Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum

BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: 2kooldad on May 26, 2011, 12:11:45 pm

Title: cordovan bees
Post by: 2kooldad on May 26, 2011, 12:11:45 pm

anybody have any luck with them...i heard they are real gental...good looking and are basicly just a color variation of regular itallians (or any other bee)...but that they dont produce as well as itallians ???

Title: Re: cordovan bees
Post by: jaseemtp on May 26, 2011, 04:39:53 pm

I could tell ya in two months or so, I just recieved 4 cordoval Italian queens

Title: Re: cordovan bees
Post by: 2kooldad on May 27, 2011, 01:11:08 am

i'd like to know...i've been reading about them...i like the color...its not a factor in if the bees are good or not for me about the color...i just want to know when i see my bees working or if a queen gets taken over like the africans down here are spose to be able to do...thats why i like that they are italians too...that means they should be good honey producers...but some places i read say diffrent about the production part...tell me how you like them...we have close to the same climate to so they oughta hold true in how they winter from here to there.

Title: Re: cordovan bees
Post by: wd on May 27, 2011, 03:18:31 am

I've got a cordovan that was the first to start laying this year. She's been very slow but steady, always easy to find. The hive is pretty gentle. Even though shes slow I thought I'd let it go for awhile. The population isn't booming, found some swarm cells last week. will see where this goes.

Title: Re: cordovan bees
Post by: BjornBee on May 27, 2011, 07:50:32 am

I'm not sure they have anything special other than the way they look. With all the problems in beekeeping, I think buying bees on color or a certain look, is the last thing beekeepers should be worried about. I would focus on bees that have been bred by a good breeder, or a strain with better than average mite resistance.

Title: Re: cordovan bees
Post by: fish_stix on May 27, 2011, 10:27:12 am

BjornBee is exactly right. Cordovan is a color phase only. Otherwise, Cordovans are just Italian bees. No different. I have about 50 Cordovan queens, they're definitely easier to spot, but temperament and honey gathering ability is exactly like the rest of our Italian bees. Some days they're gentle, other days they're not! Succeeding generations will lose the color unless they mate with Cordovan drones, highly unlikely in open mating.