Hi from central Otago 👋 I'm trying to get information about Carniolan breeders in the south island either selling queens or nucs if anyone can put me onto someone that would be fantastic 😃
Can't find carnies😬😂
- Thread starter jos@centalotago
- Start date
😬 Yeah, I'm having real trouble finding some. I've contacted a few breeders and they're either not selling mated queens or are selling Italians 😂 it's looking more like I'm going to have to fork out $500 bucks for a five frame mated nuc from brood brothers up far north which I'm not in love with financially because I'm a hobbyist
We had black bee's ( British brown/ Italian hybrids) and nothing holds a candle to them when they feel stroppy😂 Africanised bee's are a close second, so Carniolan bees will be a nice change 😃👍😂
thats a rude price. you can buy whole hives for half that and if your in the right place and time, they are damn near giving them away these days.
carnies are fine to handle. i would have thought SI guys would be into them for the colder areas.
i'm not sure what happening with the development of carnies since david sold to comvita.
Thanks, yeah I'm actually astounded I'm having so much trouble finding carnies down here.😬 yould think a cool weather bee would be easy to find in a area that has cool weather😂. The only breeders I can find are up north and one of them emailed me to say they weren't doing queens this season 🙄I hadn't realized David had sold to comvita but I've been off the beekeeping boat for quite a while and only recently jumped back on 😃 a lots changed. AFB paperwork for one, that was a surprise. I've got some Italian nucs coming from a local commercial beekeeper in Alexandra in late September at far far less than 500 bucks a hive, (which is absolutely the most expensive hive I've ever seen), but I have an apairy site that is perfect for trials of Carniolan bees except I can't find any Carniolan breeders in the south but since I want to focus on wax producing and not honey I don't really want to pay that much for a colony, I'd much rather introduce a mated queen to a split. Hopefully someone here can shove me in the right direction 😃
All the carniolans in New Zealand originate from importations into Northland where they were selectively bred for quite a few years. Northland bees will do quite well in Northland but if you want locally adapted bees then get some from your local breeders. The biggest problem with carniolans is that when they cross with virtually any other strain of bee you get a lot of stroppy hybrids.
I wish we had laws like they do in Norway where only one type of bee can be kept in an area.
Please don't take offence at my rant , I have been fighting hybridisation in my hives for the last 10 years and it is becoming wearisome.
I wish we had laws like they do in Norway where only one type of bee can be kept in an area.
Please don't take offence at my rant , I have been fighting hybridisation in my hives for the last 10 years and it is becoming wearisome.
Several reasons. One, variety in my hive population , two i have a cool weather apairy site near Dunedin I've been given to use, which Carniolan bees will do better with, and three I simply want to compare them to the Italians that are the common stock around here especially with splits👍👋
That's a cunning plan with one teeny technical drawback. I can't find anyone here with them 😂 that's why I started this thread😄hybridization is a fact of life in central Otago because none of our bee's are true strain Italians, British brown bees were brought in by some of the gold miners from the UK back when the gold rush was on and declaring hives wasn't so we have hybrids, period and have had for over a hundred years and it's Russian roulette because you can get really stroppy dark bee crosses. Fortunately this isn't my first barbeque and I will requeen aggressive temperament hives with a vengeance but I have a couple of great isolated sites to use that I really want to put Carniolan bees into.
Those British brown bees ( more correctly known as AMM's ), were wiped out in their pure form when varroa mites arrived. Some of their genetics live on in our other bees, occasionally I will get a very aggressive hive and also recognize other AMM traits such as running off the combs soon as they get a puff of smoke, and sometimes just the general "vibe" of the hive same as the AMM's used to be.
The dark bees we have now come from the carnis when they were imported.
I was beekeeping in the 80s and early 90s and most of our bee's were dark, and Italian British hybrids, and oh yes, they do have a temper. actually as far as I've been able to determine no one's brought carnies down here which is why I'm struggling to find some😂 everyone seems to be running Italians and the old Italian/brit crosses. What does the acronym AMM stand for?
AMM =Apis Mellifera Mellifera
The Italians are Apis Mellifera Liguistica
Carnolians = Apis Mellifera carnica
The Italians are Apis Mellifera Liguistica
Carnolians = Apis Mellifera carnica
I purchased a pure bred carni from Kaitaia but the breeder is now out of business
I got them from Honeystar new zealand a couple of years ago. For when I was in Timaru. I am now in Central as well. Mine are now hybrids. More tiger queen than black. My stroppiest hive is from a locally bred italian.
@jos@centalotago
i asked one of the locals who used to get carnies in, but it seams they have converted to italians. sorry i don't know who is doing them these days.
i asked one of the locals who used to get carnies in, but it seams they have converted to italians. sorry i don't know who is doing them these days.