Strains/ breeds of queen

[barry42001]

Unless I am missing something, seems disingenuous for ANY breeder to say they are selling Caucasian bees, Buckfast bees. Italian bees, Cordovian bees, and only provide open bred queens. There is absolutely no way to ensure a pure anything.  Kinda like " Clover " honey... yes may be predominantly clover honey but is also whatever else is blooming in the area.

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[Riverrat]

That's exactly right.  Most big queen breeders do saturate the area with drones of the same breed to help insure the lines. But like you said its about the same as selling clover honey

[Woody Roberts]

My thoughts exactly.
Perhaps if you were set up somewhere isolated from other beeks and you kept your area saturated with drones. Or if you AI. Or if you have an island 25 mi off the coast. You get my drift.

When open mating there's always the chance of that sneaky neighbor drone.

[Beeboy]

I have had these same thoughts. It's not an exact thing.

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[apisbees]

We as beekeepers are asking a lot out of the queen breeders. First we want a breed of bee Carniolan, Caucasian, or Italian bees. But we also want the bees to possess certain traits, VHS, small winter clusters, gentle behavior, honey production....
Then we request queens that are Buckfast, Russian, or the Midnite all of these are cross bred for traits and characteristics that the offspring bees will  exhibit.

[apisbees]

Here is a link to some of the races and list of pros and cons and their genetic background.
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Beekeeping/Honey_Bee_Races

[LazyBkpr]

   I hope, as the drama of the bees life unfolds, that the emphasis on a specific TYPE of bee shifts to something a little more reasonable.. like wanting LIVE bees that keep living.. despite Varroa, Nosema, AFB and pesticides..   In preparing to produce nuc's and queens I have thought about it a bit, and have come to the conclusion that when people ask me what type of bees I have, I will tell them LIVE ones that survive...
   Like the bee tree in my fathers yard.. I have done cut outs on OLD hives. One such cut out had three feet of OLD comb stacked in the bottom of the wall cavity where it had fallen through the course of time. The upcoming cut out is from a newly purchased OLD property.. the original owners were forth gen, the new owner decided he didn't want to deal with the bees in the barn wall, so I am looking forward to those genetics going to my feral yard.
   Bees with yellow stripes, bees with black tail tips, bees with gray stripes, and some bees that are predominantly black all inhabit my hives. Even the bees coming from specific locations, with claims of "Italian" look more Carniolan to me.. but I am OK with that, because as I make my own queens from the best queens I have, I expect them to become even more diverse..  Mutts, in the truest sense of the word...    ALL AMERICAN bees!

[pistolpete]

Mutts and proud of it!