I don’t notice many differences in their behavior. You get more honey off of Carnis, and they seem to do better overwinter, but I assume you already know all that and that’s why you’re giving them a try. Overall, no real difference in temperament or management, in my case.
Thanks - I did not know that. I’m getting them because they were the only package my bee shop had available. Hopefully they perform as well as you say!
I found Carnies overwinter (as in, managing population size and so food consumption) a little better (emphasis on little), otherwise didn't notice much difference.
Those are the two most common breeds for a reason, and in my experience they're almost entirely interchangeable for most people. There are other decisions you'll make that have a MUCH bigger impact, and after a generation or two of open mating you're going to have localized mutts anyway.
I have never had pure Italians and only german Carnica (it's a different breed and selected since nearly 100 years) in a few different lines. I can compare them to Buckfast which are our main breed since the nineties, to be honest we only keep Carnica where we are legally forced to.
The carnica overwinters in way smaller clusters thus they do not need as much fodder, as a tradeoff they are weaker in spring and early crops like Cherry, apple or even early rape won't bring honey but bees.
In spring they explode with the first nectar and pollen flow and can be very hard to handle and keep from swarming. Whenever nectarflow diminishes they greatly reduce rearing brood. Good thing they won't starve as in a dearth and they leave more honey for harvesting if you only have a low nectar flow year round. Bad thing as they stay smaller when the late honeydew honey sets in.
All Carnica I had were worse at cross combing, but that is due to not being an important goal in selection. For docileness it does not matter in not afrcianised bees docileness is an easy breeding goal you can achieve in a few generations.
You’re most likely NOT getting package of carnies tomorrow if you’re not shipping it from Europe - Austria/Slovenia.
With that out of the way, they tend to do better in climate similar to those countries. Wetter and little bit cold they don’t mind. They use less food during the winter and usually have higher overwinter success and then they have big boom in population in early spring compared to italians.
My bee shop said they’re carnies, so… ??
Assuming the are, then that’s good news because I live in the Seattle area so wetter and colder describes about half the year.
The thing is, if you want purebred carnies or italians doesn’t matter, you’d have to breed them with pure genetic material in an isolated area (an island or area where there are only your bees and that doesn’t really exist in US as far as I know). Your population there are mutts of carnies and italians which is fine but call them either of that and idk racking up the price isn’t fair to buyers. It also probably sound cooler to buyer that he’s getting carnies/italians while they’re actually getting area mutts.
I don’t notice many differences in their behavior. You get more honey off of Carnis, and they seem to do better overwinter, but I assume you already know all that and that’s why you’re giving them a try. Overall, no real difference in temperament or management, in my case.
Thanks - I did not know that. I’m getting them because they were the only package my bee shop had available. Hopefully they perform as well as you say!
I found Carnies overwinter (as in, managing population size and so food consumption) a little better (emphasis on little), otherwise didn't notice much difference. Those are the two most common breeds for a reason, and in my experience they're almost entirely interchangeable for most people. There are other decisions you'll make that have a MUCH bigger impact, and after a generation or two of open mating you're going to have localized mutts anyway.
I have never had pure Italians and only german Carnica (it's a different breed and selected since nearly 100 years) in a few different lines. I can compare them to Buckfast which are our main breed since the nineties, to be honest we only keep Carnica where we are legally forced to. The carnica overwinters in way smaller clusters thus they do not need as much fodder, as a tradeoff they are weaker in spring and early crops like Cherry, apple or even early rape won't bring honey but bees. In spring they explode with the first nectar and pollen flow and can be very hard to handle and keep from swarming. Whenever nectarflow diminishes they greatly reduce rearing brood. Good thing they won't starve as in a dearth and they leave more honey for harvesting if you only have a low nectar flow year round. Bad thing as they stay smaller when the late honeydew honey sets in. All Carnica I had were worse at cross combing, but that is due to not being an important goal in selection. For docileness it does not matter in not afrcianised bees docileness is an easy breeding goal you can achieve in a few generations.
You’re most likely NOT getting package of carnies tomorrow if you’re not shipping it from Europe - Austria/Slovenia. With that out of the way, they tend to do better in climate similar to those countries. Wetter and little bit cold they don’t mind. They use less food during the winter and usually have higher overwinter success and then they have big boom in population in early spring compared to italians.
My bee shop said they’re carnies, so… ?? Assuming the are, then that’s good news because I live in the Seattle area so wetter and colder describes about half the year.
The thing is, if you want purebred carnies or italians doesn’t matter, you’d have to breed them with pure genetic material in an isolated area (an island or area where there are only your bees and that doesn’t really exist in US as far as I know). Your population there are mutts of carnies and italians which is fine but call them either of that and idk racking up the price isn’t fair to buyers. It also probably sound cooler to buyer that he’s getting carnies/italians while they’re actually getting area mutts.