MAY APIARY

 The Carniolan Honey Bee

Pictured to the right - a darker appearing bee.  
This is a bee that has naturalized and adapted to the sub-region of Carniola (now in Slovenia) the southern part of the Austrian Alps, and the northern Balkans. These bees are know as the Carniolans, or "Carnies" for short in English.  At present this subspecies is the second most popular among beekeepers (after the Italian honeybee).  The qualities that make this subspecies especially desired by beekeeprs is it's resistance against insect pests while at the same time being extremely gentle in it's behavior towards beekeepers. It meets periods of high nectar with high worker populations and consequently stores large quantities of honey and pollen during those times.  Carniolans are more resistant to some diseases and parasites that can debillitate hives of other subspecies.  

The Italian Honey Bee:  Is thought to originate from the continental part of Italy, south of the Alps, and north of Sicily.  The subspecies might have survived the last ice age in Italy.  It is the most widely distributed of all honey bees, and has proven adaptable to most cimates from sub tropical to cool temperate, but it is les satisfactory in humid tropical climates. Italian Honey Bees, having been conditioned to the warmer climate of the central Meditteranean, are less able to cope with "hard cold winters and weet springs ",  They tend to consume more food in order to compensate for the greater heat loss from a loose cluster. 

 A Carniolan Honey Bee
 on Bok Choy in late October

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Frame of Italian Honey Bees and brood