Carniolan Honey Bees Nucs Information

Carniolan bees are a good, gentle bee for bee keepers to work. They build up their population in the early spring, and are able to maintain high populations in the bee hives all summer long, due to the excellent laying ability of the high quality queens. This strong workforce results in excellent honey production, since Carniolan worker bees are excellent pollinators and foragers. Since they can have larger stores of pollen and honey in the summer, they can also have a higher tendency to swarm if not kept under observation. Carniolans get out earlier in the morning to start their daily forage, and they also stay out longer each evening. Compared to other strains of honeybees, Carniolans are less prone to robbing other hives. A Carniolan worker bee is also very hygienic, working hard to keep a clean bee colony.

Carniolan bees have a very good resistance to Varroa mites, wax moths and other honeybee pests. We do still recommend treating each spring and each fall against mites, however, since there is no such thing as a strain of bee with complete Varroa mite resistance. Carniolan bees also have an excellent sense of direction, and tend to drift between hives less than other types of bees. They are also able to overwinter successfully in smaller numbers, because they are good at conserving food stores; this makes them a better strain of bee in areas that have longer winters. Advantages of getting a nuc: The bees already have a head start at building up and gaining strength for the summer honey flow. The mated queens have already been laying eggs in the brood nest for quite some time, and new bees are either hatching or getting ready to hatch. They will also already have nectar and pollen available as stores in the honeycomb.