agricultural Research Service, USDA). As I developed a plan for rolling out more hives this spring, the Russians looked increasing interesting and a very viable option.
Spring made its first appearance early in the second half of February; we had a nice stretch of very warm weather. This short warm stretch, however, was the death knell of the Carniolans. They broke their winter cluster in anticipation of spring; the warm weather left and was replaced with -40 degrees. The Carniolans quickly consumed the remaining food stores and starved to death. The Italians, on the other hand, have come into the real onset of spring quite well.
