Carniolan nuc with mated and laying marked Carniolan queen, 2-3 frames brood, 1-2 frames honey/pollen. All Carniolan nucs consist of 5 deep frames (medium frame nucs available upon request). These nucs are built with young 2025 Carniolan queens from splits at our Minooka apiary. The Carniolan nucs are allowed to build up for a brood cycle or two to ensure the queen has been fully accepted and her brood pattern is good. For pickup at our Minooka, IL apiary.
Carniolans are favored among beekeepers for several reasons, not the least being its ability to defend itself successfully against insect pests while at the same time being extremely gentle in its behavior toward beekeepers. These Carniolan bees are particularly adept at adjusting worker population to nectar availability. It relies on these rapid adjustments of population levels to rapidly expand worker bee populations after nectar becomes available in the spring, and, again, to rapidly cut off brood production when nectar ceases to be available in quantity. It meets periods of high nectar with high worker populations and consequently stores large quantities of honey and pollen during those periods. They are resistant to some diseases and parasites that can debilitate hives of other subspecies.
Carniolan Nuc Strengths
- Considered to be gentle and non-aggressive
- Can be kept in populated areas
- Sense of orientation considered better than the Italian honey bee
- Less drifting of bees from one hive to a neighboring hive
- When compared to the Italian honey bee, they are not as prone to rob honey
- Able to overwinter in smaller numbers of winter bees
- Honey stores are conserved
- Able to quickly adapt to changes in the environment
- Better for areas with long winters
- Fast rhythm of brood production and then brood rearing reduction when available forage decreases
- Low use of propolis
- Resistant to brood diseases
- For areas with strong spring nectar flow and early pollination
- Forage earlier in the morning and later in the evening, and on cool, wet days
- Workers live up to 12% longer than other breeds
Carniolan Nuc Weaknesses
- More prone to swarming if overcrowded
- Low ability to thrive in hot summer weather
- Strength of broodnest more dependent on availability of pollen
- Unless marked the dark queen is difficult to find
