Iddee is right. Be PROUD of those Mutts that survive the winter!
What ever race you go with will only last as long as the Original queen does. When you replace her, the bees change. if they swarm ,the new queen mates locally, etc, etc.. that is not necessarily a bad thing. Package queens from the south have a difficult time surviving here, much less where you are. When they supersede the queen, It makes me happy, because I feel that the new queen will have a better chance of surviving the winters.
I import queens every year, but my bees are still mutts. I make new queens from the best queens i have, but those queens are mating with the feral drones, and the drones from the NWCarniolan hives, the VSH Gold hives, the MN Hygienic hives etc, etc... so the bees are a mix of everything nearby. I am OK with that, as long as they are gentle, productive, and their resistances continue to get better!
Your quite right, thats a quarter horse, she has some foundation bloodlines, but she has a difficult time deciding what color she is. She has a brown head and black legs, mane and tail, but the rest of her changes colors with the seasons.. buckskin, red roan, and even WHITE through the spring. She came to our place here when she was two weeeks old, and I "broke" her myself. Broke... she was my pet DOG while growing up. She followed me everywhere.. when the time came to put a saddle and bridle on her.. i just.. DID IT, and we rode into town together, the first time she had EVER been ridden.
three years ago, my wife decided we needed to get rid of the horses. Hers had just bucked her off, and she was hurt, bruised and angry.. She has NOT ridden her horse since that happened.. so neither of them got ridden, until she decided they HAD TO GO...
I told her she was welcome to sell her horse, but not mine.
She said, You cant even ride her why keep her?
So I went out, saddled her up and rode her all over town. I rode her around the house, then I opened the house door and walked her inside. (We have stained concrete floors for a reason) She (the wife) was completely astounded.. the next day SHE saddled up and rode MY hourse all over the place.. She has been doing that about once a week ever since. She now rides bareback so she doesnt have to fuss with the saddle.. We wont even discuss the FREAK her Andalusion is....
BOTH were bred to a REALLY nice spotted draft. When the foals are born and weaned, the freak finds a new home so i can work the foals without her influence.
