Planning for next season which bees

[Brian MCquilkin]

I have putt all the bees to bed for the year, now planning for 2021. I have always been run Italians in Texas but now I'm in Wisconsin I'm looking maybe change breeds more suited to this climate. My questions are directed to beekeepers in cold climates as Canada, Wisconsin, Minnesota etc. What breeds do you run and what success rate you have with overwintering.

[BeeMaster2]

Hopefully someone from a northern area pipes up but if not Russian bees are more geared for cold weather. Keep in mind Russian Bees are rougher to handle than Italian Bees. Good luck with what ever you decide.

Jim Altmiller

[Ben Framed]

I agree with Jim (sawdstmakr). Though I have never had them, I have also heard Russians can be a bit rough. If it were me I would ask TheHoneyPump. He is from Canada and a member here.  I think I recall the breed he has form some post last year, but I can not be certain. I do not think it would be proper for me to try and answer for him. Ian Steppler would be another good from Canada to ask. On this side of the border you might ask Michael Bush. These three are the first to come to mind from the future North, but there are others also. 

[TheHoneyPump]

I have putt all the bees to bed for the year, now planning for 2021. I have always been run Italians in Texas but now I'm in Wisconsin I'm looking maybe change breeds more suited to this climate. My questions are directed to beekeepers in cold climates as Canada, Wisconsin, Minnesota etc. What breeds do you run and what success rate you have with overwintering.

#1 answer is buy local from a local breeder/supplier who you can verify raises only from own stock and does not bring in any wimpy or specialized cross bees from other areas.

#2 Is go Carniolan. You will be pleased with the results.  It is naturally a cooler climate and shorter season bee. As for wintering successful rate ... there many MANY variables and the beestock choice is just one of those variables. I will say that in years that the Italian stock side of the operation suffers 40%-60% losses, the Carni side runs 4%-12%. We could go into pros-cons list of one over the other, but that can get long, debatable and very opinionated.  Default back to answer #1.

Ultimately, do your own research on the Carniolan strain and decide for yourself based on the characteristics you are looking for.

Further, unless you are a breeder type operation do not go out and buy expensive premium specialty queens and beestock.  Just find a reputable local (own stock) supplier.

IMHO

[LawyerRick]

HP is correct, Carnies do well in cold climates & are relatively gentle & productive.  Put in some Saskatraz queens this summer & was really impressed with their colony's growth and stores.  I will let you know how they overwinter.  I also tried using Russian Queens (Great ones from Coy) this summer & they live up to their reputation for being busy but they really aren't that defensive at all.  My Russians also have solid patterns, consistently few mites (1-2/100 in August) & their colonies seem to have ample stores.  Time will tell but I love what I see from the Saskatraz & Russian hives.

[Brian MCquilkin]

I appreciate everyone's input,  it is refreshing to get great advise. HP, you are correct about buying locally I've already made contact with some good local beekeepers and have visited with a couple of them and looked at their operations both are running  Carniolan. During the time I have been beekeeping I have only ever bought one 10 frame box of bees, I did  by some queens here as needed.
I sold all my bees except 6 colonies before moving to Wisconsin in middle of march this year. Bought some nucs and some queens'. So this year been all about increase and having comb draw out. Spring time will net me know if the increase was successful.   At my age I don't want to wait another 3-5 year building up my apiary so I will be buying bees and queens, with that in mind, I value your advise so much.  Carniolan, Russians are the 2 that I've been considering. LawyerRick It will will be intersting top see how your Saskatraz work out maybe Ill try some.

[TheHoneyPump]

You are welcome.
Just as a general FYI.  The Saskatraz mentioned ... is a CarniolanXRussian based stock crossed with specific others and multi-year selection in a very tightly controlled (aka Alkatraz) locale.  If you are interested in them you can check into and read up on the breed and research program at:   http://www.saskatraz.com/index.htm
In the US, you can get the Sask HYBRIDS from Oliverez - as the only approved/certified and genuine source outside of Canada. 
Be aware that while the hybrids are decent, they do not carry all the desirable traits and the odd one can be a bit hot. The hybrids are good to get to setup for raising lots of pedigree drones, for your own in-house breeding.  However, do not graft off the hybrids.
If I were restarting an apiary build out such as you described my plan would likely be: 
- source local bees and queens with a strong preference for Carni to populate the minimal equipment I need to get things going.
- source a carni breeder queen, if possible or just pick out the one I like best from the purchased bees.  Pick the darkest queen that is throwing the darkest hairiest bees.
- get at least 3 hybrid saskatraz and set those up with 2 to 3 drone frames each. Ensure they are strong populations and feed those colonies lots of pollen/sub to support mass drone rearing. Check them weekly, destroying queen cells, they may make lots once well established, do not be tempted to use those QCs.
- once those things are done, carryon to build out my apiary and fill all of my equipment by splitting with MY MATED queens (never ever walk away splits), have a mating yard of mating nucs grafted from my choicest carni queen and supported by the skz drone hives located there, use only my own raised queens from said stocks for my hives and for grafting.
- make lots of extras in the mating yard to give away or sell the cells and queens to all of my closest neighbours so as to propagate the preferred genetics into the airways all around me.

Hope that helps!
Have fun with it.  .

[beesnweeds]

  I'm NOT a commercial beekeeper, just one that likes to run about 20 hives/nucs without having to buy bees or queens every year.  I did buy a few queens from a member of the Russian Bee Breeders Association 7 years ago and have been grafting from them ever since.  The color or size of the queens makes no difference to me as long as the queen from the overwintered hive I graft from has low mite counts, no signs of disease, and needs little or no feed.  At this point I have no idea how much Russian genetics are left.  My queens vary from light, dark, to striped.  I found they are hardier with a lot less issues than previous bees I've had.  They are FAR from perfect bees (I can't make them), some may be feisty, runny on the comb, jump to the hive tool, collect to much propolis/pollen, keep emergency queen cups, swarm prep in the spring, build to fast, wet cappings, dry cappings, plus any other bad behavior or trait you can think of that the pros HATE. But they have made me a pretty good beekeeper and are rearing to go after a hard winter with simple fall prep.  One hive in an out yard produced 150# this year.  The rest did well.  I wouldn't buy Sask queens, I can produce excellent Russian hybrids in my backyard.         

[Oldbeavo]

Does anyone use Caucasians in the US?
They are used in OZ in cooler climates.
HP is correct, buy as local as you can, they are the survivors of the local environment.

[Michael Bush]

If you can find someone raising northern queens that's your best bet.  No matter what "race".  If you can't, then Carniolans or Caucasians or Russians are all darker bees and better at wintering in general.

[Mamm7215]

+1 on the Carniolans.  Mine were local bred but Carniolan based.  No issues with our winters, though I'm on the west coast of Canada with milder winters (think Seattle).  Still go -10C for a week or two every now and then.