Saskatraz package bees for sale with mated and laying Saskatraz Queen, 3 pound package. For pickup at our Minooka, IL apiary – no shipping.
The Saskatraz bee project was initiated in 2004 with the intent of establishing a genetically diverse gene pool to breed for honey production, mite tolerance and resistance to brood diseases. Breeding for mite tolerance was approached by using natural selection, without using any synthetic chemical miticides. The original selection process and cross breeding for creating the Saskatraz bee hybrid included the Russian, Carniolan and Buckfast.
We will have several Saskatraz bee families available this year. See the Saskatraz website for information on their breeding program and the details on the various families www.saskatraz.com
Saskatraz Package Bees Strengths
- Excellent honey production
- Good wintering ability
- Selected for VSH bee traits, increased varroa tolerance and resistance to brood diseases
- Show increased hygienic behavior
Saskatraz breeder queens are selected for honey production, wintering ability, temperament, tracheal mite resistance, varroa tolerance / resistance and brood diseases. The Saskatraz bee breeding program uses recurrent natural selection to select for varroa tolerance in productive colonies with good economic traits. We have found varroa tolerance is not a stable trait, with considerable variability in the daughters of selected breeder queen’s. In the last 3 or 4 years they have crossed high VSH lines with naturally selected colonies to try and increase stability of the varroa tolerant trait. This looks to be promising and new lines are currently being evaluated. However, is is noted that treatment with some synthetic miticides, although initially effective in lowering phoretic varroa infestations, may negatively affect the Saskatraz package bee colonies ability to cope with subsequent mite infestations. Some miticide treatments may also result in increased virus infections, particularly in varroa susceptible phenotypes.
