Cordovan Bees?

[nao57]

So I wondered if any of you had tried Cordovan bees?

Their colors are so amazing.

So I had to ask.

And if you did do them how did they do?

One question also...if you have cordovans how would you breed them without losing their colors, but still keeping them from being inbred?

 

[MarkJr]

To keep the genetics you need to keep a pure queen. In order to stay away from mutts you’d need to buy bred queens and do your own swarm control splits with bred queens. Then make sure you replace queens ever two years.

There isn’t ‘inbred’ term for bees.Unfertilized eggs make make bees. Those male bees only breed in Drone Congregation Areas.Virgin queens emerge and harden, then fly to nearest DCA where they mate with several drones and store their sperm for about a million eggs she will produce in her lifetime. If a queen happens to mate with her own drone bees have recombination rates that make the chances of the offspring being defective very low.

Easier to understand article here

My advice is to buy, gather, beg for the local mutt breed in your area. They are already aware of nectar flows and dearth lengths. Hardy to local weather and very much so more efficient at making honey than a new package.