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In the last article from the series we’ll take a look at the characteristics and specific behavior of the Carpathian Honey Bee.
The similarities between the Carpathian and the Carniolan bees are plentiful. In fact, brother Adam even goes to say that the bees from the Capathian mountains are a sub-variety of the Carniolan race. He also describes it as being less prone to swarming, but other than this, the Carpathian honey bee doesn’t posses any other important characteristics when compared to the Carniolan bee. We previously wrote an extensive article about it and we recommend reading it as well.
One of the main qualities of the Carpathian bee is its resistance to parasites and diseases. Throughout the years we were impressed particularly by the lack of Nosema Apis spores, despite not using any forms of treatment.
Considering that there is an increasing number of pathologies affecting a large number of colonies throughout the world, this characteristic of the Carpathian honey bee should not be ignored. Sadly, the Carpathian bee is far from being as popular and widely used as other races. We don’t imply that it is better by any means; our point of view is that there isn’t such a thing as the best honey bee, but one that is suitable for a particular goal.
One of the reasons for the decline of this particular race is the lack of a solid selection program. This led to a continuous deterioration of the genetic potential of the Carpathian bees and the quality varies to a great degree. Even though we are based in a location where the Carpathian bee used to thrive, it has become more difficult to obtain quality breeders for this indigenous bee than any other race. Without the possibility of artificial insemination, it would be virtually impossible to maintain the reproduction.
Like we previously said, the lack of a selection program means that there are exceptional individuals and also very modest ones. Thus, we have to maintain a very strict control over the genes of a good individual. We were fortunate enough to find a few exceptional ones in isolated locations from Valcea county.
As bee breeders, our mission is to create products of high quality that are also uniform in their characteristics. This can only be achieved by using a adequate selection program. With this approach, we can confidently state that the Carpathian bee proved to be excellent in all regards.
Below you’ll find all the links to the articles from this mini-series:
- The Buckfast Honey Bee
- The Italian Honey Bee
- The Carniolan Honey Bee
- The Caucasian Honey Bee
- The Carpathian Honey Bee
Kenneth William Griffith
How can one identify a Carpathian bee colony that might have been hybridized—I think I have one such hive that was collected as a swarm—–I think it might be wise to create some queens from it to see how they produce this summer.
ApiExpert Staff
Morphologically, the Capathian honey bee is very similar to the Carniolan bee, but you can tell them apart by the fact that the Carpathian worker bees are a bit smaller and more agitated/hectic when inspecting a frame (but not more agressive). Other than this, the color must be uniform (dark) and with no yellowish rings on their bellies.