Carniolan bee

Look at the Carniola bee
Look at the Carniola bee

Carniola bee (Carniolan honey bee or the Carniolan) is autochthonous breed of bee that has occured on the territory of Slovenia. It can be found also on wider area of Koroška and Štajerska (also in Austria), Hungary, Romunia, Croatia, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Serbia, Germany and in other parts of the world. It is currently the second most widespread bee, that is being bred in the world, and it is widely used in beekeeping.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE BREED

Carniola bee is calm breed, used for obtaining honey and other honey products in densely populated areas. They separate from other subspecies of honeybees by both external as well as behavioral characteristics.

– Special features in external appearance
slender body, dark brown color of abdomen rings, gray hair on tail

– benefits for beekeeping
low consumption of winter food, rapid spring development, focus on use of forest grazing, good orientation, rapidly reducing size of supplies in none pasture period, spawn disappears in early autmn

Carniola bee is peacefull towards beekeeper and not too prone to be looted by other bees. It is almost completely resistant to acarioasis disease (Apis acariosis), and also quite resistant to nosema (Nosemosis apium), bee decay (Apium pestis) and varroa of bees (varoozis).

– disadvantages of beekeeping
frequent swarming, making wax of lower quality