{"id":11,"date":"2009-03-17T14:56:00","date_gmt":"2009-03-17T14:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.westnyackhoney.com\/bees\/_blog\/?p=8"},"modified":"2009-03-17T14:56:00","modified_gmt":"2009-03-17T14:56:00","slug":"italian-carniolan-or-russian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.westnyackhoney.com\/bees\/italian-carniolan-or-russian\/","title":{"rendered":"Italian, Carniolan or Russian?"},"content":{"rendered":"
I ordered a package of Carniolan bees back in February. I later decided to get another package so that I could raise two colonies. It has been suggested in more than one book that two colonies is better than one. First, you can compare hives and quickly determine when one is doing poorly and needs help. It is also insurance that if one hive dies, then you still have one hive left.<\/p>\n
Having more than one hive, even for a beginner like me, makes sense. However, I made the decision to go with another package too late. Bees are usually sold out by March 1st; in fact, most bees are sold out by February 1st.<\/p>\n
I found a seller in Rhode Island who has a number of nucs for sale and I ordered two. He had a kind of Italian Bee called a Minnesota Hygienic. He also had a kind called Russian. I did not know anything about the Russians, but I had read an article about the Minnesota Hygienic bees that strongly recommended them because of their natural resistance to several bee diseases. I ordered two nucs of the Minnesota Italians.<\/p>\n
Now, after the fact, I’ve decided to look into the different bee breeds. These are all pretty much the same bee with different genetic features. They are the same species, but different subspecies or crossbreeds. They are like different races of bees, although the differences can be striking.<\/p>\n
Golden Italian<\/span><\/p>\n The Golden Italian Honey bee has been the main bee of beekeepers for many years. It is a good beginner’s bee. I found a list of some of its strong points, including: Readily builds comb, Light color so it makes it easy to find a queen, Good at finding pollen, Doesn’t swarm as much as other bees, Relatively calm and gentle, resistant to foulbrood disease, Doesn’t make as much propolis (bee glue).<\/p>\n On the minus side, the Italians keep laying eggs and making brood even when there is no food source so they can starve if not watched. They build a lot of comb that is not for honey or brood – the structural comb called brace and burr. They drift, which means they can wander off.<\/p>\n The Italian bee seems to be a good all around choice.<\/p>\n The Minnesota Hygienic is an Italian hybrid developed by Dr. Marla Spivak at the University of Minnesota Bee Lab. They are called hygienic because they are particularly good at cleaning out sick larva and pupa, which makes them better able to fight off American Foulbrood and Chalkbrood.<\/p>\n